some of those who were successful, I opine, would have another difficulty to grapple with, perhaps greater than that of carrying water and pebbles from the well to the chapel, viz., that of obtaining a suitable “help-mate” in so short a time. As this ceremony took place only on the Sundays of the wakes, it was called “Suliau y Creiriau,” (Sabbaths of the Relics.) The altar disappeared many years ago, and there is scarcely a vestige of the chapel left. DANCING MATCH. During the week-days of the wakes at Holyhead, as many musicians were collected together as could be found in and around the town; and one of them played till he was tired, when he was relieved by a fresh one; so that there was music without cessation. To this music twenty young women danced till they were tired; and who ever held out the longest gained the prize of a complete suit of apparel; if it was not decided in one day, the whole twenty commenced again on the following day, and so on to the end of the wakes. This prize, like the “Suliau y Creiriau,” was left sometimes undecided, as the girls would dance till they fainted, rather than acknowledge a defeat. There was an old woman living in this parish in 1826, and who was then nearly a hundred years of age, who, in her youth, assisted in the performance of both the above customs. These barbarous usages were suppressed by a pious Curate of Holyhead, of the name of Ellis, about the year 1748. HOLYHEAD PIER—OLD HARBOUR. The first stone of this great national work was laid in the month of August, 1810. The Pier extends from the small island called _Ynys Halen_, or _Salt Island_, in an east-south-east direction into the sea; and is about 1000 feet in length. On the south side it is faced with a perpendicular wall of cut stone; near the east end a spur projects 60 feet at right angles with the wall, so as to afford shelter from the east winds. The back of the Pier, or part towards the sea, is on an inclined plane from the top of the parapet, and is built with large rough stones placed edge-ways, as close together as possible, and wedged with smaller ones, so that the sea has no power over it. A morning or evening walk on the parapet, which is used as a promenade, is strongly recommended; it will have a tendency to enliven the spirits, and brace the nerves. On the south side of the Harbour is a fine Graving Dock, admirably constructed, and one of the first in England. The Dock gates are protected by a spur projecting from Turkey Shore to the northward 330 feet, on the east side of the gates. The whole of the above improvements were effected for about £130,000—the Graving Dock about £12,000. Formerly the road to the Pier was through the town; but Government constructed a new road on the margin of the Pool or Basin, which covers an area of fifty or sixty acres, and is filled with water at high tide, but dry at low water.