"Puffin Island is such a funny place, about half a mile long, and on all sides but one very steep and craggy. It is covered with lovely bright-coloured grass, and in the middle is an old tower, which is the relic of some monastery, but so old that nobody knows anything of its history. There were some sheep and rabbits feeding on the island, and oh! such lots of birds! Mr. Armitage told us we were too late to see any puffin auks, which come here in great numbers from April till the middle of August, and this is why the place is called Puffin Island. They are curious birds, and make a nest by burrowing in the earth, where they lay one egg in each cavity. They live on small fishes and sea-weeds, and I'm sure must find plenty to eat, for we saw plenty of both. But all sorts of birds are very fond of Puffin Island-peregrine falcons, cormorants, rasor-bills, guillemots, stormy petrels, divers, curlews, gulls, and others that I can't think of. When I get home I intend to read the history of them out of papa's Natural History. How interesting it will be! As we were running all over Puffin Island, Sylvine told me why she had been so out of temper at first starting. 'Do you know, Jenny Jones (she often calls me Jenny Jones), I have been so wishing that you could go back to Paris with me,' she said; and this morning I asked mamma, but she says that she is sure your papa would never allow you to go so far from home whilst you are so young, and

that on that account it is best for me to think nothing about it. But, oh! Jenny, I would give anything in the world if you could get his permission.' 'I should very much like it, and it is kind of you to ask me, Sylvine,' I replied, rather sad at thinking the thing was almost impossible. 'But, Jenny,' continued Sylvine, do you really think your papa would object? It would not cost much, and I have three pounds I have saved up, which I would give you to buy a silk dress with, for you would want to be smart, you know, when you go out with me to parties, and we should have parties without end. There is papa's fête (birthday party, I mean) on the first of December, and Aunt Aimé's fête, on January the third, and mamma's, on the first of May, beside cousin Zéphyrine's, and Appeline's, and Blanche's, and, oh, so many! You must have a white dress for evenings, with white gloves, and kid shoes, and a bouquetholder, and a coloured sash.' 'But I shall be at Llysin when all these parties take place,' I said, somewhat sadly, and shall want none of these things,' at which Sylvine looked almost ready to cry, and said no

more.

"I try not to think anything about going to Paris, but it is rather difficult. I know very well that I shall not go; for, in the first place, papa could not afford to give me the money; and, in the second, Aunt Ana wants me; and, in the third, Sylvine is so rich, and

her friends are so fashionable and accomplished, that I should not feel at home among them. So, after all, it is best as it is; and I will try to forget there is such a place as Paris in the world.

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'September 9th.-Sylvine and I both cried this morning at leaving Bangor, and dear, dear Miss Armitage. Oh! I do so hope I shall one day see her again; and perhaps I may, for she invited me most kindly to go and see her at some future time with papa. I feel assured he will not object; for she is so clever and sweet-tempered that it would do anybody good to be with her, particularly a little ignorant girl like myself. I must not forget to say that yesterday we visited the Penrhyn slate quarries, and a very wonderful sight it was. There were between two and three thousand men and boys at work, and it was very curious to see the different sorts of machinery used, and the immense heaps of neatly-cut slates. Some of the men were standing on narrow ledges of rock, and looked as if they must fall down every minute, but I suppose they are used to such dangers. Mr. Armitage told us a great deal about the minerals of Anglesey. I believe Beatrice has written down all that he said, word for word, but I can only remember a part of it. This is how Beatrice told me to write it in my diary.

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Anglesey, or the Isle of the Englishmen, because the ancient Britons, or Angli, resorted here, especially the Druids. It produces

"Butter, cheese, honey.—All good, as I can testify, for we have had delicious honey for tea at Mr. Armitage's, and cheese and butter as yellow as gold.

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Sheep and cattle.-Small black cows, which have frightened Sylvine often. I don't mind them a bit, being a country girl.

"Marble. Very prettily grained. How curious it is to think that such a beautiful-looking substance should only be lime and carbonic acid. Papa used to teach me a little chemistry and geology last year, and I have not forgotten it.

"Granite. A greyish, shining stone, speckled with green or black, and very, very hard. Waterloo Bridge, in London, is made of it, also the statue of Memnon and Pompey's Pillar, in Egypt, and the city of Aberdeen, near which great quantities of it are found, is entirely built of granite.

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Lead, Fuller's Earth, Potter's Clay.-Fuller's Earth is an oily kind of clay of great use in cleansing wool before it is dyed. Aunt Ana uses it often to take

stains out of floors, &c.

Copper.-Principally in Pary's mountain, where there is an immense mine, the ore being forty feet thick.

Magnesia.—An earthy metal.

"Sulphur.—A greenish-yellow substance, crystalline in structure. It is found in combination with metals all over the world, and large veins of it are found in

the neighbourhoods of volcanoes. It is sulphur that makes the tips of lucifers burn so quickly, so no wonder that immense fires break out of Mounts Etna and Hecla, when so much sulphur lies underneath. Papa also told me last winter that there is a small portion of sulphur in plants, and even in our bodies. It is the sulphur in white of egg which blackens a silver spoon, if put into it. Aunt Ana always uses wooden or china spoons to eat eggs with, on that account, and I always wondered why, till papa's explanation. What a lucky thing it is to be a philosopher's daughter! One hears so many curious things.

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Sea-fish and shell-fish.-Of many kinds. We had some nice trout for breakfast from the lakes. "I can't think of anything else now."

CHAPTER XXV.

WOODS AND WATERFALLS.

THE next halting place of our travellers was at the village of Bettws-y-coed, or the Chapel in the Wood, where everything that is lovely and grand in nature are combined. Woods of fir and beech, mountain ash, and weeping birch; little nooks of tangled cloud-berry, and stone-bramble, and juniper-shrubs; golden hazel coppices, mountains orange and purple with gorse and heath, dashing cascades over grand old rocks,