222 



THE YOUNG NATUBALIST. 



Calathus micrqpterus, two, both immature ; and Malthodes flavoguttatus, a 

 single specimen under a stone at a elevation of 2,000 feet. Hurrying down 

 the remainder of the path at a very much quicker rate than when we crossed 

 the same ground in the morning, we arrived at our hotel about 9 p.m. and 

 quite ready for dinner-tea, followed by a stroll as far as Llyn Padarn and 

 Dolbadarn Castle ; our arrangements for the morrow being to walk along the 

 Pass of Llanberis and to again ascend Snowdon by the most difficult of the 

 ordinary ascents, viz. that from Pen-y-pass (the old Capel Curig path). 



Next morning found us down to breakfast at 7.30, but somehow, we could 

 not exactly say why, we did not feel in such high spirits as on the previous 

 day, and a shower of rain would most probably have deterred us from ven- 

 turing on the trying work we had decided upon. After breakfast, too, when 

 we had fairly started I am afraid we were not quite such good company as we 

 night have been, although nothing was said by either of us as to the state of 

 our feelings, but mine were decidedly a state of stiffness about the hips. 

 However, after a pleasant walk down the famed " Pass/' but which we did 

 not enjoy perhaps as much as we might have done had we been able to see 

 beyond the thick veil of mist which shut out the mountain tops from view, 

 we arrived at the celebrated Pen-y-pass Inn or " Gwphwysfa" (the resting 

 place), where we had a very light refreshment and a quarter of an hour's rest 

 before commencing the four miles of ascent which lay between us and the 

 summit. Just as we were leaving here a Liverpool acquaintance and his 

 friend met us, having just descended by the path we were about to take, they 

 having spent the night on the summit in the hope of seeing sunrise' — a hope 

 usually vain as it was in their case. They strongly tried to dissuade us from 

 attempting the path which they said was in a very unsatisfactory condition, 

 and, they said, had they been able to see where they were going they would 

 never have attempted it. What were we to do ? Just now, too, rain began 

 to fall, and we had no umbrellas, no overcoats. What were we to do? 

 Should we go back the way we had come or should we push on and chance 

 a drenching? "Faint heart never won fair lady," and " Fortune favours 



" well, never mind, only we did not believe that we came under this 



category. Let us push on by all means ! and push on we did after taking 

 leave of (but no advice from) our friends. We had a good — a very easy 

 walk for nearly two miles before the actual ascent commenced, following the 

 north bank of Llyn Llydaw, and then by a rough and very steep scramble to 

 to the old copper works near the outlet of Llyn Glas. On the previous day 

 when looking into the hollow where we now were the two lakes, Glas and 

 Llydaw gave us the idea of there being very little difference of level between 

 them, but now we were perfectly surprised to find that the stream from the 



