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troughs, and the copper quality is extracted from it by a very curious procefs; great quantities of fulphur alfo are produced, and its fublimation is carried on in various fpots upon the mountain, till at laft the whole is collected in fome large boiling houfes, and formed into rolls of brimstone. The copper ore is then carried down in carts or fledges to fome fmelting-houfes conftructed in the valley below, near the fea-fide, where every remaining operation is performed with the utmost care and regularity.

In confequence of the riches extracted from this mountain, the neighbouring vil lage of Amlwch has rifen into eminence, which Lord Uxbridge and Mr. Hughes (the two great proprietors of the mines) have adorned with two elegant houfes for their occafional refidence, calling one the Mona, and the other the Paris lodge. The little port of Amlwch is placed in a fmall cove among the cliffs, about half a mile below the village, and admirably formed to receive and arrange the feveral veffels which are employed in the copper and brimstone trade. It often alfo affords a safe haven to thofe fhips which in their paffage from Ireland are driven to the north-eaft round the point of Holyhead, and cannot make that harbour.

Returning through the difmal village of Llanerchymydd to Gwyndu, we foon left the island of Anglesea, and repaffed the Menai ftraits at Bangor ferry, from whence an excellent road, commanding a variety of fine profpects on the coaft, led us to Caernarvon. The wooded bank of the Anglesea fhore stretched far before us on our right, decorated with a noble old feat of the Earl of Uxbridge, while below it the great channel of the Menai ftraits perpetually varied its form, prefenting in one point of view a large navigable river, and in others the bafin of a fine lake, encompaffed by an amphitheatre of thick groves. The country immediately surrounding us was extremely pleasant, being interfperfed with various gentle acclivities, which formed the entrance to as many wooded vallies, and penetrated in fight into the hollows of thofe high impending mountains which hid Snowdon from our view. At length all the attendant scenery became expanded, and as we approached Caernarvon, the towers of its mighty castle stood boldly forward before its embattled walls, juft where the fea, emerging from its ftraits, and affuming its proper form, mixed with St. George's Channel, and wafhed the rocky fhore on the fouth-west of Anglesea near Newburgh. The neatness and regularity of this town, its delightful fituation, and the pleasant walk on its quay, with its accommodation for fea bathing, have induced feveral English fa milies to make it their fummer refidence, for the purpose of avoiding the crowded inconvenience of the more polished, but lefs fimple, public places in the fouth of England; hence has Caernarvon, like Swansea and Tenby in South Wales, acquired much improvement and a fuperior difplay of elegance from the resort of strangers, ftill preferving its original features.

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Caernarvon, like Conway, is walled round, and its walls and gates are entire; was made a free borough by Edward I., the royal founder of its caftle. That magnificent fortrefs was finifhed in 1284, and was wonderfully fituated for ftrength before the introduction of artillery, ftanding on an infulated neck of land, almoft furrounded by the fea and the river Seiont. This rival of Conway in its fplendor now languishes in a fimilar ftate of decay, and threatens by a speedy downfall, to deprive the country of one of its principal ornaments. A grand gateway, with a ftatue of its founder over it, guarded by four portculliffes beneath a lofty tower, introduced us to the great oblong court of the cafile. The towers of this court are high and angular, with turrets of the fame kind rifing from their tops, three of which decorate the great Eagle tower, in which we were fhewn the apartment famous for the birth of Edward II, the first

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English Prince of Wales. The noble profpect, however, which its fummit affords is much more fatisfactory to a traveller than the display of a small dark room, celebrated only for having produced the most weak and degenerate of our monarchs.-There are fome remains of the ancient Segontium near this town, and a fummer-house on the oppofite hill occupies the fite of a Roman fort. The walk to this eminence is pleasant, and it commands an extenfive view over the fea, the Straits, Anglefea, and the mountains, but it has lately been unmercifully stripped of the fine wood with which the whole hill was clothed.

