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
We continued our journey over the Traeth Mawr, {151} and Traeth
Bachan, {152} that is, the greater and the smaller arm of the sea,
where two stone castles have newly been erected; one called
Deudraeth, belonging to the sons of Conan, situated in Evionyth,
towards the northern mountains; the other named Carn Madryn, the
property of the sons of Owen, built on the other side of the river
towards the sea, on the head-land Lleyn. {153} Traeth, in the Welsh
language, signifies a tract of sand flooded by the tides, and left
bare when the sea ebbs. We had before passed over the noted rivers,
the Dissenith, {154} between the Maw and Traeth Mawr, and the
Arthro, between the Traeth Mawr and Traeth Bachan. We slept that
night at Nevyn, on the eve of Palm Sunday, where the archdeacon,
after long inquiry and research, is said to have found Merlin
Sylvestris. {155}
Beyond Lleyn, there is a small island inhabited by very religious
monks, called Caelibes, or Colidei. This island, either from the
wholesomeness of its climate, owing to its vicinity to Ireland, or
rather from some miracle obtained by the merits of the saints, has
this wonderful peculiarity, that the oldest people die first,
because diseases are uncommon, and scarcely any die except from
extreme old age. Its name is Enlli in the Welsh, and Berdesey {156}
in the Saxon language; and very many bodies of saints are said to be
buried there, and amongst them that of Daniel, bishop of Bangor.
The archbishop having, by his sermon the next day, induced many
persons to take the cross, we proceeded towards Banchor, passing
through Caernarvon, {157} that is, the castle of Arvon; it is called
Arvon, the province opposite to Mon, because it is so situated with
respect to the island of Mona. Our road leading us to a steep
valley, {158} with many broken ascents and descents, we dismounted
from our horses, and proceeded on foot, rehearsing, as it were, by
agreement, some experiments of our intended pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
Having traversed the valley, and reached the opposite side with
considerable fatigue, the archbishop, to rest himself and recover
his breath, sat down on an oak which had been torn up by the
violence of the winds; and relaxing into a pleasantry highly
laudable in a person of his approved gravity, thus addressed his
attendants:
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