r)4 



THE BRITISH ISLES. 



over tlio inhabitants of Britain which is born of mystery. Some historians are 

 even of opinion that Anglesey was visited by the priests of Gaul, in order to be 

 initiated into the secret rites of Druidism. Ancient ruins, known as Terr Drew 

 and Terr Beirdd— that is, Druids' or Bards' d\vellings--still exist ;* but in fact the 

 whole of "Wales is one huge temple, if not of Druid worship, at all events of the 

 religion that preceded it ; and everywhere we meet with caerns, springs, and ruins, 

 which commemorate some miracle or the mythical feats of the Cymric ancestors of 

 the modern AVelsh. In these records of ancient Wales Christian legends are 

 mingled with heathen fables, which latter survive to this day, outwardly adapted 

 to the changing spirit of the times. Cromlechs are as numerous as in Brittany, 

 and equally respected, for in their presence the "Welshman feels himself the 



Fig. 27.— The Bridges over Menai Stuait. 

 Scale 1 : 25,000. 



'^^ 



"l, 





Foreshore. 



Depth under 15 fee^. Lepth over 15 feet. 

 Half a Mile. 



descendant of an ancient race. The name of some ancient hero is attached to 

 nearly every one of these stones. The large cromlech in the peninsula of Gower, 

 to the west of Swansea, is thus dedicated to King Arthur, the leo-endary 

 King of Old "Wales. An oval pit, Caerleon, near Newport, which excavations 

 have clearly shown to be the site of a Roman amphitheatre, is popularly identified 

 with Arthur's Round Table, at which the King sat with his knights when they 

 came back from their chivalrous expeditions. Kear Carmarthen, long the capital 

 of the "Welsh, a grotto is pointed out, in which the fay "Vivian kept Merlin the 

 magician a prisoner. In another part of "Wales, at the base of Plynlimmon, near 

 the village of Tre Taliesin, tradition points out the burial-place of Taliesin, the 

 * Alph. Esquiros, " L'Angleterre et la vie anglaise." 



