ocodile had disappeared from the lands, where the Cumric language was
spoken, the name afanc was applied to the beaver, probably his successor
in the pool, the beaver now called in Cumric Llostlydan, or the broad-
tailed, for tradition's voice is strong that the beaver has at one time
been called the afanc.' Then I wondered whether the pool before me had
been the haunt of the afanc, considered both as crocodile and beaver. I
saw no reason to suppose that it had not. 'If crocodiles,' thought I,
'ever existed in Britain, and who shall say that they have not, seeing
that their remains have been discovered, why should they not have haunted
this pool? If beavers ever existed in Britain, and do not tradition and
Giraldus say that they have, why should they not have existed in this
pool?

'At a time almost inconceivably remote, when the hills around were
covered with woods, through which the elk and the bison and the wild cow
strolled, when men were rare throughout the lands and unlike in most
things to the present race--at such a period--and such a period there has
been--I can easily conceive that the afanc-crocodile haunted this pool,
and that when the elk or bison or wild cow came to drink of its waters
the grim beast would occasionally rush forth, and seizing his bellowing
victim, would return with it to the deeps before me to luxuriate at his
ease upon its flesh. And at a time less remote, when the crocodile was
no more, and though the woods still covered the hills, and wild cattle
strolled about, men were more numerous than before, and less unlike the
present race, I can easily conceive this lake to have been the haunt of
the afanc-beaver, that he here built cunningly his house of trees and
clay, and that to this lake the native would come with his net and his
spear to hunt the animal for his precious fur. Probably if the depths of
that pool were searched relics of the crocodile and the beaver might be
found, along with other strange things connected with the periods in
which they respectively lived. Happy were I if for a brief space I could
become a Cingalese that I might swim out far into that pool, dive down
into its deepest part and endeavour to discover any strange things which
beneath its surface may lie.' Much in this guise rolled my thoughts as I
lay stretched on the margin of the lake.

* * * * *

'Pray, gentleman, walk in!' said the miller; 'we are going to have our
afternoon's meal, and shall be rejo