1848. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
75 
NOTES OF A TBAVEILEB 
♦ * - 
There are in Wales many customs handed down 
from the remotest period. The girls, to this day, in 
many instances, perhaps one half, wear large beaver 
hats, like the men, instead of bonnets; though it is 
apparent the modern bonnet is making inroads every¬ 
where on the steeple crowned beaver. 
Milking Ewes.—I observed for the first time in 
Anglesea, the milking of ewes. They are kept in a 
flock, by themselves, and tethered with leather thongs, 
are driven into the yard at night, and the milk maid 
sits behind them, and soon performs her work. The 
quantity of milk I should think over a pint, usually-— 
from this they ordinarily make cheese. I did not have 
an opportunity of testing its quality. Fuel is scarce, 
and turf fires are very common. 
Oat cakes are among the principal articles used. A 
large griddle, from eighteen inches to two feet in diam¬ 
eter, is suspended in their deep, old fashioned fire pla¬ 
ces, and straw kindled under them, and the cakes, the 
whole size of the griddle, are very soon cooked, and 
they are laid upon poles suspended in the kitchen, 
where they roll up as they dry, and are used as they 
may be wanted. They are soaked in milk usually, and 
make a very palatable and highly nourishing diet. 
They keep a long time, and are used by the Welsh, 
when they cross the ocean, instead of sea biscuit. 
The Welsh villages are built with low cottages of 
one story, the roof not more than seven feet from the 
ground, covered mostly with straw—the walls white¬ 
washed. The streets are very narrow; and generally 
each village has some peculiar trade which is the lead¬ 
ing branch of business. In one village, LLanerchymdd , 
(pronounced Clanerchymede,) I noticed an entire block 
of double houses occupied wholly by shoemakers, there 
being, I presume, from 80 to 100 shops. 
Fairs.—I was present at several Welsh fairs. One 
at the village above-named, -was for cattle, horses, and 
domestic animals. The stock was mostly black cattle, 
cows and lean cattle. They did not give evidence of 
all the superiority which I had anticipated from An¬ 
glesea cattle, still there were some very good animals. 
The horses were mostly farm horses, though there were 
a few good roadsters. Poultry, eggs, stockings, and 
domestic articles, were in abundance. The women had 
the entire charge of the cattle, leading them around, 
and making sales, using a language truly unintelligible 
to an American. The gathering of the people was 
large-—girls, with their high crowned, hats, in great 
numbers. Each swain took his damsel into the public 
houses, and .here the scenes were far different from any 
often witnessed in this country. Desirous of seeing all 
that was going on, I went into these houses, where I 
found the girls being treated by their companions to 
gin, beer, porter, See.; and I caused no little astonish¬ 
ment to many of the fair dames when, on being called 
on to partake with them, I declined. I found a great 
desire among these girls to come to America, and I 
had many offers from them to come over and work at 
my own price, to pay for their passage. Well might 
they desire it, as they seldom receive more than twenty 
dollars a year, and have to perform labor in the field in 
addition to their household duties, which cannot be of 
the easiest character. 
The tenant farmers, who regulate the prices at these 
fairs, were present in considerable numbers; and they 
enjoyed themselves together with a very liberal supply 
of drinking materials, of a far better quality than that 
used in the tap-room. What a field is Wales for some 
Of GBEAT BRITAIN—Mo. 9. 
Hawkins or Gough to lecture in 1 I was invited to 
talk in one of the parishes on temperance; but the 
number of those who could understand English well is 
comparatively few. At all these fairs, bankers attend 
to furnish money to the dealers, as the sales are almost 
invariably made for Cash. Here was a small room, 
with a sign over the door, “ Branch of the Bank of 
England.” 
Education.— Education is attended to among the 
Welsh, and very few are found who cannot read or 
write. I was ^amused with an English schoolmaster, 
whom I met at one of their villages, who was teacher 
for some private families. Learning I was from Ame¬ 
rica, he was very free to converse upon his success in 
educating the Welsh. He spoke much of the deficiency 
of books for small scholars, and expressed much satis¬ 
faction that he had been so fortunate as to procure one 
of the most popular spelling-books from America, 
which exceeded everything he had ever heard of. u It 
was just the thing,” he said, 11 and would make a great 
revolution in education.” I supposed, of course, that 
either Noah Webster’s, or Cobb’s, or Lawrence’s, or 
some of our widely circulated books, was the one he 
had so fortunately procured, and I asked him to show 
it me, when he presented me with the “ Sunday School 
Spelling Book !”—a very good book indeed, but far less 
extensive than those named. Yet this was a great ad¬ 
vance on the elementary works used. I found, on ex¬ 
amining their works for small children, a very great 
deficiency in many parts of the kingdom. Their schools 
are frequently in towns, kept in dark, damp cellars, 
where the wonder is that they live long enough to learn 
anything. The teachers were frequently quite old 
men, and in many cases I found that if nature had been 
bountiful to them, education had not added very much 
in preparing them for their work. 
I attended a fair at Holyhead, which is the extreme 
point of Anglesea, and the nearest port to Ireland, 
from which mail steamers ply daily to Dublin, about 
sixty miles. There was nothing especially different 
from the fair before alluded to. This is about eighty 
miles from Liverpool. A royal harbor is being built 
here which will enclose about 300 acres, and a railroad 
is in progress from Chester to Holyhead, which will 
open direct railway communication with London. The 
town is situated on a rocky prominence, and the rail¬ 
way passes through a tunnel under the whole town to 
the harbor. George the IY, on his return from a visit 
to Ireland during his reign, landed at Holyhead, and 
gave the name of the Royal Harbor to it, and some 
splendid memorials have been erected here to his Ma¬ 
jesty. An extensive pier has been erected, which ex¬ 
tends several hundred feet from the shore, from which 
the steamers start. A splendid arch is erected at the 
upper end of this pier, commemorative of the landing 
of his Majesty, which is a fine specimen of workman¬ 
ship and design, with appropriate inscriptions. A short 
distance from the town, on a commanding eminence, 
overlooking the harbor and channel, is a very hand¬ 
some pillar or monument erected, commemorating the 
same event. 
Agricultural Societies, Premiums, &c. —Angle¬ 
sea has an Agricultural Society which is doing much 
to improve the husbandry of the Island. Some of the 
premiums seem rather strange to Americans, but simi¬ 
lar ones are given at many if not all the county asso¬ 
ciations. I give a few: 
<c To the male servant in husbandry, who has served 
