DOLWYDDELLAN CASTLE.

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THE VILLAGE of DolywddeLAN is about a mile from the castle, and from its mountainous situation is altogether secluded from the world. It is composed of little else than small cottages, and the number of its inhabitants is 601.

From Dolywddelan a pleasant mountain way leads to PENMACHNO, a village situated near the source of the river Machno; it contains 984 inhabitants and is singular in appearance, the houses being built almost in a circle surrounding the church.

Near the junction of the Machno with the Conway there is a pretty fall on the former river.

At the distance of about four miles to the south-east of Penmachno is YSPYTTY EVAN, now a small village, but so called, it has been conjectured, from its having formerly contained a house belonging to the Knights Hospitallers or knights of St. John of Jerusalem. The word spytty being probably derived from hospitium. This had the privilege of a sanctuary, and the place of course became a receptacle for thieves and murderers. "It was," says Sir John Wynne, "a wasp's nest which troubled the whole country." Being beyond the reach of invaders the place was always fully peopled; and its inhabitants, extending their plundering excursions on all sides to the distance of twenty or thirty miles, rendered themselves the terror of the adjacent country. Such indeed were the ravages they committed that nearly all the neighbouring people were driven to seek for refuge and security beyond their reach.

ASCENT OF SNOWDON.*

To ascend Snowdon from Capel Curig, the tourist must proceed direct as far as the top of the pass of Llanberis, and then, striking out of the road to the left, begin a slanting ascent over a green shoulder of the mountain. Among the

* For a description of Snowdon, see Chapters XI. and XII.

neighbouring rocks copper is mined, and a zigzag path has been formed for the convenience of the miners, which crosses a ridge of the mountain at a point called Bwlch Glas, whence it descends to the Beddgelert and Caernarvon road near Llyn Cwellyn. The tourist will do well to follow this road as far as Bwlch Glas, and from thence to the summit of Snowdon the ascent is easy.

CHAPTER IV.

CAPEL CURIG TO BANGOR,

(14 Miles.)

Y Trivaen-Llyn Ogwen-Rhaiadr Benglog-Nant Frangon-Carnedd David-Carnedd Llewelyn-Mr. Pennant's Slate Quarries-Ogwen Bank-Penhryn Castle-Monuments in Llandegai Church-Port Penhryn-Bangor-History of Bangor Cathedral.-Menai Bridge.

LEAVING Capel Curig the road winds round the foot of

Y TRIVAEN,

The three Summits, so called from its appearing on one side to have three separate heads. It is singular, from having on its highest point two tall upright stones, which from below have the appearance of two men standing together. These are each about fourteen feet high, and they are not more than a yard and a half asunder. So exact is their resemblance to human figures, (for the eye does not take cognizance of their distance, and consequently their real size remains unnoticed,) that many travellers have been deceived into fancying them a Welsh tourist and his guide. Just before the thirty-seventh milestone from Holyhead these two stones assume the above appearance, and about a mile further on, another excrescence comes into view, which resembles a man ascending one of the summits.

Further on, to the right of the road, is LLYN OGWEN, a

* This mountain is more particularly mentioned in an ensuing Chapter.

E

small lake, well stocked with trout and some other kinds of fish common to mountain pools. Here is the source of the little river Ogwen. Betwixt Trivaen and Braich Du, a mountain on the right, the road winds over a steep rock called Ben Glog, (so called perhaps from its being situated at the upper end of Nant Frangon), and from beneath may be seen the three falls of the Ogwen. These are called

RHAIADR BEnglog,

The Cataracts of Benglog; and they are so fine that the traveller in search of romantic scenery will be highly gratified by visiting them, and although he must subject himself to a scramble in order to obtain a good view of them, yet he will be repaid for his trouble and inconvenience in so doing. The highest fall is grand and majestic, yet by no means equal to the other two. At the second or middle fall the river is precipitated, in a fine stream, through a chasm between two perpendicular rocks that each rise several yards above. The mountain Trivaen fills up the wide space at the top and forms a rude and sublime distance. The stream widens as it descends, and below passes over a slanting rock, which gives it a somewhat different direction. In the foreground is the rugged bed of the stream, and the water is seen to dash in various directions among the broken masses of rock. Descending a rocky steep he will reach the lowest fall. Here the stream roars with vast fury, and in one sheet of foam, down an unbroken and almost perpendicular rock. The roar of the water and the broken and uncouth disposition of the surrounding rocks add greatly to the interest of the scene.

Leaving Ben Glog the road leads through

NANT FRANGON.

51

NANT FRANGON,

The Beavers' Hollow, so called from its having been formerly frequented by these animals. This tremendous glen is destitute of wood, and bears but few marks of cultivation, except in a narrow slip of meadow that lies along its bottom. The sides, however, which are truly

sufficiently repay their want of verdure, by the pleasing and fantastic appearance of the rocks that compose them, which rise abruptly from their base and stretch their barren points into the clouds. Looking back, the mountains at the upper end of this hollow form a scene singularly grand; on each side the hollow appears guarded by a huge conical rock, Trivaen on the right and Braich Du on the left. These with Glyder Bach and Glyder Fawr, the Lesser and Greater Glyder, and some others, fill up the distance, and so close the vale, that no access could possibly be supposed to be had from beyond them.

In the year 1685, part of one of the impending cliffs at the upper end of this vale became so undermined by storms and rain, that losing its hold, it fell down in several immense masses, and in its passage along one of the steep and shaggy cliffs, dislodged some hundreds of other pieces. Many of these were intercepted in their progress into the vale, but a quantity reached the bottom, sufficient to entirely destroy a small piece of meadow ground, and several of the fragments when thrown down rested at least 200 yards asunder. In this accident one great stone, the largest remaining piece of the upper rock, made in its descent a trench as large as those in which the mountain streams usually run. When it arrived at the plain it continued its