For want of a more extensive area of shelter, and deeper water, great destruction of shipping has occurred on the rocks outside, by vessels endeavouring to reach the Pier. Since 1811, thirty ships have been on shore, nineteen of which were totally lost. Yet, with the present limited space, above twelve hundred sail, of more than one thousand tonnage, exclusive of the packets, have taken shelter here during the last few years, driven in by storms and adverse gales.

A plan has been proposed to make an outer harbour, sufficiently spacious to admit merchant vessels and men-of-war at all times. This would be a grand improvement; for the bay presents a fine spacious opening, one half sheltered, with lights on each side of its entrance. It is, moreover, centrally situated in St. George's Channel, in the track of all its trade; and presents the only station from the Land's End to the Clyde, on the east side of the channel (excepting Milford), to which vessels can approach when the tide has considerably ebbed.

I trust the Commissioners will proceed with the proposed extension of the harbour without delay; for the advantages in a local and national view must be obvious to every one. It would become the asylum-port of the channel, and afford an excellent station for King's ships. Their communication with the Admiralty would be most direct, and the vessels could readily proceed to sea, either by the north or south channel. Here, too, the trade could rendezvous in time of war, and it would prove a place of protection from the enemy. But, at present, Holyhead offers the most inviting point for an enemy's attack, as most of the merchant-ships pass within a short distance of it, besides numerous steam packets, coasting vessels, and traders.

Being a fine day I determined on inspecting the South Stack,* an insulated rock, situated about four miles from Holyhead, on

* The traveller by day, who, in his passage up or down channel, nears the eastern shores, must have observed a white tower, posted, like a sentinel, on the brow of a low hummock, apparently forming a projecting ledge from the seaward base of Caer gybi, or

which a conspicuous lighthouse is erected, through the zeal and ability of Captain Evans. Our little pinnace, with its white sail, and manned by four stout seamen, was soon waiting to convey us on our cruise. The atmosphere was clear, and the weather calm, but accompanied by those sudden fresh breezes which advancing autumn brings. The boat bore off the coast to the distance required, drawing nearer the rocks, or receding at pleasure, to gain as full and varied a view of the scene as possible. In wildness and stern grandeur of aspect, no place, assuredly, can surpass portion of the Anglesey coast. About midway of the voyage we proceeded with great difficulty; calm as it appeared, owing to the strong currents, we were soon obliged to lower sail, and take to the oars with long and strong pulls.

this

As we advanced, the grand promontory, with its towering, precipitous cliffs, its magnificent caverned rocks, and bleak indented sides, appeared to the utmost advantage. The effect, as

we drew nearer and nearer within the verge of these tremendous caverns, was appalling. At least, when we came under the black shadows of the super-ambient rocks, and approached the dismal chasms, and heard the wild, plaintive cry of the sea-birds, wheeling above our heads, it was impossible not to feel sensations equally novel and solemn. Grand receding arches of different

the mountain of Holyhead. On approaching still nearer, he will perceive that this hummock is, in fact, an island, torn from the main mass, but connected therewith by a link, at a distance resembling the gauze-work of a gossamer, which, in its fall, had accidently caught upon the corresponding projections of the disjointed rocks. Let him look a little longer, and he will now and then detect minute objects passing to and fro, and come to the obvious conclusion, that this aërial pathway is neither more nor less than a connecting ladder of accommodation formed by the hand of man. The speck by night, the white tower by day, with its hummock and fairy bridge, comprise what is called the South Stack; and, taken altogether, it forms a prominent feature in the bold, romantic scenery of this iron-bound coast, and combines so many objects worthy of notice, natural and artificial, that, be the observer what he may, poet, philosopher, mechanist, or naturalist, he will find wherewithal to excite his curiosity, and reward his labour, in visiting a spot which has not many rivals in its kind in the wide world.-Blackwood's Magazine, Feb. 1831; 'South Stack.' (Ascribed to the Rev. Edward Stanley, M.A., F.L.S., Rector of Alderley.)

