through the midst of it, without deigning (as the good folks of the neighbouring villages assert) to mix its waters with those of the lake.* The general depth is about ten feet, the deepest part being near Llangorse and Catherdine, where it measures twelve fifteen yards. As the lake diminishes very gradually from the centre towards the shore, flat-bottomed boats can alone be used.

or

This water contains pike, perch, and eels of an enormous size. The former are sometimes caught weighing thirty or forty pounds, but they are inferior in flavour to those of the Wye. The perch are generally small, five or six together weighing not more than a pound; of these there is a great abundance. Some are occasionally taken of three pounds; and when of that size, are considered a great delicacy. They are caught with nets, pitched in the middle of the pool, for the fishermen cannot drag them to land; also by angling, ground baits, &c. All persons having property adjoining the lake, possess the right of keeping a boat upon its waters, and many are also kept by the fishermen residing in the village of Llangorse.

On the sides of this lake, for a considerable distance from the shore, are reeds of different kinds, but principally that elegant species the Arundo phragmites, here of luxuriant growth and great beauty.

* This appears to be a universal popular error: the same thing being asserted of the Rhone in its passage through the Lake of Geneva, and also of the Dee in its course through that of Bala.

The surrounding scenery is pleasingly varied; and from the higher grounds are some fine prospects over the distant country, comprehending, on the east, the Black Mountains of Talgarth. Concerning the original formation of Llangorse Pool, a strange anecdote is preserved among the Harleian MSS. No. 6831. - A young man of small property pays his addresses to the Lady of Llansafeddon, by whom he is rejected on account of his inferiority of fortune; upon which he robs and murders a carrier. After displaying his ill-gotten wealth, he again offers himself, and being interrogated how he acquired it, he confesses his crime to her under an injunction of secrecy; still she refuses him, until he repairs to the grave of the deceased and appeases his ghost. This he readily undertakes. Upon approaching the spot, a hollow voice is heard to exclaim, "Is there no vengeance for innocent blood?" another answers, "Not until the ninth generation." Satisfied to find the evil day so far protracted, the lady marries him, and their issue multiplies so fast, that the parents survive until that period. Still the judgment does not immediately follow: whereupon, in derision of the prophecy, they prepare a great feast; but in the midst of their jollity and triumph, a mighty earthquake swallows up the whole family, and their houses and lands are covered by the lake. It is an undoubted fact, that the peasantry on its banks firmly believe in the truth of this tradition; and they still point out to the stranger, when the water

is clear and unruffled, the ruins of these ancient dwellings scattered over its rocky bed.

PWLL BIVERY, a few miles from Capel Callwen. LLYN VAWR, about six miles from Devynnock.

RADNORSHIRE.

Oh, sylvan Wye! thou wanderer through the woods,
How often has my spirit turn'd to thee!

Once again I see these hedge-rows, hardly hedge-rows,
Little lines of sportive wood run wild; these pastoral forms
Green to the very door; and wreaths of smoke

Sent up
in silence from among the trees!
With some uncertain notice, as might seem,
Of vagrant dwellers in the houseless woods,
Or of some hermit's cave, where by his fire
The hermit sits alone.

WORDSWORTH.

The principal rivers are the Wye, with some of its tributaries, the Teme, the Ithon, the Eddwy, the Cynaron, the Bachwy, the Arrow, the Lug, the Endwell, the Clarwen, Weyhill Brook, the Gwythel, the Elain, &c.

THE WYE.

The romantic and rapid Wye, whose scenery has been so frequently the subject of both pen and pencil, rises on the southern side of Plinlimmon Mountain in Montgomeryshire, about a mile from

124 THE ELAIN.

ITHON.

EDDWY, ETC.

the source of the Severn, into which it flows below Chepstow, Monmouthshire. Salmon, trout, grayling, pike, chub, eels, roach, dace, gudgeons, &c.

THE ELAIN,

Anglicè," the Roe," also affording many attractions to the admirers of the picturesque as well as to the angler, is a powerful stream from the westward, which, for several miles, separates the north-western extremity of the county of Radnor, from Brecknockshire. It falls into the Wye.

THE ITHON,

Descends from the north-western mountains, and, after a course of about twenty miles, joins the Wye at Disserth, where it is of equal magnitude with that river itself.

THE EDDWY,

An excellent trout stream, also falling into the Wye, four miles below Builth.

THE MACHWY,

A stream celebrated for the picturesque gloominess of the scenery upon its banks, falls into the Wye a few miles lower down.

THE TEME,

Rises in the Kerry Hills, Montgomeryshire, and enters Shropshire near the town of Knighton.

Car

The LUG, the SOMERGIL, and the ARROW, are all tributary to the Wye, but do not join it in this county.

The principal Fishing Stations are, —

ABEREDW four miles and a half from Builth, at the mouth of the river Eddwy where it joins the Wye. This little stream is famous for its trout and eels. Within the short distance of a quarter of a mile from the village, are many objects of great interest. The churchyard is bounded on one side by a steep precipice, at the base of which flows the Eddwy, which from this point winds through a narrow defile of rocks rising on one side to a height of nearly three hundred feet, and romantically varied by alternate stratifications of naked cliffs and greensward, partially concealed by hanging woods; on the other side, the rocks, though their elevation is inferior, have a more striking character. Here a bold projecting cliff threatens with immediate destruction the traveller passing beneath it; there a perpendicular wall of solid rock, upwards of one hundred feet in height, presents its unbroken front, richly mantled with mosses, ivy, and other parasitical plants, and in the clefts of which the larger birds build their nests. Among these rocks is a rude excavation about six feet square, called "Llewellyn's Cave," said to have been occasionally used as a place of refuge by that brave but unfortunate prince.*

* At a short distance north-west from the church, and at the head of this glen, was a castle, the ruins of which are yet