THE BIRDS OF BABDSEY ISLAND. 9 



under the cliffs to the north end of the island, then sailed 

 rapidly across the sound and in under the cliffs of Pen-y-Cil, 

 whence we slowly made our way along under the land to Aber- 

 daron. The passage took two hours, a fact worth the attention 

 of anyone visiting Bardsey and hoping to catch the daily mail- 

 cart which connects Aberdaron with the outer world. 



Bardsey is naturally divided into two parts. Nearly two- 

 thix'ds of the larger, northern portion — over a mile long and 

 nearly three-quarters of a mile wide — consists of cultivated 

 ground and poor pasture land ; and the other third or more 

 is occupied by the mountain (548 feet). The steep, grassy slopes 

 of this (then very slippery from the long-continued dry weather, 

 and a little dangerous on the seaward side) are dotted on the 

 west side with hard clumps of sheep-bitten gorse, and varied by 

 stretches of fern towards the sea. Rocks and crags rise out of 

 the turf at the top and on the north and east sides especially, 

 and sometimes form small cliffs. To lose one's footing on the 

 seaward side would in many places mean falling on to the rocks 

 below or going over the cliffs into the sea. The southern portion 

 of the island, where the lighthouse stands, does not rise more 

 than about fifty feet above the sea. It is connected with the 

 other part by a very narrow neck, and although three-quarters 

 of a mile long is only about a quarter of a mile wide anywhere. 

 Tt affords only some pasture, poor everywhere, and consisting in 

 places of little more than heather, an inch high, scilla, armeria, 

 and lotus. The only trees on Bardsey are two or three sycamores 

 and a few ashes (really not worth calling trees) which grow at 

 the foot of the mountain, just where the farms lie and shelter 

 them a little with their buildings. Here, too, are some wind- 

 seared elder-bushes. In the little gardens gooseberries and 

 currants grow well to the height of the wall, and there are a 

 few "tea-shrubs," fuchsias, and tamarisks, etc. The banks of 

 earth and stone which form the fences on the low ground are 

 capped with bramble, gorse, fern, and occasionally with a foot 

 of scrubby hawthorn, and one or two larger bushes of the latter 

 may be seen. In one sheltered part of the mountain, at Pen 

 Cristin, there is some taller gorse, not bitten down by sheep 

 into a hard cushion. Two wettish places, fenced in, about ten 

 yards square, where the waste of springs has been utilized to 



