THE TOPOGRAPHER.


TRAVELLING NOTES IN SOUTH WALES.


_Vale of Tawy--Copper Works, &c.--Coal Trade._--In our former paper[2]
we gave a description of the Vale of Tawy, as it appears by night; we
will now again revisit it. The stranger who explores this vale must
expect to return with a bad headache. We have described it as a
desolate looking place, when seen at night, but the darkness only
throws a veil over its barrenness. The face of the country, which
would otherwise have been beautiful, is literally scorched by the
desolating effects of the copper smoke; and when it is considered that
a multitude of flues are constantly emitting smoke and flames strongly
impregnated with sulphur, arsenic, &c., it is not to be wondered at. A
canal runs up the vale into the country for sixteen miles, to an
elevation of 372 feet: it is flanked near the copper-works by many
millions of tons of copper slag; and there are no less than thirty-six
locks on the line. It is a fact, that in spite of the infernal
atmosphere, a great many of the people employed in these works attain
old age. Every evil effect about Swansea, however, is ascribed to the
copper smoke. The houses in this district are remarkable for clean
exterior: the custom of whitewashing the roofs, as well as the walls,
produces a pleasing effect, and is a relief to the eye in such a
desert. There are eight large copper smelting establishments, besides
several rolling-mills, now at work; the whole country is covered with
tram-roads and coal-pits, many of which vomit forth their mineral
treasures close to the road side. At Landore, about two miles from