A somewhat different description of _Cwn Annwn_ is given in the
_Cambro-Briton_, vol. i., p. 350. Here we are told that "these terrific
animals are supposed to be devils under the semblance of hunting dogs . .
. and they are usually accompanied by fire in some form or other. Their
appearance is supposed to indicate the death of some friend or relative
of the person to whom they shew themselves. They have never been known
to commit any mischief on the persons of either man or woman, goat,
sheep, or cow, etc."

In Motley's _Tales of the Cymry_, p. 58, that author says:--"I have met
with but a few old people who still cherished a belief in these infernal
hounds which were supposed after death to hunt the souls of the wretched
to their allotted place of torment."

It was, however, once firmly and generally believed, that these awful
creatures could be heard of a wild stormy night in full cry pursuing the
souls of the unbaptized and unshriven. Mr. Chapman, Dolfor, near
Newtown, Montgomeryshire, writes to me thus:--"These mysterious animals
are never seen, only heard. A whole pack were recently heard on the
borders of Radnorshire and Montgomeryshire. They went from the Kerry
hills towards the Llanbadarn road, and a funeral quickly followed the
same route. The sound was similar to that made by a pack of hounds in
full cry, but softer in tone."

The Rev. Edmund Jones, in his work entitled "An Account of Apparitions of
Spirits in the county of Monmouth," says that, "The nearer these dogs are
to a man, the less their voice is, and the farther the louder, and
sometimes, like the voice of a great hound, or like that of a blood
hound, a deep hollow voice." It is needless to say that this gentleman
believed implicitly in the existence of _Cwn Annwn_, and adduces
instances of their appearance.

The following is one of his tales:--

"As Thomas Andrews was coming towards home one night with some
persons with him, he heard, as he thought, the sound of hunting. He
was afraid it was some person hunting the sheep, so he hastened on to
meet, and hinder them; he heard them coming towards him, though he
saw them not. When they came near him, their voices were but small,
but increasing as they went from him; they went down the steep
towards the river _Ebwy_, dividing between this parish and
_Mynyddislwyn_, whereby he knew they were what are called _Cwn wybir_
(Sky dogs), but in the inward par