For Lord Penrhyn is the owner of land far and near. Not, for the most part, land that would enrich its possessor, but in the slate quarries of Bethesda a veritable mine of wealth, far surpassing the riches derived from many a goldfield. Slate rock that can be quarried and split into the thin sections required for roofing is of the rarest occurrence, and most of it is situated within the bounds of the Penrhryn estates, that for centuries have produced more than three-quarters of the slates coming into the market. Not only the home market is supplied from here, but foreign also. Unlike the working of most mineral estates, the quarries are not let out to some middleman, but worked direct for Lord Penrhyn, and have been notorious from time to time for the bitter and long-drawn strikes that have taken place. The middleman is not generally regarded with favour, but it is safe to say, without following the wretched story of the Bethesda quarrymen, that if such an one had the control of the quarries, such occurrences, although possible, would not have been of so protracted a character. A man who should lease the quarries could not afford to lock them up, and, putting the key in his pocket, let the strike go on for ever, or until the workmen and their families were starved into accepting terms; but the Lords Penrhyn can. The Penrhyns have been so greatly enriched by the quarries that their wealth is colossal, and current income from that source can be cut off without any discomfort. The whole pitiful business would be impossible under that enlightened statesmanship which some day will make all mineral wealth public property. The chief features of the Bethesda scenery are the long series of rubbish-heaps, or rubbish-mountains, and the terraced clefts in the hills whence the slates have come. Whole hillsides have been cut and blasted away, to be fashioned into slates that have roofed half the little suburban villas of the world. The great success of Welsh slates is due to their cheapness, and to the thinness to which it is possible to split them, so that the cheap builder of cheap houses need not provide a very substantial roof to bear their weight. It is very different with the Cumberland slates; smaller and thicker and a great deal more expensive, they are only to be found on buildings where cheapness has not been the first object. Between the Welsh and the Cumbrian products there can only be one choice on the score of appearance and strength. Welsh slates have a disagreeable colour, something between a blackish-blue and dark purple: those from Cumberland are a delicate grey-green, beautiful when new, and improving with age. Their comparative thickness, too, is an advantage from many points of view. [Illustration: PENRHYN CASTLE.] [Illustration: LONISAF TOLL-HOUSE.]