The water-falls about Pontneath Vechan, though many, are not famed for height or beauty. I saw three; a guide is necessary, and to be had at the inn. Ask a Welchman, what is worth seeing at a place? he generally replies, What do you want to see? tell him that, and he can readily show you the way. Ask then to be shown the two falls of the Purthin, and that of the Hepsey: the last for its singularity. The height is not more than fifty feet, but so rapid is the torrent, that it leaps over the projecting brow of rock far enough to allow a path behind it-between the sheet of water and the rock, which shelves inward, forming a sort of roof. This path is a ledge of stone, about a yard wide, and the common short cut to the neighbouring farms. A modern tourist, with good fortune peculiar to himself, says, that he took shelter under this 'watery arch from a shower! Malkin speaks of the effect of sunshine on this cascade, to a spectator behind it, as singularly beautiful.* * South Wales, p. 211. ཧོ STATION. On the right side of the fall, far enough off to see both the wooded hills which form the distance. Let the point where they meet be a little to the left of the rock you descended. I give this station merely as the fall is something curious; perhaps the view from the opposite side of the water is better, but the cloud of spray would not let me try it. Further on is the fall of the Melta, inaccessible from below; so I did not visit it. The height is about seventy feet, and broader than the Hepsey. They told me of a cavern through which the Melta runs, for at least eight hundred yards; there is a practicable path through it, but nothing within, that I could learn, to repay the hazardous labour of threading it. Not that I think with Gilpin, "there is no picturesque beauty in the interior of the earth."* The cavern scenery of Derbyshire, especially the Devil's * Northern Tour, vol. ii. cave, that favourite study of our favourite Wright, has taught me a different lesson.* Did you ever try the method of drawing rock and cavern scenes on the common brown packing paper? use transparent colours, leave the paper for the middle tint, and touch the strongest lights with body colours. It produces the mellow effect of old oil paintings. The upper fall of the Purthin, called (if I mistake not) Ysgwd Einion Gam, or Einion's crooked water-fall, is about a mile and half from the inn. The subject is grand, but rather too open, I think, for the pencil; and the precipice on the left has a concave form not easily represented. The best view is from the right bank looking up, just *"I have held the candle for him there scores of times," said my guide, pointing to a spot which looked toward the entrance. The effect was wonderful. The vast and rugged arches were seen in perspective; from their termination a full beam of day-light entered, diffusing a grey hue around, soft and clear as moonlight; and gradually fading as it approached the foreground, the objects and passing figures there were thrown into strong shade, except a few of the nearest faintly illumined by our candles. |