THE TEITH 43 



which flows into the Blackwater between Lochs Achray and 

 Vennacher, at the Brig o' Turk. Unfortunately the Finglas 

 is obstructed by impassable falls when only three-quarters of a 

 mile up, but this short space, during recent years, is reported to 

 hold many more fish than formerly. There are or were four 

 cascades at these falls, which descend over perpendicular ledges 

 in a narrow and deep gorge, but Glasgow has stepped in here 

 again and has impounded all the water to swell the volume of 

 its supplies. 



Loch Achray is still more of a trouting loch than a place 

 where the capture of salmon can be relied upon. Boats are 

 supplied from the Trossachs Hotel, and the loch is open to 

 the public ; but " fish " are rather late in reaching the locality, 

 and are not frequently captured. The beauties of the loch are 

 to many, perhaps, more attractive than any fishing. The 

 " bosky thickets " of birch and rowan which closely fringe the 

 water's edge seem to allow the little loch to nestle in their 

 embrace. 



. The loch is about one and a quarter miles long, and a maxi- 

 mum width of nearly one- third of a mile. The waters cover 

 an area of 250 acres, and the mean depth has been found to be 

 36| feet, and the maximum depth 97 feet. It is a simple basin, 

 having one central area of deep water, two-thirds of a mile 

 being under the 50-feet line. There are shallows off the mouth 

 of the Achray Water and between the mouth and the Trossachs 

 Hotel. At the eastern end of the loch there is a depression of 

 27 feet surrounded by shallow water, and at another place 

 there is what the members of the Bathymetrical Survey 

 considered to be a submerged crannog covered by only one 

 or two feet of water. 



Loch Vennacher, which is the last loch in this the central 

 chain, is about 4 miles long and has a mean breadth of 

 two-fifths of a mile. It is 270 feet above sea-level and has an 

 average depth of 41 feet, and a maximum depth of 111 feet, 

 or eight fathoms and a half. It is therefore comparatively 

 shallow. 



Only a few years ago it was as barren of salmon in the fishing 

 season as Loch Achray, but now it may be said to be under- 

 going a period of observation because of a new fish-pass which 

 has recently been erected by the Glasgow Water Commissioners 



