80 COLONSAY 



Kiloran. The water is pure and good, and the loch forms 

 the source of water-supply for the mansion-house. It is 

 said that the Trout which inhabit it rival in excellence the 

 far-famed Loch Leven Trout. 



The hills surrounding the loch dip rather suddenly down 

 to the water's edge, except at the west end, where there is 

 marshy ground. The margins are usually rocky and stony, 

 with, consequently, an absence of vegetation such as is to be 

 seen in the neighbourhood of Loch Fada. The following 

 plants were obtained by dragging from the boat in the 

 beginning of August, Callitriche autumnalis and Potamogeton 

 heterophyllus being particularly abundant : 



Potamogeton Sturrockii. Nitella translucens. 



,, perfoliatus. Callitriche autumnalis. 



,, heterophyllus. Myriophyllum spicatum. 



,, gramincefolius. ,, alternifolium. 



Chara fragilis. Litorella uniftora. 



The loch is studded with some small islets Eilean Beag, 

 Eilean Dubh nam B6, Eilean Dubh Iain Mhitchel. The 

 largest, which is wooded, is surmounted by the ruins of an 

 old fort, consisting of an inner and an outer work still in a 

 fair state of preservation. Although of some thickness, the 

 walls are but flimsily built of thin flaggy stones. The local 

 tradition that the fort was built by Sir James M 'Donald, 

 after his escape from confinement in Edinburgh Castle, is 

 confirmed by Gregory in his History of the Western 

 Highlands, page 372, where the following passage occurs : 

 "About the 18th of June (1615), Sir James arrived at the 

 Isle of Colonsay with several hundred men, and there killed 

 a number of cattle for provisions. While here he built a 

 fort on a small island in a fresh-water loch." The fort had 

 been approached from the northern shore, where the loch is 

 not so deep, by a submerged path in an ingenious manner. 

 Large slabs of stone were piled at intervals on the top of 

 each other in the deeper places ; and the defenders, who- 



