iginal window was there at that time. The house
itself must have been considerably older. If rates had been the sole
inducement, we should undoubtedly have become permanent boarders at the
Saracen's Head, for I think that the bill for our party was seven
shillings for supper, room and breakfast.

We left Cerrig-y-Druidion next morning in a gray, driving rain, with
drifting fogs that almost hid the road at times. A few miles brought us
to the Conway River, the road closely following the stream through the
picturesque scenery on its banks. It was swollen by heavy rains and the
usually insignificant river was a wild torrent, dashing in rapids and
waterfalls over its rocky bed. The clouds soon broke away and for the
remainder of the day the weather was as fine as could possibly be wished
for.

Bettws-y-Coed is the most famous of mountain towns in Wales, and its
situation is indeed romantic. It is generally reputed to be the chief
Welsh honeymoon resort and a paradise for fishermen, but it has little
to detain the tourist interested in historic Britain. We evidently
should have fared much differently at its splendid hotel from what we
did at Cerrig-y-Druidion, but we were never sorry for our enforced
sojourn at the Saracen's Head.

The road from Bettws-y-Coed to Carnarvon is a good one, but steep in
places, and it passes through some of the finest mountain scenery in
Wales. It leads through the Pass of Llanberis and past Snowdon, the king
of the Welsh mountains--though tame indeed to one who has seen the
Rockies. Snowdon, the highest in the Kingdom, rises not so much as four
thousand feet above the sea level.

Carnarvon Castle is conceded from many points of view to be the finest
ruin in the Kingdom. It does not occupy an eminence, as did so many
castles whose position contributed much to their defense, but it
depended more on its lofty watch-towers and the stupendous strength of
its outer walls. These are built of solid granite with a thickness of
ten feet or more in vital places, and it is doubtful if even the
old-time artillery would have made much impression upon them. Its
massive construction no doubt accounts for the wonderful preservation of
the outer walls, which are almost entire, and Carnarvon Castle, as
viewed from the outside, probably appears very much the same as it did
when the builders completed the work about 1300. It was built by King
Edward I as a royal residence from which to direct his operations
ag