SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



161 



SCENERY OF L,LANBERIS PASS. 

 i:y k. !•;. Filer. 



[TlVEN those who do no1 habitually speculate 

 -*— * on the causes which have produced the 

 present configuration of the country, generally have 

 their interest awakened when passing through 

 mountainous districts, and nowhere, perhaps, in 

 Greal Britain more than when ai gsl the moun- 

 tains and valleys of North Wales. Indeed, the 

 varied nature of the rocks, their extreme antiquity, 

 their crumpled and contorted bedding, and the 



ice-rounded rocks, perched block - ice- 

 furrows, show Lng i hat a glacii : 6\ 

 descended I he pa 5, fed b; ti Lbutary glaciers ; the 

 signs of the latter being mosl prominent in the 

 two greal hollowso Cwm-glas and Cwm-glas-bach. 

 A shorl distance along the road from Lit 

 1 he \ ertically bedded cliff: . on the right, -- 

 to the ridge of Llechog, ai the foot of which, near 

 the road, is a series of beautifully rounded rocks, 



Photo hiq 



Fig. 1. Valley of Cwm-glas-bach, prom the Llaxp.kris Pass. 



[A. If. Deitiii 



very evident traces of later glacial action, cannot 

 fail to attract attention. These features are. 

 perhaps, most marked amidst the grand rock 

 scenery in the neighbourhood of the Llanberis 

 Pass. 



There is in the following notes no claim made 

 to anything of an original quality, but they may 

 possibly be of assistance to those who visit the 

 district for the first time, and need a little guidance. 

 The Pass of Llanberis. which lies in a north- 

 westerly direction, reaches at its south-east end 

 an elevation of 1,160 feet, and slopes away north- 

 west down to 340 feet above sea-level at the town 

 of Llanberis. Along the whole of this length — a 

 distance of about five miles — there can be seen 

 Nov. 1900.— No. 78, You Til. 



their sides scored with striae, sometimes so deep 

 as to be more like horizontal gullies, with the finer 

 scratchings on their inner surface remaining still 

 fresh and sharp. Here and there perched blocks 

 are left. In many cases their situation leaves no 

 doubt as to the agency which dropped them into 

 position, as it would be impossible for the broken 

 debris of the cliff behind to have readied their 

 present resting-places. Bordering the lake on the 

 left hand, the rocks curve down to the water's 

 edge ; their weathered surfaces showing still the 

 mammillated outlines characteristic of glaciation. 

 Continuing along the pass through the little 

 village of Nant Peris, there presently opens out on 

 the right the t ributary valley of Cwm-glas-bach. At 



