Ward & Lock's descriptive and pictorial guide to the Isle of Man ...

70 Guide to the Isle of Man.predecessor, it is dedicated to St. Lovan or Lovanus (thename of the parish is au evident con-uptiou of that of thesaint), the son of Thygrida, one of the three holy sisters ofSt. Patrick, wlio succeeded St. Maugliold in the hishopric ofthe island. We are now but two miles from our fii'st stopping-placeto-day,Laxey[Hotels: Commercial, Queen'' s, &c. ; in Old Laxey, Shore Inn\,famous for its lead mines, and still more for the enormouswater-wheel, the largest in the world.We reach Laxey by a sharp incline from the high gi'oundover which w^e have been travelling, and a very strikingpicture is presented by the extensive mining works and theornamental pleasiu-e - grounds in the neighbourhood. Thewhite cottages dotting both the precipitous sides of the glen,the giant water-wheel, with its pillar, encompassed by awinding staircase, and a gallery above, standing out againstthe sky, in the distance, the busy scene below on the washingfloorsof the Great Laxej' mine, and away up tlie valley themountains of Snaefell (2,024 feet high), Slieu Choar (1,809),and Bein-y-Phot (1,772)—all combine to make a scene which,for picturesque beauty, cannot be sm-passed in the three kingdoms.The village stands on both sides of the valley throughwhich the river of the sanae name flows to the sea. At itsmouth is a pretty bay, on shores of which are some interestingcaverns and several curiously-shaped rocks, evidently ofvolcanic origin, which should be visited. In the old Norselanguage, Laxa signified "salmon river," and in times bygonethe river which flows through the bottom of the glen,abounded in that fish. Even in the beginning of this centmythey used, in the spawning season, to leap a weir situatedsome distance up the glen. The poisonous nature of thewashings from tlie lead and copper have, however, drivenall the salmon away, though most of the tributaries of thestream are well stocked with trout.The Mineswere known at a very early period, and liave been profitablyworked for more than a hundred years ; they arc now theproperty of the Laxey Mining Company. They are morethan 1,380 feet deep, and the miners take two hours to reachthe lowest workings from the mouth of the mine. Eighthundred men are employed in raising the lead, blende, and