ter- 

 peaks 



WALES. 



fjT rains are frequent at all times of the year. The gaged fteep rocks, tending in the afcciit more or lefs towards an 



quantity of rain which annually falls in England, according to acute or lleudcr pointed fuminit, the lofliell mountains are 



the experiments of Dr. Hales, is about twenty-two inches ; centnc;dly (ituated in tlie chain, whicli commencing and 



while the average that defcends in Wales may be cllimated miiiating in abrupt precipices, with the infulated pi 



at thirty-four. From numerous obfcrvations refpecting this that interrupt the general outline, form a llrikinir and dif- 



fubjeft, the refult has uniformly been, that more falls on tindive charader. Secondary mountains, chiefly compoled 



the weflern than on the eailern fide of the kingdom, and of fchiftofe fubllances, range next in the fcale, and are dif- 



moft in the mountainous dillrids ; confequently Wales mull tinguilhable from the former by tlieir inferior hei^rlit the 



participate largely in fuch an excefs of humidity. In the evennefs and fquarenefs of the individual links wliicli com- 



year 1802, the quantity of rain which fell in London was pofe the chain, and by the eafy waving though varied line 



fifteen inches, and in Brecon twenty-fix inches. Moift as of the general contour: inllances of whicii are confpicuous 



the climate of Wales mull confequently be from this va- in the Ferwyn and Breddni mountains previoufly noticed. 



porous ilate of its atmofphere, yet the air is in general Derivative, or calcareous and liliceous hills, range conridi-r- 



highly falubrious, and the country healthy. Scarcely a ably lower than the fecondary or flate mountains, ufually 



cemetery in the principality, but bears fome teftimony to rifing by a gradual afcent at one extremity, and terminatinjr 



the longevity of the inhabitants, even to the protraded abruptly at the other. The lime- ilone lulls frequently affume 



age of a century, and in fome inllances even to a greater a pyramidical fliape, while the ridges of the fand rocks, and 



extent. banks, are broader and rounder than thofe of lime. Thefc, 



Natural ProJualons and Minerals. — Few countries can vie however, often trap into each other, and then little diflimila- 



with Wales in the multifarious variety of its produdions, rity is difcoverable in their form. The primitive mountains 



•while none perhaps have been fo long and undefervedly neg- in mafs contain no metals ; copper is however found in fe- 



leded. Some animals, rarely to be met with, frequent the veral of the horn-ilone llratified mountains, of which the 



wilds of this diverfifiedcoiuitry. The goat is here found in its Parys mine, and thole at Llanberis and Pont-Aberffladyn 



ferine Hate, and is far fuperior in fize, and in the length and are examples. In thefe mines, the ore is for the moll part 



finenefs of his hair, to that of moll other mountainous coun- yellow, fulphuret of copper, the green and blue malachites 



tries. Though this iifeful animal has been long domellicated, or carbonates of copper, arc found in lime-Hone as at 



yet many of the inhabitants of North Wales fuffer the goats '^ 1 1 .t, 



to run in a wild ilate, and bound from crag to crag. Thefe 

 they are accuftomed to kill during autumn for the fake of 

 the fat and fcins : thus goat-fliooting and goat-hunting are 

 ftill pradifcd by the people in Wales. Roebucks were an- 

 ciently numerous, but are now confined to the moll intri- 

 cate parts of the country, and they are rarely to be feen. 

 Of the feathered tribes, many fpecies, not found in other 

 parts of the ifland, are to be met with here. The golden 

 eagle is an inhabitant of the Snowdonian mountains, which 

 thence are fuppofed to have derived their appellation of the 

 Eagle rocks. The peregrine falcon, fuppofed to be the 



Ornics-head and Llanymynech hill, where copper 13 not pro- 

 duced in any other ilate but th.at of carbonate, which is 

 alfo found in the calcareous cement of fand rocks. The 

 llrata generally moll produdive of the metallic ores are 

 lime-llone ; and moll fpecies of whin-ilones, or the argilla- 

 ceous mountain rocks, of which there are many varieties ap- 

 pearing in thick, thin, and mediate flrata ; fome of thefe 

 rocks are moderately and others exceedingly hard. They 

 afTume various colours, though principally one or other of 

 the numerous fliades of grey. Several rich and valuable 

 mines are difcovered in granite or moor-ftone mountains. 

