To the south of Dolgellau, Cader Idris towers above the subject
mountains, which seem to retire, to allow its base more room to stand,
and to afford to their sovereign a better display. It stands on a broad
rocky base, with a gradual ascent to its brow, when the peaks elevate
themselves in a manner at once abrupt, picturesque and distinct. The
point emphatically named Cader, appears to the eye below to be little
superior in hight to the saddle; but the third point, or apex, which has
a name expressive of its sterility, is neither equal in hight, nor in
beauty, to the other two. On its loftiest peak a stone pillar has lately
been erected, for the purpose of a trigonometrical survey.
Cader Idris is the commencement of a chain of primitive mountains, and
is computed to be twenty-eight hundred and fifty feet above the green of
Dolgellau, and thirty-five hundred and fifty feet, or nearly
three-fourths of a mile above the level of the sea. It has been
conjectured that at some remote period it was a volcano of immense
magnitude.
The tract to the south of Cader Idris, as far as Talylyn and Malwydd, is
peculiarly grand. High and rugged mountains of every possible form,
close in on all sides, while huge masses of rock hang over, or lie
scattered in misshapen fragments by the side of the road. To add to the
effect of this scene, the river Difi forms one continued cataract for
five or six miles, overflowing with the innumerable tributary torrents
which precipitate themselves from the highest summits of the surrounding
rocks; while, to crown the whole, the shady head of Cader Idris towers,
the majestic sentinel of the group.