ss leading up a
steep mountain. Seeing the door of one of the houses open I peeped in,
and a woman who was sitting knitting in the interior rose and came out to
me. I asked the name of the place. The name which she told me sounded
something like Ty Capel Saer--the House of the Chapel of the Carpenter.
I inquired the name of the river in the valley. Cynllwyd, hoary-headed,
she seemed to say; but here, as well as with respect to her first answer,
I speak under correction, for her Welsh was what my old friends, the
Spaniards, would call muy cerrado, that is, close or indistinct. She
asked me if I was going up the bwlch. I told her I was.

"Rather you than I," said she, looking up to the heavens, which had
assumed a very dismal, not to say awful, appearance.

Presently I began to ascend the pass or bwlch, a green hill on my right
intercepting the view of Arran, another very lofty hill on my left with
wood towards the summit. Coming to a little cottage which stood on the
left I went to the door and knocked. A smiling young woman opened it, of
whom I asked the name of the house.

"Ty Nant--the House of the Dingle," she replied.

"Do you live alone?" said I.

"No; mother lives here."

"Any Saesneg?"

"No," said she with a smile, "S'sneg of no use here."

Her face looked the picture of kindness. I was now indeed in Wales
amongst the real Welsh. I went on some way. Suddenly there was a
moaning sound, and rain came down in torrents. Seeing a deserted cottage
on my left I went in. There was fodder in it, and it appeared to serve
partly as a barn, partly as a cow-house. The rain poured upon the roof,
and I was glad I had found shelter. Close behind this place a small
brook precipitated itself down rocks in four successive falls.

The rain having ceased I proceeded, and after a considerable time reached
the top of the pass. From thence I had a view of the valley and lake of
Bala, the lake looking like an immense sheet of steel. A round hill,
however, somewhat intercepted the view of the latter. The scene in my
immediate neighbourhood was very desolate; moory hillocks were all about
me of a wretched russet colour; on my left, on the very crest of the hill
up which I had so long been toiling, stood a black pyramid of turf, a
pole on the top of it. The road now wore nearly due west down a steep
descent. Arran was slightly to the north of me. I, however, soon lost
sight of it, as I went down the farther si