An excurfion from Caernarvon, rather curious than pleasant, tempted us to explore the long neck of land which forms the extreme point of its county, and making one horn of the great bay of Cardigan, unites the two parts of the principality towards the fea. Our road lay for many miles immediately on the fhore, with fine views of the extremity of Anglesea on the right, and a high chain of mountains in front, marked by the vast indented fummits of the rock called Porthyndyllern Head, near the extre mity of the peninfula. Clofe under its bafe we croffed this neck of land, and defcending to the other coaft, came in fight of the vaft expanfe of Cardigan bay, backed by the mountains of Merionethfhire, and thofe extending from the conflux of the Dovey with the fea to Aberystwith and Cardigan. A more extraordinary amphitheatre of mountainous nature can hardly be imagined, arranging itself with small intervals around one of the largest bays in Great Britain. It reminded me fomewhat of the grand difplay of the north-eaft bay of Scotland; but the oppofite coaft was more distant, and the boundary lefs eminently striking than that of the vast mountains of Sutherland and Rofsfhire, ftretching down to the Firths of Dornoch and Cromartie, and oppofed by thofe of Inverness and Aberdeenfhires. In a cove close upon the shore, we found the little fifhing town of Pwlwhelli, which, though a very poor place, is the principal one in this ill-inhabited district.. -Proceeding nearly eastward along the fhore towards the centre of the bay, we foon reached another town called Crickheith, diftinguished only by the ruin of its caftle on a high mount, nearly oppofite to the grand object difplayed by that of Harlech on a bold eminence of the Merionethfhire coaft. Our road now began to grow very indifferent, and several hills, dangerously steep, brought us to the wretched village of Penmorva, not far from which a road full of perils leads over the fands into Merionethfhire, forming the nearest route from Caernarvon to Dolgelly. We pursued it no further, but fatisfied with the short view we had taken of this part of the country, and disgusted with its bad roads and accommodations, we re-croffed the peninfula by a very arduous and uninteresting tract of hills, to Caer

narvon.

CHAP.

CHAP. IV. - Progress from Caernarvon through the Snowdonia, fome of its Mountains and Iakes.-Tranfient View of Y,Wyddfa, or the Peak of Snowdon.-Bethkelert.Grand Pafs of the Pont-Aberglafslyn.-Wildness of the Merionethfhire Mountains, and beautiful Contrast of the Defcent into the Vale of Feftiniog.--Striking Beauty of Tan-yBwlch.-Great Improvements in its District.—Excurfions to Feftiniog, Rhaidr Du, and Harlech Castle.-Intelligence of the Inhabitants in this Part of the Country, and their Attachment to the Harp.- Pleafing Accommodation at the Inn of Tan-y-Bwlch.-Cataract of Dolymyllyn.-Falls of the Cayne and Mothwage.Dolgelly.-Comparative Height of Cader Idris and Snowdon.-Fine Ride to Barmouth.-Lake and Town of Bala. -Pafs of Glyndiffis.—Corwen-- Beauties of Glenwedwy, or the Valley of the Dee.Vale Crufis Abbey.-Charming Pofition of Llangollen and its Cottage.--Dinas Braan Castle.-Pafs of the Berouin Mountain to Llanrhaidr.-Bareness and Grandeur of the Piftill Rhaidr.

OUR grand object now was to explore the wonders of the Snowdonia, that immense pile of mountains, which encircle the mighty lord of this vaft domain; but the inceffant ftorms peculiar to this unequal diftrict, and attended with strong gufts of wind, in great part fruftrated the enterprize. In vain have I at two different feafons, attempted to vifit the lake of Llanberis, and on that fide to take the moft advantageous view of Snowdon, but each time have I been baffled by the severity of the climate, which pursued me with unremitting adversity.- -We were obliged therefore to content ourselves with the direct pafs by Bethkelert, and entering the great defile of the mountains, took our farewell of all the beautiful objects which had so long attracted our attention on the coaft of Caernarvon fhire, together with the funshine which had enlivened them.The great cataract of Ys-Gwyrfa foon difplayed itfelf before us, and we paffed in filent amazement under the vaft mountains of Moel-Eleàn, CaftelCedwin, and Mwnwdd Vawr, the latter of which rose immediately from the great pool of the Cwellwyn lake, near the end of which the valley opened, and Y,Wyddfa, the lofty peak of Snowdon, appeared high in view above its fubordinate fummits. It was in vain again that we tried on this quarter to climb the fide of this British atlas; a misty fky and a tempeftuous day continued to refift cur efforts; and obliged us, after a fruitlefs wandering about its rocky base, to take fhelter in a miferable hovel at Bethkelert. From thence the wild afpect of the country frowned on us with the utmoft afperity, and the rigor of an inclement feafon added fresh horror and majesty to the grand pafs of Pont-Aberglafslyn. The vaft ridges of mountains, ending in an immenfe perpendicular chain of rocks, which reared their afpiring heads far above the clouds, here impended over a deep hollow, through which rolled with favage impetuofity, that prodigious torrent which divides the counties of Caernarvon and Merioneth. Inceffant fiffures in the fides of thefe mountains prefented an infinite variety of gufhing cataracts, and increased the turbid ftream, which, precipitating itself in an abrupt fall under the arch of the bridge connecting the rocks and forming the pass, rushed with redoubled violence towards the fea. The grandeur of this scene is indefcribable, and it was followed by a continued feries of wild and rocky heights, fcarcely to be furmounted by the rude unequal track we purfued, while feveral vaft torrents perpetually croffing it, threatened to interrupt its courfe. Agriculture feemed entirely banished from these tremendous wastes, and a few goats and sheep, the only denizens of this favage coun

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