osed he meant a
magazine of powder used for blasting in the mines. He had not a word of
English. . If the young girls were nimble with their feet, they were not
less so with their tongues, as they kept up an incessant gabble with each
other and with the guide. I understood little of what they said, their
volubility preventing me from catching more than a few words. After we
had gone about two miles and a half, they darted away with surprising
swiftness down a hill towards a distant house, where, as I learned from
my guide, the father of the eldest lived. We ascended a hill, passed
between two craggy elevations, and then wended to the south-east over a
strange, miry place, in which I thought any one at night not acquainted
with every inch of the way would run imminent risk of perishing. I
entered into conversation with my guide. After a little time he asked me
if I was a Welshman. I told him no.

"You could teach many a Welshman," said he.

"Why do you think so?" said I.

"Because many of your words are quite above my comprehension," said he.

"No great compliment," thought I to myself; but putting a good face upon
the matter I told him that I knew a great many old Welsh words.

"Is Potosi an old Welsh word?" said he.

"No," said I; "it is the name of a mine in the Deheubarth of America."

"Is it a lead mine?"

"No!" said I, "it is a silver mine."

"Then why do they call our mine, which is a lead mine, by the name of a
silver mine?"

"Because they wish to give people to understand," said I, "that it is
very rich--as rich in lead as Potosi in silver. Potosi is, or was, the
richest silver mine in the world, and from it has come at least one half
of the silver which we use in the shape of money and other things."

"Well," said he, "I have frequently asked, but could never learn before
why our mine was called Potosi."

"You did not ask at the right quarter," said I; "the young man with the
glazed hat could have told you as well as I." I inquired why the place
where the mine was bore the name of Esgyrn Hirion or Long Bones. He told
me that he did not know, but believed that the bones of a cawr or giant
had been found there in ancient times. I asked him if the mine was deep.

"Very deep," he replied.

"Do you like the life of a miner?" said I.

"Very much," said he, "and should like it more, but for the noises of the
hill."

"Do you mean the powder blasts?" said I.

"Oh no!" said he, "I care not