CHAPTER XIV. ABER, PENMAEN MAWR, CONWAY, LLANRWST, &c. 'WHERE'ER we gaze, around, above, below, And bluest skies that harmonize the whole! Beneath, the distant torrent's rushing sound Tells where the volumed cataract doth roll, Between those hanging rocks, that shock yet please the soul.' AFTER visiting with a garrulous cicerone the few curiosities of Beaumaris, which I shall not now pause to describe, I proceeded towards the ferry. The place of embarkation, which lies near the town, is a point of land anciently denominated Penrhyn Safnes, but afterwards 'Osmund's Air,' from a malefactor there executed, and who, on his way to the fatal spot, jocosely observed he was only going to take the air. Among the passengers in the ferry boat, was a drover, proceeding on business to Aber. This man was, in his way, a great traveller; he had been at Liverpool, Birmingham, and Manchester; and first and last had had great dealings with the Saxons over the border; yet his Sasnag was not over abundant. In fact, he spoke a jargon in comparison with which the Doric of the Highlands might be regarded as clear and intelligible. Though a pig-drover, he was a great patriot; that is, he thought everything Welsh superior to whatever of similar kind could be found in any other country. In his opinion there was no good ale on the wrong side of the Dee; the very pigs, he averred, were in England more scraggy and long-legged than in Cymry; and, looking with an arch grin at Penmaen Mawr, which towered magnificently above the bleak, rocky shore, "There!' said he, pointing with his finger at the huge mountain, has she any hills like that in her country?' No one can have visited a country abounding like Wales with magnificent scenery, without wishing for a vocabulary varied and rich as the landscape.-Before me, stretching from right to left, far as the eye could reach, rose a chain of peaks, connected at their bases by a curtain of rocks and lower ranges, and presenting an aspect truly Alpine; but language supplies no expressions that could paint the effect of the whole assemblage upon the mind.-As Mont Blanc among the Savoyard glaciers, so towers Snowdon above the surrounding heights, luminous, yet variegated in hue, clothed with aërial tints, and often almost transparent as a cloud. Having accomplished the traject of the narrow frith, we walked across the Levan Sands to Aber. Our pig-drover, who was perfectly acquainted with the localities, here acted as our guide, and his knowledge was of real value to us; for since the sands shift continually, they are not to be traversed without considerable danger. When the thick fogs of autumn or winter lie upon the ground, the great bell of the village, presented for the purpose, as he informed us, by Lord Bulkeley, is constantly rung, as a signal to direct the footsteps of persons landing from Beaumaris. It appears that, many years ago, the site of the present Levan Sands formed a well-cultivated and inhabited tract of land, and that the sudden advance of the ocean swept away the people and cattle of the district in one overwhelming flood. Tradition is here assisted by the remaining works of industry and art. At low ebbs, Pughe, in Cambria Depicta, says, ruined houses are yet to be seen, and a causeway, pointing from Puffin Island to Penmaen Mawr, which is easily visible. The boatman placed me right over it, and keeping the boat's head to the tide, enabled me to examine it well; but though apparently near, the man said it could not be less than two fathoms deep. Aber is a small rural hamlet, situated at the entrance of a deep |