May, 1892. 
A WEEK IN NORTH WALES. 
115 
The next morning was not promising in the matter of 
weather for our projected walk across to Tan-y-Grisiau—in 
fact, there was quite a considerable rain, but we had to go, 
even if Oynicht had to be avoided ; so off through the Pass of 
Aberglaslyn, turning off just past the bridge into the old 
road to Tan-y-bwlcli, which is not much more than a cart 
track. In the marshy bit of country called Bwlcli Gwernog 
there are some very finely-rounded rocks, the best preserved 
being of a rather coarse-grained ophitic dolerite. 
Just where the road comes to the edge of the deep, 
straight valley of Cwm Croesor we get a view of Cynicht, the 
mountain which, from the coast near Portmadoc, presents 
so much the appearance of a miniature Matterhorn, standing 
up conical, and apparently solitary, to the west of the con¬ 
fused mass of Moelwyn. 
It is, however, on a manageable scale, and there is only 
about ten feet of anything at all awkward to get up. The 
view from the top must be very fine in favourable weather ; 
we, unfortunately, had only disjointed glimpses. The beautiful 
Nant Gwynant from Beddgelert to Pen-y-gwryd lies appar¬ 
ently at your feet, the little inn standing out distinctly at the 
upper end of it. The slope into Cwm Croesor is steep and 
stony, although it is said to be a practicable way down—but 
looking north it is plain that Cynicht is not all that it 
pretends to be—in fact, the face looking towards the south is 
only the abrupt end of a long and gently sloping ridge. 
On the very top there is a curious irregularly shaped 
mass of rock of a nature quite different from anything in situ 
around it. Cynicht is made of slate, while this rock, 7ft. by 
4ft. by 2ft., is of one of the basic igneous rocks much 
weathered. It would appear to have needed the aid of ice 
to place it in its present position ; and, indeed, looking down 
from the top there is plentiful evidence of the former 
abundance of this earth-shaping tool. A low depression in 
the hills to the west is especially rounded off in all ways 
which face north. 
A steady walk along the ridge of the mountain brought 
us to the most curiously abrupt termination of it, where it 
ended as a low ledge about 18in. high against a rugged mass 
of dolerite, of which there are many beautiful varieties in 
this desolate region. Some of them are most perfect examples 
of ophitic structure, and one which we collected shows, in a 
particularly good manner, the building up of skeleton crystals 
by octoliedra of magnetite. 
A rough miners’ path at last brought us to the head of 
Cwm Ortliin—a valley that must have been beautiful before 
the waste of the slate quarries covered so much of its surface ; 
