From north-west to south-east the line of high hills runs. In the
north-west corner, Snowdon towers among a number of heights over 3,000
feet. At its feet, to the north-west, the isle of Anglesey lies. The
peninsula of Lleyn, with a central ridge of rock, and slopes of pasture
lands, runs to the south-west. To the east, beyond the Conway, lie the
Hiraethog mountains, with lower heights and wider reaches; further east
again, over the Clwyd, are the still lower hills of Flint.
To the south, 30 miles as the crow flies, over the slate country, the
Berwyns are seen clearly. From a peak among these—Cader Vronwen (2,573
feet), or the Aran (2,970 feet), or Cader Idris (2,929 feet)—we look east
and south, over the hilly slopes of the upper Severn country.
Another 30 miles to the south rises green Plinlimmon (2,469 feet); from
it we see the high moorlands of central Wales, sloping to Cardigan Bay on
the west and to the valley of the Severn, now a lordly English river, on
the east.
Forty miles south the Black Mountain (2,630 feet) rises beyond the Wye,
and the Brecon Beacons (2,910 feet) beyond the Usk. West of these the
hills fade away into the broad peninsula of Dyved. Southwards we look
over hills of coal and iron to the pleasant sea-fringed plain of Gwent.
On the north and the west the sea is shallow; in some places it is under
10 fathoms for 10 miles from the shore, and under 20 fathoms for 20
miles. Tales of drowned lands are told—of the sands of Lavan, of the
feast of drunken Seithenyn, and of the bells of Aberdovey. But the sea
is a kind neighbour. Its soft, warm winds bathe the hills with life; and
the great sweep of the big Atlantic waves into the river mouths help our
commerce. Holyhead, Milford Haven, Swansea, Newport, Barry, and
Cardiff—now one of the chief ports of the world—can welcome the largest
vessels afloat. The herring is plentiful on the west coast, and trout
and salmon in the rivers.
II
THE WANDERING NATIONS
BY land and by sea, race after race has come to make the hills of Wales
its home. One race would be short, with dark eyes and black hair;
another would be tall, with blue eyes and fair hair. They came from
different countries and along different paths, but each race brought some
good with it. One brought skill in taming animals, until it had at last
tamed even the pig and the bee; another brought iron tools to take the
place of stone ones. Another brought the energy of the chase and war,
and another a delight in sailing a ship or in building a fortress.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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