Slate Quarries. 591 



In these districts there is a large population which 

 is chiefly supported by the quarrying and manufacture 

 of slates. The Penrhyn slate quarry, near Bangor, pre- 

 sents a wonderful spectacle of industry. It is about 

 half a mile in length, and a quarter of a mile wide, 

 and forms a vast amphitheatre, which is worked all 

 round, on one side in thirteen high and broad terraces, 

 like the steps of a Titanic stair. The periodical 

 blastings sound like the firing of parks of artillery. 

 Vast mounds of rubbish, the waste of the quarry, cover 

 the hills on either side. More than 3,000 men are 

 there employed in the making of slates, which are ex- 

 ported to all parts of the world. The quarries at Llan- 

 beris employ nearly an equal number of men ; and the 

 rubbish there shot down the high slopes into Llyn 

 Peris was lately rapidly destroying the beauty of one 

 of the most romantic lakes in Wales, and unless the 

 waste be disposed of on the hill-sides, it threatens in the 

 long run to fill Llyn Peris from end to end. The same 

 ruthless disposal of waste material has of late years 

 been exercised on the south-western side of Llyn Padarn, 

 in long banks of ugly shingle, that encroach on the 

 water of the lake and spoil the natural curving symme- 

 try of its shore. Areas occupied by water are often 

 considered to be places specially designed for the ac- 

 commodation of rubbish, and if the quarries on the 

 Dolbarn side of the lake were successful and largely 

 worked, in time it might be quite possible to fill the 

 whole of that beautiful sheet of water with an un- 

 sightly debris of slate. 



In Merionethshire, near Ffestiniog, some slate 

 quarries are worked in caverns and some in open day. 

 The number of men and boys employed in the Ffesbi- 



