594 Gold and L ead. 



followed into the hill. So extensive are these old works, 

 that a minor valley was in the course of ages scooped 

 out in the hill-side, and in the wood close by there is a 

 deep artificial excavation now called Cwm-henog, which 

 in English means Old-cave-valley. Later, lofty well 

 made galleries were driven, which cut the lodes deeper 

 underneath. Gold was also found in washings of the 

 superficial gravel, for more than a mile in length, on the 

 banks of the river Cothy, and in the little upland valley 

 that runs from the Grogofau towards the village of Cynfil 

 Cayo. The well cut galleries are Roman, but it has been 

 surmised that the ruder caverns date from more ancient 

 British times. The washing of the gravels for gold may 

 probably^be both of the old British and Eoman ages, 

 and for aught that is known the mines may have been 

 worked in both ways in later times. It is not many 

 years since the quartz veins were again systematically 

 worked by an enterprising and skilful miner, but though 

 gold was got, the result was not sufficiently profitable to 

 warrant the continuance of the work. 



The huge excavations must have made ugly scars 

 on the hills in the days when they were freshly worked, 

 but time has healed them. The heaps of rubbish are 

 now green knolls, and gnarled oaks and ivy mantle the 

 old quarryings. 



In the Carboniferous Limestone districts of North 

 Wales, Derbyshire, Lancashire, and the Yorkshire dales, 

 there are numerous lead mines ; and, as I have already 

 said, lead ore occurs in the underlying Silurian strata, 

 as in South Wales, and also in the Lead Hills in the 

 south of Scotland, where lead associated with silver, 

 and even a little gold, has long been worked. 



I must now endeavour to give an idea of what a lode 

 is. A lode is simply a crack, more or less filled with 



