24)2 ON THE GEOLOGY AND STATISTICS 
of Carnarvon, is the deepest and richest soil. It is of a 
reddish colour. But the greater part of this island is of a 
lighter soil, which consists of a sandy loam, mixed with 
small rounded pebbles. 
In the great marsh of Maltraith (now drained), in the 
southern corner of this island, near Newborough, contain- 
ing 3000 acres, a great body of peat is accumulated. 
The principal rivers are the Llinon, the Alaw, the Wina, 
the Ceint, the Breint, the Torryd, and the Dulas. But 
since Anglesea is a county generally with a gently undu- 
lating surface, having few mountains, and those not lofty, 
the banks of the streams do not abound in wild, wooded, 
romantic scenery. 
I have already noticed that, though the mountains of 
Anglesea, on the north-west, protect it from the violence of 
the sea, yet they are not sufficiently elevated to moderate 
the fury of the gales which blow so frequently from that 
quarter ; and as there is a great scarcity of timber, and few 
fences of the hedge-plants, these winds sweep with irresis- 
tible impetuosity over the island. 
Notwithstanding the destructive effects of these storms, 
the climate of this island appears, on the whole, favourable 
to health, and we find people attaining an advanced age in 
several parts of it. The only exception to this was the 
great marsh of Maltraith, situate on the southern shore of 
Anglesea ; the exhalations from it occasioned feverish 
agues, but since it has been drained that disease is less 
prevalent. Wherever shelter can be obtained from the 
south-westerly gale, as along the shores of the Menai, par- 
ticularly to the south of Beaumaris, and in some of the 
gardens of that town, not a few of the less hardy plants, as 
the myrtle and hydrangia, live and thrive. 
The nature of the rocks, composed partly of a soft as- 
bestine slate, yielding readily to decomposition, of calcare- 
