250 WALES. 



veins, but in a prodigious heap, which is worked in the manner of a 

 quarry. This valuable mine was discovered about thirty years ago. 



Climate, soil. ...The seasons are nearly the same as in the north- 

 ern parts of England, and the air is sharp, but wholesome. The soil of 

 Wales, especially towards the north, is mountainous, but contains 

 rich vallies, which produce crops of wheat, rye, and other corn. 



Vegetables, animals. ...In these, Wales differs little from Eng- 

 land. The horses are smaller, but can endure great fatigue ; the 

 black cattle are small likewise, but excellent beef; and their cows 

 are remarkable for yielding large quantities of milk. Great num- 

 bers of goats feed on the mountains. 



Natural curiosities.. ..Among the natural curiosities of this coun- 

 try, ai'e the following : At a small village called Newton, in Gla- 

 morganshire, is a remarkable spring nigh the sea, which ebbs and 

 flows contrary to the tide. In Merionethshire is Kader Idris, a moun- 

 tain remarkable for its height, which affords vai'iety of Alpine plants. 

 In Flintshire is a famous well, known by the name oi St. Wenefred's 

 well, at which, according to the legendary tales of the common peo- 

 ple, miraculous cures have been performed. The spring boils with 

 vast impetuosity out of a rock, and is formed into a beautiful poly- 

 gonal well, covered with a rich arch, supported by pillars, and the 

 roof is most exquisitely carved in stone. Over the spring is also a 

 chapel, a neat piece of Gothic architecture, but in a very ruinous 

 state. King James II, paid a visit to the well of St. Wenefred in 1686, 

 and was rewarded for his piety by a present which was made him of 

 the very shift in which his great grandmother, Mary Stuart, lost her 

 head. The spring is supposed to be one of the finest in the British 

 dominions, and is found to throw out about twenty-one tons of water 

 in a minute. It never freezes, or scarcely varies in the quantity of 

 water either in dry or rainy seasons ; but in consequence of the latter 

 it assumes a wheyish tinge. The small town adjoining to the well is 

 known by the name of Holywell. In Caernarvonshire is the high 

 mountain of Penmanmawr, across the edge of which the public road 

 lies, and occasions no small terror to many travellers : from one hand 

 the impending rocks seem every minute ready to crush them to pieces ; 

 and the great precipice below, which hangs over the sea, is so hideous, 

 and till very lately (when a wall was raised on the side of the road) 

 full of clanger, that one false step was of dismal consequence. Near 

 Caermarthen is a fountain, which, like the sea, ebbs and flows twice 

 in twenty-four hours. 



There are a great number of pleasing prospects and picturesque 

 views in Wales and this country is highly worthy the attention of the 

 curious traveller. 



Population, inhabitants, manners, and customs.. ..The inhabi- 

 tants of Wales, according to the returns under the late population 

 act, amount to 541,546. The Welch are, if possible, more jealous of 

 their liberties than the English, and far more irascible : but their an- 

 ger soon abates ; and they are remarkable for their sincerity and fide- 

 lity. They are very fond of carrying back their pedigrees to the 

 most remote antiquity ; but we have no criterion for the authenticity 

 of their manuscripts, some of which they pretend to be coeval with 

 the beginning of the Christian sera. It is however certain, that great 

 part of their history, especially the ecclesiastical, is more ancient, and 

 better attested, than that of the Anglo-Saxons. Wales was formerly 

 famous for its bards, and poets, particularly Thaliessin, who lived 



