and
pleasant little seaport known as Port Madoc, which has grown up out of
the slate-trade. Its wharf is a wilderness of slates, and much of the
land in the neighborhood has been recovered from the sea. The geology as
well as the scenery here is an interesting study. In fact, the whole
Caernarvon coast, which stretches away to the south-west in the long
peninsula that forms Cardigan Bay, is full of pleasant and attractive
locations for student and tourist, and entwined around all are weird
legends of the heroes and doings of the mystical days of the dim past,
when Briton and Roman contended for the mastery of this historic region.

THE COAST OF MERIONETH.

[Illustration: BARMOUTH.]

Let us make a brief excursion south of Mount Snowdon, along the coast of
the pastoral county of Merioneth, where Nature has put many crags and
stones and a little gold and wheat, but where the people's best reliance
is their flocks. At the place where the Mawddach joins the sea is
Barmouth, where a fishing-village has of late years bloomed into a
fashionable watering-place. The houses are built on a strip of sand and
the precipitous hillside beyond, and the cottages are perched wherever
they can conveniently hold on to the crags, the devious pathways and
flights of steps leading up to them presenting a quaint aspect. The
bends of the Mawddach, as it goes inland among the hills, present miles
of unique scenery, the great walls of Cader Idris closing the
background. Several hilltops in the neighborhood contain fortifications,
and are marked by the old tombs known as cromlechs and Druids' altars.
On the sea-coast curious reefs project, the chief of them being St.
Patrick's Causeway. The legend tells us that a Welsh chieftain fifteen
hundred years ago constructed these reefs to protect the lowlands from
the incursions of the sea, and on the lands thus reclaimed there stood
no less than twelve fortified Welsh cities. But, unfortunately, one
stormy night the guardian of the embankments got drunk, and, slumbering
at the critical moment, the waves rushed in, sweeping all before them.
In the morning, where had before been fortified cities and a vast
population, there was only a waste of waters. St. Patrick, we are told,
used his causeway to bear him dryshod as far as possible when he walked
the waters to Ireland.

[Illustration: BARMOUTH ESTUARY.]

Let us penetrate into the interior by going up the romantic valley of
the Mawddach and viewing