158 ODD HOURS WITH NATURE 



But of these seven lochs six are inhabited by 

 a native race of brown trout,, and the seventh 

 uninhabited one differs so much in character from 

 the others that its tenantless condition is almost 

 certainly to be attributed to its unsuitable waters/ 

 and not to its isolation. The six fish-frequented 

 lochs are longish rock basins, shallowed in parts 

 with drift material, on which rushes and sedges 

 grow thinly. The seventh has been encroached 

 upon all round by the deep peat of the moor ; 

 and the plants of the bog-bean showing over much 

 of its surface indicate a peaty bottom. One may, 

 therefore, cherish a conviction that if all seven 

 lochs were of equally good water, all seven, despite 

 their complete detachment from any recruiting 

 stream or lake, would be peopled with trout. 



About the state of affairs on this particular 

 plateau there is nothing whatever exceptional. It 

 is repeated again and again all over the north- 

 west Highlands and islands, where thousands of 

 small, isolated lochs, fed by mere trickles and 

 drained by small and steep burns, occur, and in the 

 large majority of cases contain trout. Usually 

 the isolation of the inhabitants of each loch is 

 stamped upon them by shades of colouring and 

 markings so distinctive, that the people of the 

 district can tell at a glance from which of the 

 lochs a trout has been taken. 



As a rule, the people of the district carry their 

 questionings no farther, and satisfied with the 

 belief that when the world was created its Creator 

 put the right fish into the right waters, they would 

 class the efforts at explanation made by the 