 Thefe three orders or clafles of rocks, with their concomitant 



bird which furnifhed the amufement of falconry to our ancef- llrata, are ufually interfeded by mineral fid'ures and con 



tors, and formed a fort of criterion for nobility, breeds abun- 

 dantly among the rocks of Llandidno, in Caernarvonlliire. 

 The merlin, ufed in hawking, migrates from Wales to Eng- 

 land generally in September. The water rail is found in 

 Anglelea, early in the fpring ; and immenfe flocks of 

 puffins vifit the ifland of Priellholme about the fame time. 



tain the largefl quantity of mineral fubllances, and metallic 

 ores. But of all clairified llrata, in which the richeft mine- 

 ral veins have been difcovered, the indurated argillaceous 

 mountain rocks are the moll prolific and extcnfive. Many 

 of the mines in North Wales, nearly the whole of the nu- 

 ne about the fame time, merous valuable lead mines in the comity of Cardigan, and 

 The guillemot, and the black-backed gull, frequent the moll of the mines in other parts of South Wales, are found 

 Wellh coall during the winter. Among the numerous fifh, in this kind of matrix or llrata. The principal fubtcrra- 

 vvhich abound in the rivers of Wales, in addition to thofe neous fubllances produced in Wales, may be divided into 

 generally known in England, may be noticed the crooked three clalFes, metalline, mineral, and lapideous ; and the 

 perch found in Llyn Raithlyn, Merionethfhire, and the de- places where they are dug receive the dillindive appellations 

 formed trout, faid to be peculiar to a brook, called Syrcian, of mines, pits, or quarries. Silver is obtained in confidera- 

 in Cardiganfiiire: (thefe two fpecies are defcribetl by Dailies ble quantities, though not at prefent found in what may be 

 Barrington, in a communication to the Royal Society exclufively denominated lilver mines. Cwmfymlog mine in 

 1767) : alfo the famlet is frequent in the upper part of the Cardiganlhire confills of filver ore, lead ore, and quartz ; 

 Severn and the Wye ; the fewin, the red char, the filver which, from the rich produce of the more p'recious metal,' 

 char, and the gwir.iad. Some of thefe, howeve^, are not received tiie appellation i)f the Wellh Potofi. Daren vawr^ 

 exclufively peculiar to the princip.ility, but are found in Daren vach, Goginan Cwm Evyn, and Mynydd bach, conl 



fome of the rivers of Scotland, and in the lakes of Weil- 

 moreland and Cumberland. 



The mineral produdions of Wales form the moll inte- 

 relling ])ait of tlie fubjed, and furnillt an inexhaullible 

 fource of profitable inveiligation to individuals, and of na- 

 tional wealth. The mountains ami hills may be feparated 

 into three dillind clalTes, viz. primitive, fecondary, and de- 

 rivative, wliicii in a general view may alfo be dilliiiguillied 

 by the peculiarities of their form, as well as their relative 

 iituation. Primitive irranite mountains confill 



tain fimilar fubllances to thofe of Cwmfymlog, tliough not 

 equally produdive of filver. Llanvair is at prefent the 

 richell mine worked in the principality ; comprifing filver, 

 lead, (luart/, fpar with a fmall portion of copper, and 

 yields about oiie-fixth of lead ore. About fixty to eighty 

 ounces of filver are extraded from a ton of ore, and twelve 

 hundied and a half weight of lead. Cupper, wlilch was 

 known and appreciated by the Romans wlule in ijodelfion 

 of Britain, is abundant through difl'eient parts of the ill.md, 



Primitive granite mountains confifl of craggy but was not an objed of commerci;d inveiligation till witliin 



4 N 2 about 



