It stood on
the right side of the road. The name of this place, which I had
heard from the coachman who drove my family and me to Caernarvon
and Llanberis a few days before, had excited my curiosity with
respect to it, as it signifies the Port of the Norway man, so I now
turned aside to examine it. "No doubt," said I to myself, "the
place derives its name from the piratical Danes and Norse having
resorted to it in the old time." Port Dyn Norwig seems to consist
of a creek, a staithe, and about a hundred houses: a few small
vessels were lying at the staithe. I stood about ten minutes upon
it staring about, and then feeling rather oppressed by the heat of
the sun, I bent my way to a small house which bore a sign, and from
which a loud noise of voices proceeded. "Have you good ale?" said
I in English to a good-looking buxom dame of about forty, whom I
saw in the passage.
She looked at me but returned no answer.
"Oes genoch cwrw da?" said I.
"Oes!" she replied with a smile, and opening the door of a room on
the left-hand bade me walk in.
I entered the room; six or seven men, seemingly sea-faring people,
were seated drinking and talking vociferously in Welsh. Their
conversation was about the sea-serpent: some believed in the
existence of such a thing, others did not. After a little time one
said, "Let us ask this gentleman for his opinion."
"And what would be the use of asking him?" said another, "we have
only Cumraeg, and he has only Saesneg."
"I have a little broken Cumraeg, at the service of this good
company," said I. "With respect to the snake of the sea I beg
leave to say that I believe in the existence of such a creature;
and am surprised that any people in these parts should not believe
in it: why, the sea-serpent has been seen in these parts."
"When was that, Gwr Boneddig?" said one of the company.
"About fifty years ago," said I. "Once in October, in the year
1805, as a small vessel of the Traeth was upon the Menai, sailing
very slowly, the weather being very calm, the people on board saw a
strange creature like an immense worm swimming after them. It soon
overtook them, climbed on board through the tiller-hole, and coiled
itself on the deck under the mast - the people at first were
dreadfully frightened, but taking courage they attacked it with an
oar and drove it overboard; it followed the vessel for some time,
but a breeze springing up they lost sight of it."
"And how did you learn this?" said the last who had addressed me.
"I read the story," said I, "in a pure Welsh book called the
Greal."
"I now remember hearing the same thing," said an old man, "when I
was a boy; it had slipt out of my memory, but now I remember all
about it. The ship was called the ROBERT ELLIS. Are you of these
parts, gentleman?"
"No," said I, "I am not of these parts."
"Then you are of South Wales - indeed your Welsh is very different
from ours."
"I am not of South Wales," said I, "I am the seed not of the sea-
snake but of the coiling serpent, for so one of the old Welsh poets
called the Saxons."
"But how did you learn Welsh?" said the old man.
"I learned it by the grammar," said I, "a long time ago."
"Ah, you learnt it by the grammar," said the old man; "that
accounts for your Welsh being different from ours. We did not
learn our Welsh by the grammar - your Welsh is different from ours,
and of course better, being the Welsh of the grammar. Ah, it is a
fine thing to be a grammarian."
"Yes, it is a fine thing to be a grammarian," cried the rest of the
company, and I observed that everybody now regarded me with a kind
of respect.
A jug of ale which the hostess had brought me had been standing
before me some time. I now tasted it and found it very good.
Whilst despatching it, I asked various questions about the old
Danes, the reason why the place was called the port of the
Norwegian, and about its trade. The good folks knew nothing about
the old Danes, and as little as to the reason of its being called
the port of the Norwegian - but they said that besides that name it
bore that of Melin Heli, or the mill of the salt pool, and that
slates were exported from thence, which came from quarries close
by.
Having finished my ale, I bade the company adieu and quitted Port
Dyn Norwig, one of the most thoroughly Welsh places I had seen, for
during the whole time I was in it, I heard no words of English
uttered, except the two or three spoken by myself. In about an
hour I reached Caernarvon.
The road from Bangor to Caernarvon is very good and the scenery
interesting - fine hills border it on the left, or south-east, and
on the right at some distance is the Menai with Anglesey beyond it.
Not far from Caernarvon a sandbank commences, extending for miles
up the Menai, towards Bangor, and dividing the strait into two.
I went to the Castle Inn which fronts the square or market-place,
and being shown into a room ordered some brandy-and-water, and sat
down. Two young men were seated in the room. I spoke to them and
received civil answers, at which I was rather astonished, as I
found by the tone of their voices that they were English.
