Nature and Art, November 1, I860.] 
ON SKETCHING FROM NATURE. 
183 
The Commission intends to afford all possible en- 
couragement for the exhibition of nautical matters, 
whether for commerce or amusement. A special 
landing-place, with a piece of ground in its rear, 
on which will be erected sheds and places of exhi- 
bition for models, plans, and accessory matters, will 
be set apart for the purpose, and a series of regattas 
and matches will be given on the Seine during the 
Exhibition. Our neighbours have progressed as 
rapidly in sculling and sailing during the last few 
years as they have in horse-racing, and it is to be 
hoped that some of our best crews will uphold the 
honour of old England, the Thames, the Cam, the 
Isis, and the Tyne, upon the Seine next summer. 
The Exhibition will not be complete unless an 
“ University eight,” a “ Leander,” and a “ Water- 
men’s ” turn out \ and nothing will give our friendly 
rivals a better notion of the power, pluck, and 
endurance of various classes of our countrymen. 
“A long pull, a strong pull, and a pull altogether,” 
might serve as ,a motto for the English nautical 
department. 
Of the amusements to be found on the grounds, 
it is too early to speak with precision. Everything 
is promised, and much may be confidently expected. 
Tenders have been accepted for the erection of a 
theatre, as well as of a cafe chantant , and we believe 
that preparations are on foot for the realization of 
these plans ; but of this, anon. The illumination 
of the park at night has not only been decided on, 
but the gas-pipes are partly laid, and there is no 
doubt that the grounds, with places of amusement 
and of refreshment of all kinds, and the ample 
shelter in case of showers which will be afforded by 
the great outer verandah, will be a most attractive 
place of resort on sultry August nights. The whole 
of the grounds are not, however, to be lighted ; 
they will be divided into two portions by a light 
fence, which will cut off the outer angles of the 
park, and enclose a large space of ground, with the 
Exhibition building in the centre, and in this 
central part of the park will be collected all the 
objects of interest, as well as amusement, which can 
be advantageously exhibited by artificial light. 
To the present time, the programme of the 
Imperial Commission has been well kept, and 
there is no reason to anticipate that it will be 
departed from in a material degree, except for its 
improvement. The gathering of 1867 is expected 
to be magnificent, and we have no doubt that 
the good people of Paris will have reason to be 
satisfied. 
ON SKETCHING FROM NATURE. 
By Aaron Penley, Professor of Landscape Painting- at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. 
No. V. HUT AT GHOEPHWYSFA, NORTH WALES. 
T HE road from Capel Curig to Snowdon passes 
by the hotel at Pen-y-Guryd, and thence 
taking a turn to the right (that to the left being 
to Beddgelert), ascends a hill of considerable length, 
the summit of which opens out to the tourist the 
wild and almost chaotic “ pass of Llanberis.” At 
this point there are a few poor huts or cottages 
with a comfortable little inn (a truly welcome one 
to travellers), taking the name of Ghorphwysfa, or 
a resting-place. To the left of this, there is a lone 
hut at the entrance of the rudely constructed road 
or mountain track, leading to the wondrous peak of 
Snowdon. 
This hut forms the subject of our present illustra- 
tion. Small and insignificant as it is, it has, from 
its desolate position, a character that impresses 
one with the idea of solemn dignity. It stands 
erect and solid in its stony construction ; at the 
front of a vast arena of heights and depths, un- 
dulating and precipitous, full of the adjuncts of a 
mountain district, with huge masses of riven rocks 
occupying positions truly picturesque, and dispersed 
about — as well as disposed — in forms both grand and 
sublime. The lesser mountains (none can be called 
hills) are so distributed as to present so many pro- 
minent features in the scene, and from their barren 
and I'ocky heads, being somewhat rounded, probably 
by glacier action in times gone by, they serve to 
give table-lands from whence the sides undulate 
O ... 
more or less suddenly, and continuing their descent 
deeper and deeper, they at length rest their base on 
the narrow and beautiful vale of JSTant Gwynant. 
From the other side of this lovely spot — and it is a 
lovely one — the mountains, forming the group and 
extension of Moel Siabod take their rise, and a little 
way up can be seen the descending and winding- 
road towards Beddgelert. These mountains are 
joined by other ranges, which assume every variety 
of direction and shape, rising one before another, 
and exhibiting rugged combinations of rock and 
herbage so diversified as to produce a constant 
change of colour. Thus they afford, as it were, fresh 
starting-points for more remote forms, until the eye 
rests upon outlines mingling with the clouds, con- 
necting sky to earth, and producing an effect always 
grand, mysterious, and impressive. The lofty emi- 
nences to the right are the south-eastern buttresses 
or spurs of the Snowdon range. Nothing can be 
more picturesque than their sharp angular character, 
and either side being equally precipitous, the ridge is 
necessarily very narrow. The principal of these is 
named Lliwedd, a frowning steep, deeply furrowed 
and riven by blast and tempest, with a bleak and 
savage aspect, destitute of one redeeming point 
as to vegetation, save at the dipping of its base 
in the darkly-toned waters of Llyn Llydaw, a 
