have. I may be permitted to express a hope that the
subject will not be neglected, and that those who reside in any
neighbourhood where the noises are heard will carefully investigate
their cause, and, if possible, give to the world a more accurate
account of them than the present. In the year 1799 they were heard
in some mines in the parish of Llanvihangel Ysgeiviog, in Anglesea,
where they continued, at intervals, for some weeks."

Bingley's _North Wales_, vol. ii., p. 275.

In conclusion, I may remark that in living miners' days, as already
stated, Knockers have not been heard. Possibly Davy's Safety Lamp and
good ventilation have been their destruction. Their existence was
believed in when mining operations, such as now prevail, were unknown,
and their origin is to be sought for among the dim traditions that many
countries have of the existence of small cave men.

_The Pwka_, _or Pwca_.

Another imaginary being, closely allied to the Fairy family, was the
_Pwka_. He seems to have possessed many of the mischievous qualities of
Shakespeare's Puck, whom, also, he resembled in name, and it is said that
the _Pwka_, in common with the _Brownie_, was a willing worker.

The Rev. Edmund Jones in his _Book of Apparitions_ gives an account of
one of these goblins, which visited the house of Job John Harry, who
lived at a place called the Trwyn, and hence the visitor is called Pwka'r
Trwyn, and many strange tales are related of this spirit. The writer of
the _Apparitions_ states that the spirit stayed in Job's house from some
time before Christmas until Easter Wednesday. He writes:--"At first it
came knocking at the door, chiefly by night, which it continued to do for
a length of time, by which they were often deceived, by opening it. At
last it spoke to one who opened the door, upon which they were much
terrified, which being known, brought many of the neighbours to watch
with the family. T. E. foolishly brought a gun with him to shoot the
spirit, as he said, and sat in the corner. As Job was coming home that
night the spirit met him, and told him that there was a man come to the
house to shoot him, 'but,' said he, 'thou shalt see how I will beat him.'
As soon as Job was come to the house stones were thrown at the man that
brought the gun, from which he received severe blows. The company tried
to defend him from the blows of the stones, which did strike him and no
other person; bu