304 APPENDIX. 



The parishes of Dornoch and Creich possess no rivers 

 worthy of the name, the Evelix being the most important, 

 and after that the Carnack, which runs into the Fleet, near 

 its mouth. 



There are two small rivers, one indeed no more than 

 a large burn, which deserve a little notice. The first, the 

 Lothbeg Burn, has a course of only some six miles, but it 

 drains the wildest district in the whole of the east of 

 Sutherland. Eising in the Meallanlia hills it runs 

 through the ancient forest of Sletal, the hills rising on 

 each side almost perpendicularly. The celebrated Sletal 

 cairn is situated here, the scene of the death of the last 

 Sutherland wolf, and possibly the last stronghold of the 

 wild -cat in this part of the county, if such an animal 

 exists here at all. This river enters the sea through an 

 artificial cutting over which the railway now passes, but 

 at one time it flowed into a marsh, which is now one of 

 the best cultivated farms in the county ; this drainage 

 was effected by one of the present Duke's ancestors, who 

 thus reclaimed a large extent of valuable land. 



The other river is the Fleet, very sluggish in its lower 

 reaches, and a great resort of sea -trout. At the mouth 

 of this river and going through the marsh that lies to the 

 south side of it, runs the high road to Dornoch, artificially 

 raised above the sea level, hence its name, the " Mound." 

 This mound was erected to keep the sea from the low 

 lying grounds immediately inland, and sluices are placed 

 at the mouth of the river to allow the surplus water to 

 run off at low tide. This low lying ground is covered 

 with alders and long grass, and is the best place in the 

 county for wild-fowl, as they have the estuary of the 

 Little Ferry, the only place of the kind entirely in the 

 county, to resort to when disturbed inside, and vice versa. 



Lochs are not nearly so numerous in the east as in the 

 west of the county, but still there are some magnificent 

 sheets of water. Perhaps Loch Naver and Loch Brora bear 

 off the palm for beauty, as their banks, and the slopes of the 

 hills adjoining, are partially covered with trees ; and, on 

 the latter at least, bird life is abundant. At the head of 



