i68 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 



NOTES ON THE NATURAL HISTORY, ANTIQUITIES, &c., 



CONNECTED WITH THE LOCHS AND RIVERS OF 



SUTHERLAND. 



COMMUNICATED BY P 



Lock Assynt — The scenery fine. Good view from road of Ardvreck 

 Castle, with Cuinneag (2,670 feet high) in background. Close to castle is 

 Eadarachalda House, burned by Ross-shire rievers, middle of last century. 

 In this neighbourhood the relations of the Cambrian sandstones to the 

 underlying Laurentian gneiss and the overlying Silurian strata may be 

 studied to advantage. Pink quartzites of the latter, abounding in curious 

 annelid burrows, lie near the road, and cap Cuinneag. Besides the common 

 ferns of Scotland, the rarer AspU'iiin/n viride and Polystichum lonchitis 

 occur. The former is found in the rock crevices at Ardvreck; the Holly 

 fern is abundant behind Inchnadamph Inn. The Osimuida regalis grows 

 by the side of the loch beyond the castle. The rare and curious Dryas 

 octopetala abounds on the limestone slope below Stronchrubie Cliff, and 

 may be found near the road, on the left, half a mile beyond the church 

 to the westward. Near the caves at Auchmore, the Hart's tongue grows, 

 and the delicate and rare Hymcnophylliim Wihonii. For full account of 

 the later fortunes of Montrose, and his connection with Ardvreck Castle, see 

 Sir Robert Gordon's Genealogy of the Earls 0/ Sutherland, pp. 551, et scq. 



Loch Awe. — Magnificent mountain scenery, of which this loch, with its 

 wooded islands, is the fitting foreground. 



Loch Ach-na-h' Uaigh — (loch of the field ofgrave^.) These are Pictish 

 sepulchral tumuli associated with numerous hut-circles, and belong probably 

 to a very early poriod (the so-called "Stone Age"), as numerous chips, 

 and some implements of flint and chert occur near. Flint is not a local 

 product, with the exception of a very few small nodules from the boulder 

 clay. The chert belongs to the indurated beds of the lower middle oolite 

 at Brora, and to the inferior Lias at Dunrobin. 



Loch Badan. — Near Kinbrace, at the junction of the streams from this 

 loch and Achintoul, are the remains of ancient dwellings, and very large 

 burial cairns. For the very interesting history of the Ladies Ilelja and 