shapes, supported by pillars of rock, exhibit a strange magnificence-a wild and savage beauty, mingled with a dread repose, which continues to haunt the imagination even after quitting the scene.* Seated among the rocks, or whirling in airy circles above and around us, I saw the various birds which seek these solitary abodes. I could not look upon them without an interest seldom inspired by the tamer species. Whether curlews, gulls, razor-bills, guillemots, cormorants, or herons, there is something wild, romantic, and eccentric in their habits and appearance, which produce ideas of solitude and freedom; for we feel that they are not our slaves, but commoners of nature. On one of the loftiest crags, I observed what I took to be a peregrine falcon, one of those feudal warriors who has survived his fameno longer the companion of courts and fashionables.

There are few objects more interesting than the appearance of the South Stack, when approaching it from the water. Its singularly novel aspect, its wild site and deserted air,-the lighthouse towering seventy feet in height,-the neat, comfortable buildings close under its guardian wing,-the sounds of life and industry mingled with the lashing of the sea,—and the cry of innumerable birds, ever circling above and around, were altogether of so unwonted a character, that had I been suddenly transported to the antipodes I could not have felt more unfeigned surprize. And when, having ascended its steep and rocky stairs, I gazed from the summit of the lighthouse on the wilderness of waters far around, and descending entered the quiet, pleasant retreat, which

*Here the empire of birds commences, and is continued with little interruption, though with singular selection and variety, for a considerable distance along the more inaccessible heights of the coast. One of the most singular circumstances connected with this associated location, is the absolute line of demarcation and boundary observed on both sides; each species taking a separate site, and never intruding on the appropriated districts of a neighbouring tribe. The guillemots and razor-bills nestle for the most part in their holes and corners; the gulls are scattered with rather a more latitudinarian spirit over the whole surface; while the cormorants usually sojourn on a somewhat lower range, as if more suitable to their heavy awkward flight. But most select and ascetic, as far as communication with others is concerned, are the herons.'-Blackwood.

the master has established here, and saw the neatness and comfort of every thing, I began to think I was perhaps only reading too abstractedly some old fairy tale. But Captain Evans soon convinced me to the contrary by introducing me to an excellent dinner, in which there was nothing dreamy or unsubstantial, though it appeared, indeed, conjured from the vasty deep! During the afternoon I amused myself in scrambling down the South Stack to the water's edge-in observing the myriads of gulls standing on the ledges of the rock, or flying about in all directions*— in examining the suspension bridge-and scaling the towering acclivity above, from which the island and lighthouse appear but diminutive objects; while the ever varying ocean was enlivened by numerous vessels passing up or down the channel.

The suspension bridge which connects the South Stack rock with the Head, was erected in 1827, at the suggestion and under the superintendence of Captain Evans. It is over a chasm nearly one hundred feet in width, and built on the same principles as the Menai-two chain cables across, firmly fixed in the rocks on each side. It is five feet wide, and seventy feet above high-water mark. Previously, to see the lighthouse, persons were wafted over the abyss in a kind of basket, which was also used for the purpose of conveying the necessaries of life in stormy weather.

Upon our return, also, by sea, the captain pointed out the several spots where the wrecks of vessels had occurred; and

*The gulls, at the breeding season, so numerous on the island and adjacent coast, disperse themselves for the rest of the year; and are never seen congregated in great numbers, except when attracted by shoals of herrings or some similar cause; but it is positively asserted by light-keepers, as a very extraordinary fact, that they all instinctively return to the South Stack during the same might, on or about the 10th of February; and retire, with the exception of those that, having been robbed on the main, had resorted to the island to renew the labours of incubation, about the night of the 12th of August. The keepers state that, in the middle of the former night, they are warned of their arrival by a great noise, as it were a mutual greeting and cheering; adding, that they look to their return as that of so many old acquaintances, after a long absence, announcing the Winter to be over, and Spring approaching '-Rev. Edward Stanley's Familiar History of Birds.