are mostly covered with white lichen. When the observer is seated on the hill above the falls, the opposite mountain of Penrhos is seen closing the extent of the vale. On this hill are two copper mines, and on Vigra, Cae Mawr, Penrhos, and Dolyfrwynog, are several others.

Passing over Pont Camlan, I regained the road towards Maentwrog, and crossed a bridge over a bold river, which I thought to be the Mawddach. Here the country is richly wooded, and the hazle, the hawthorn, the honeysuckle, and blackberry intermingle in the hedges. A ramble of about two miles brought me to the noble cataract of the Mawddach, where the river foams over high rocks, and where the scenery is exceedingly grand and picturesque. Not far from this fall is another of greater extent, called Pistyll y Cayne, but I did not see it to much advantage from a continuance of dry weather. Viewed, however, from the summit of the hill, with the magnificence of the prospect below, the rich, dark woods and the bold hills, the scene at once rivets and enchants the eye.

Rambling on my solitary way towards Transfynydd, I was considerably amused, on meeting the villagers and market women, to observe their tenacious love of the large, round beaver hat, the full sleeves, and dressy neck-kerchiefs. They looked cheerful and happy, and were mostly engaged in knitting as they passed by me; no bad example, I thought, to the young and old in other countries.

As I proceeded, the scenery soon became changed for features of a more sombre hue, with coarse, bleak heath, which continued till I reached Transfynydd. Almost every village in the Principality has some natural curiosity or remnant of antiquity, which, in the eyes of a tourist, confers a degree of interest on its neighbourhood, and Transfynydd is not, in this respect, without its attractions. A common near it is traversed by a Roman road, supposed to have been constructed by Helena, daughter of a British prince, and wife of the Emperor Maximus. It is at present only to be distinguished by its elevation above the general

level of the plain, being completely covered with turf; but on digging, the several layers of stones with which it is formed are easily discovered. Cromlechs, also, and carnedds are numerous in the hills, which, though now bare, were anciently, in many places, covered with forests of oak.

Arriving within about three miles from Maentwrog, I turned by a cross road to the right for Ffestiniog. It was here I observed

a remarkable effect,-I might say, as regarded my own experience, a natural phenomenon, though by no means considered so, I was told, at this period of the year, in Wales,—that of the sky around being heavy and black, with the clouds resting on the hills, while the sun shone brightly on the wooded and green mountain of Moelwyn, at a distance of four miles, by which the perspective illusion of every object appearing close to and clearly before the eye was produced. Passing over Pont Cynfael, I soon reached Ffestiniog, which is built on an eminence overlooking the picturesque vale.