Ascent of Cader Idris. 31 



bottomless pits. You can throw a stone with either hand 

 over both precipices without stirring from the spot. The 

 breadth of this isthmus (for an isthmus between two rolling 

 seas at one time it must have been), from brink to brink of the 

 two lake basins, is certainly not more than two hundred yards. 

 By deviating a little to the right or left, and grasping a rocky 

 projection, to give a sense of security and prevent a giddiness 

 few can resist, you are enabled to see the water — on one side 

 pellucid, on the other (Llyn Oae) dark and dismal — at an 

 appalling depth below.* On reaching the apex, and leaning 

 against the pillar of stones erected by the Ordnance surveyors, 

 any previous sense of terror becomes replaced by delight on 

 seeing Snowdon rearing its counterpart peak on the distant 

 horizon, the hills on the opposite side of Cardigan Bay, the 

 Breiddon Hills in Shropshire, the Black Mountains of South 

 Wales, and (if the day be unusually fine) the distant coast of 

 Ireland. After this the task of descending does not appear so 

 hazardous. You take a last look at Llyn Oae, in its gloomy 

 horror never to be forgotten; you proceed on your way 

 rejoicing that you have made the ascent of the most remark- 

 able, if not the highest mountain in Wales, and you soon find 

 yourself among the habitations of mankind. Courageous and 

 hardy pedestrians ascend and descend Cader Idris by a steep 

 track almost immediately under the peak, and to the east of 

 Llyn-y-Gader, and this is the only route mentioned in Black's 

 Picturesque Guide ; but it may be well to warn the majority of 

 tourists against attempting this route, which, leaving danger 

 out of the question, will be found to be more fatiguing than 

 the one usually chosen. f 



* The level of the waters of Llyn Cae must be at least a thousand feet below 

 the apex of the peak. 



f On the 28th of last month (May), the body of Mr. James Smith, of New- 

 port, Monmouthshire, was found at the base of the precipice on the Llyn -y- Grader 

 side of the peak. His skull was fractured, neck dislocated, and one foot detached 

 frotn the body. At the inquest held at Dolgelley it was agreed that he must have 

 fallen from the summit. He had been missing since the 2Uth September last. 



