i66 



MY LIFE 



[Chap. 



Stayed at Devynock or at Trallong, which latter was quite as 

 near for half the work. 



On the other side of the river Usk there was a fine wooded 

 rocky slope in which paths had been made near and above 

 the river by some former resident owner, and this was a 

 favourite walk on holidays. In the farmhouse adjacent a 

 relative of the owner, a middle-aged man, who was apparently 

 on the verge between eccentricity and madness, lived in retire- 

 ment, and we heard a good deal of his strange ways, though 

 they said he was quite harmless. He used to walk about a 

 good deal with a pipe in his mouth and dressed in a game- 

 keeper style, and he always stopped to make some remark, 

 and then walked on without waiting for an answer. My 

 brother made a rough pen-and-ink sketch of him, which has 

 fortunately been preserved, and which is here reproduced, as it 

 well represents his appearance and manner when meeting any 

 one. Some of his sayings were not only wild but exceed- 

 ingly coarse, others merely abrupt and strange. One day he 

 would say, " Where's your pipe ? Don't smoke ? Then go 

 home and begin if you want to be happy." Another time 

 something like this, " Who are you ? Come to look after 

 me They say I'm mad, but I ain't. I'm here to enjoy 

 myself. Do as I like." One time when he met my brother, 

 after some such rigmarole as the above, he ended with, " Shave 

 your head and keep your toe-nails cut, and j/oi^'il be all 

 right." 



When I went up to Senni Street (Heol Senni, as it is 

 called in Welsh) I greatly enjoyed wandering over the pretty 

 valley which extended a long way into the mountains, flowing 

 over nearly level meadows and with an unusually twisted 

 course. This I found was so erroneously mapped, the 

 numerous bends having been inserted at random as if of no 

 importance, that I had to survey its course afresh. Above 

 the village there were several lateral tributaries descending 

 in deep woody dingles, often very picturesque, and these 

 had usually one or more waterfalls in their course, or deep 

 rocky chasms ; and as these came upon me unexpectedly, and 



