“On scenes like these the eye delights to dwell,
Here loud cascades, and there the silent dell;
The lofty mountains, bleak and barren, rise,
And spread their ample bosoms to the skies;
While still the rushing river rolls along,
The theme of many a humble shepherd’s song,
And as it rolls, the trout, in speckled pride,
Springs playful in the smooth translucent tide.”
The river Dee forms a beautiful and interesting feature in all the most
picturesque views around Llangollen. Passing from Glyndyfrdwy down the
river, it successively assumes the appearance of the brawling brook over
beds of pebbles; the deep tranquil character of the gliding lake,
reflecting on its pure bosom the woods and mountains that surrounded it;
the rushing cascade or rapids, over beds of rocks, or through chasms of
stone.
“The current that with gentle murmur glides,
Opposed by rocks impatiently doth rage;
But when his fair course is not hindered,
He makes sweet music with the enamelled stones,
Giving a gentle kiss to every sedge
He overtaketh in his pilgrimage;
And so by many winding nooks he strays
With willing sport to the wild ocean.”
It rises a few miles beyond Bala, a town about twenty miles from
Llangollen, on the west, and runs through a pool now called Bala pool,
some say without mingling its stream. {73a} There is no river in England
which has been so much celebrated by our poets for its sanctity as the
Dee; and Camden describes it as “riseing on the east side of
Merionethshire, and forthwith passeth entire and whole through Llyntegid,
in English, Pimble Meare, or Plenlin Meare, {73b} a lake spreading far in
length and bredth; and so runneth out of it with as great a streame as it
entred in; for neither shal a man see in the Dee the fishes called
guiniad, which are peculiar to the Meare, nor yet Salmons in the Meare,
which neverthelesse are commonly taken in the river.” {73c}
The mazy windings of the Dee, embellished as its banks are with the fresh
green shrubs and plants, which flourish there in great luxuriance, afford
a very delightful walk, independent of the great amusement to anglers for
which this river has ever been so famous. The trout are as fine as any
in the kingdom, and are very plentiful. Many men obtain a livelihood
during the season, by fishing in this beautiful river, which they
contrive to manage in their little coracles; a large kind of round
basket, covered with skins or tarpawling, and with a board across the
centre for a seat. It is amusing to see them waft themselves where they
please, with a little paddle in one hand, and a fly-rod in the other,
fishing every corner of the deep pool; and when tired, rowing to land,
throwing their boats on their shoulders, and walking with them to another
deep pool, where they again commence operations.
Salmon come up the river to spawn; and although so many do not reach
Llangollen as in former times, owing to the new inventions erected on the
river to entrap them in their way from the sea, yet many of them overcome
all impediments, and reach their usual haunts. I saw last summer, at the
season when the salmon fray, or fry, seek their way to the sea from the
river where they have been bred, large shoals of these fish, and at one
time more than 40 fishing rods successfully employed in a small space of
water near the water-mill just above the bridge. This fishery continued
in great activity for many days; the bait used being a common
ground-worm, here called corbet. A little fresh in the river at length
came, of which the fish took advantage, and proceeded on their way, after
having lost some thousands of their numbers at Llangollen.
The otter is found in this river, and, owing to the many fastnesses, can
seldom be destroyed. There are also numerous and various aquatic birds.
The rock-ousel, the kingfisher, the sand-piper, the crane, and a
duck-like bird, with black and white plumeage, which the inhabitants term
a cormorant, are very common.
About a mile above the bridge is a deep chasm in the rocky bed, through
which the whole river, when not swollen, rushes. It is six yards across,
and bears the name of Llam y Lleidr, i.e. Thief’s Leap, from the
circumstance of a robber, who was pursued closely, having possessed
sufficient agility to clear this space, while his unfortunate pursuer
fell short, and was engulphed in the roaring torrent, narrowly escaping
the loss of life, as well as of property. There is another chasm nearer
the bridge, still deeper and narrower, called the Cow’s Leap.
The river runs over a bed of dark-coloured silicious rock, which is
sometimes got by the inhabitants for the use of building. The bed of the
river is consequently very uneven, which causes it to foam and rush very
impetuously along.