Short History of Wales | Page 5

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.

CHAPTER 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.
One thing they had in common--they wandered, and they wandered to
the west. From the cold wastes and the dark forests of the north and
east, they were ever pushing west to more sunny lands. As far back as
we can see, the great migration of nations to the west was going on.
The islands of Britain were the furthest point they could reach; for
beyond it, at that time, no man had dared to sail into the unknown
expanse of the ocean of the west. In the islands of Britain, the
mountains of Wales were among the most difficult to win, and it was
only the bravest and the hardiest that could make their home among
them.
The first races that came were short and dark. They came in tribes.
They had tribal marks, the picture of an animal as a rule; and they had a
strange fancy that this animal was their ancestor. It may be that the
local nicknames which are still remembered--such as "the pigs of
Anglesey," "the dogs of Denbigh," "the cats of Ruthin," "the crows of
Harlech," "the gadflies of Mawddwy"--were the proud tribe titles of
these early people. Their weapons and tools were polished stone; their
hammers and hatchets and adzes, their lance heads and their arrow tips,
were of the hardest igneous rock--chipped and ground with patient
labour.
The people who come first have the best chance of staying, if only they
are willing to learn; hardy plants will soon take the place of tender
plants if left alone. The short dark people are still the main part, not

only of the Welsh, but of the British people. It is true that their
language has disappeared, except a few place-names. But languages are
far more fleeting than races. The loss of its language does not show that
a race is dead; it only shows that it is very anxious to change and learn.
Some languages easily give place to others, and we say that the people
who speak these languages are good linguists, like Danes and Slavs.
Other languages persist, those who speak them are unwilling to speak
any new language, and this is the reason why Spanish and English are
so widespread.
After the short dark race