to the archbishop, as a companion to the king's court, discovered a
ford near the sea. That night we lay at Llanvair, {149} that is the
church of St. Mary, in the province of Ardudwy. {150} This
territory of Conan, and particularly Merionyth, is the rudest and
roughest district of all Wales; the ridges of its mountains are very
high and narrow, terminating in sharp peaks, and so irregularly
jumbled together, that if the shepherds conversing or disputing with
each other from their summits, should agree to meet, they could
scarcely effect their purpose in the course of the whole day. The
lances of this country are very long; for as South Wales excels in
the use of the bow, so North Wales is distinguished for its skill in
the lance; insomuch that an iron coat of mail will not resist the
stroke of a lance thrown at a small distance. The next morning, the
youngest son of Conan, named Meredyth, met us at the passage of a
bridge, attended by his people, where many persons were signed with
the cross; amongst whom was a fine young man of his suite, and one
of his intimate friends; and Meredyth, observing that the cloak, on
which the cross was to be sewed, appeared of too thin and of too
common a texture, with a flood of tears, threw him down his own.



CHAPTER VI



Passage of Traeth Mawr and Traeth Bachan, and of Nevyn, Carnarvon,
and Bangor