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CHAPTER Vlil. 



SOVAL PISHING AND ARTIFICIAL SPATES. 



THERE were two rivers attaclied to the 

 Soval shooting at the time I took it — the 

 Laxay, distant about three miles and a half ; the 

 Blackwater, about ten from Soval, three miles 

 and a half from Diensten bothy. And first we 

 will speak of the most distant river. There are 

 two branches of the Blackwater — one running 

 from a loch that I called New Loch, another 

 running from another loch, called by me Loch 

 Dismal. 



About these two lochs the fish ran up by 

 other smaller burns and lochs, but we never 

 thought of fishing beyond these lochs. The 

 two arms of the river joined together between 

 Diensten and Garrynahine, and then the river 

 becomes the Blackwater. From the junction 

 there are two or three miles of rough water 

 before you come to the first legitimate salmon 

 pool. I call it legitimate ; for, though I have 

 done such a thing as catch a fish in the rough 



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