pass their time in tending their flocks, or in harvest work; while the women milk the cattle, and are occupied in their dairies: they milk both sheep and goats as well as cows. A goat yields daily about two quarts of milk, the sheep one. Of these they make butter for sale, and cheese for home consump

tion.

Their mode of living is very simple: Baracyrch, with a little hung smoke-dried goat, forms their principal food; while their drink consists of whey, or butter-milk, and a few bottles of cwrw, preserved as a cordial in case of illness. They are, as may be expected from their plain and humble way of living, a hardy race; and free from many of those chronic diseases which are the offspring and concomitants of luxury and dissipation. If medicine is deemed necessary, the vegetables in the vicinity furnish it; and it is administered by the advice of some skilful and venerable matron.

The season over, on the approach of the cold,' they return to their hen drefon, or winter habitations, where they enjoy the produce of their summer labours, and employ themselves in domestic concerns. It is usual for the head of the family to be skilled in, and to exercise every trade necessary for their mode of life; as that of mason, carpenter, smith, wheelwright, shoemaker, taylor, &c. in which occupations the rest of the family assist him; and it is not a little gratifying to observe vith what varied ingenuity he performs the several operations of handicraft business.

The Bottoms consist of meadows abounding with some tolerable grasses, as FESTUCA OVINA, AGROSTIS CAPILLARIS, &c. but too often mixed with a variety of the CAREX & JUNCUs, with numerous ORCHIS'S and ASPHODELS, which render the scanty crops of hay still less valuable from the badness of the quality.

The vales were now enlivened by these indefatigable mountaineers, busy amidst their hay making; seizing the opportunity which a dry day afforded to secure it. Some were loading sledges, some with horses and panniers, and even men and women carrying it away upon their shoulders. The continued rains had almost spoiled the crop, and they would have been deprived of great part of this by the violent hurricanes, had it not been for the ingenious precaution which hard necessity has taught them; that of making very small cocks, and placing a broad flat stone a little inclined over each; which serves the double purpose of keeping them steady, and defending them from the wet. I wished them success,

* Whirlwinds, or small tornadoes, are very common: they commence by a distant rumbling noise, similar to that which precedes earthquakes in the West Indies; and are seen advancing up the Cwms and hollows in a circular direction, and carrying fern, rushes moss, slate, &c. with them; their hay, if unprotected, and frequently the summer dwellings. Mr. Jones, agent of the mines at Llanperis, relates, that some time since, some workmen he had employed to erect a wall on the adjoining hill were terrified by having their wooden boxes, in which they carried their provisions, snatched up suddenly by one of these eddies, and carried sixty yards high, which soon after fell, shattered to pieces.

while I lamented, that patient industry should be so ill repaid; as, after all the anxiety and labour, to have only a spare crop of coarse and ill-made hay. However, it was the reserve for the sustenance of their cattle, during the long winters generally experienced here, and the sole dependance for their preservation.

Winding round the base of the lofty Siabod, to the southward, the fine lake of Llyn y Gwynan stretches along the vale, about a mile in length, and half a one in breadth, with thick woods, (a pleasing rarity,) exhibiting the hoary spray of its numerous waterfalls, that rush down the rocks into the lake, to great advantage. advantage. A broad stream connects this with Llyn y ddinas, of equal extent, still confined by mountain-barriers, with a narrow strip of grass land on one side: the streams, flushed by rains, roared down the craggy steep on the other side; and in foaming eddies marked their course across the surface of the lake.

This is the much-admired varied vale of Nant Hwynant. The vast mountains that surround it, its transparent lakes, the numerous streams that water its verdant meads, the wild Avon Glas Llyn tumbling down the side of Snowdon from the lofty Ffynnon Las, its picturesque fall, and the hanging diversified woods, combine to entitle it to the appellation, Residence of Beauty. In this vale rises the remarkable elevation of Dinas Emris, clothed on all sides with wood, which makes a distinguished figure

P

in British story. The sides are very steep, and two large ramparts of stone are still visible.

Here* hapless Vortigern is said to have secured himself after the disasters that followed his impolitic treaty. A small hollow in an adjacent rock, is called Cell y Dewyniaid, or Cell of the Diviners, the attendants on the court of this British Prince. Among these the celebrated Merlin bore a distinguished part; whose story, while it serves to amuse, will give some idea of the credulity and pusillanimity, the vice and cowardice, of this early period of our history.

Vortigern, finding himself unable to cope with the Saxons, whom he had invited into his kingdom, had recourse to magic, to resist their arts and counteract their treachery. The oracular advice was, to build an impregnable fortress in Snowdon; the plan was resolved on, and the building begun but, as fast as the materials were collected by day, they were. removed by an invisible power by night.

The magicians were again convened. To throw an air of mystery over impossibility, they asserted, that no building would stand that was not sprinkled with the blood of a child, born without the assistance of a father.

The kingdom was searched; for metaphysical coalition, in an age when every thing was believed,

* Gwrtheyn is said to have attempted building a castle here. This is the Welsh name of Vortigern. Vid. Evans, Diss. de Bordag, p. 36.

was not deemed improbable. At length a trivial accident brought the marvellous being to light. Two boys were quarrelling, and one was overheard to call the other an unbegotten knave. The boy and his mother were instantly taken before the king: she confessed that her child was supernaturally begotten by an Incubus. The child was adjudged to be sacrificed; but he, puzzling the wise men with his questions, and giving a rational account of the failure, he was spared; obtained his liberty, and afterwards took the lead in the train of Necromancers. The

explanation he gave, doubtless put into his mouth by the contrivers of the scheme, was, that the fortress was erected in a deep morass; so that, as soon as the heavy stones were laid, they sunk beneath the surface.

Ambrosius, (for that was his original name,) was. the son of a noble Roman, and his mother a vestal virgin; she, having broken her vows to save her honour and life, invented this fable of a supernatural father; which the ignorance and credulity of the times easily admitted.*

He was called Myrddin Emrys; the name of Myrddin was patronymic from Merlinus Ambrosius; the surname he took from the Congress of Magicians that decided on his fate; and to distinguish him from another Merlin, (Wyllt) born in Scotland. He was an able mathematician, astronomer, and

Vid. Nennius Eulog. Brit. C. 42. Vid. H. Llwyd Cam. Brit.

.65.