142 THE SALMON RIVERS OF SCOTLAND 



of wide curves as it works its way into the lower parts of 

 Banffshire. Its general character is varied and very similar 

 to the upper section of the river Don. Like that river also it 

 is famous as a trouting stream, and many beautiful brown trout 

 are taken from it annually. The river at times glides pleasantly 

 through upland pastoral land, at times through rich woods, 

 now over sparkling shingle, or breaks more roughly through 

 rocky glades. Often it hurries along merrily, and yet often 

 it pauses mid meadows, or by some overhanging woods. The 

 course from Huntly to Turriff is 22 miles, and for the most 

 part in an easterly direction. At Turriff the river is turned 

 abruptly to the north. For a little it seems to hesitate which 

 way to direct its further course, but at Forglen it settles down 

 to its northerly run for the Moray Firth at Banff, a distance of 

 about 11 miles. Allowing 4 miles for the hill burns above 

 the Cabrach, the total mileage is thus 54, and in the main the 

 character of the river, as a salmon stream, is first-rate, and 

 without doubt it should by nature hold plenty of fish at all 

 seasons of the year. 



I say " should hold," because the Deveron has passed through 

 a very considerable period of depression, and is not yet 

 recovered. It has paid the penalty of having been overnetted 

 and fished by cruives ; it has suffered from bad silting up at 

 the mouth, and has been polluted to a considerable extent, as 

 already described. By degrees the fishing declined, till at 

 last the proprietors rose up in conjoint action, and decided to 

 pay the price necessary to secure the control of their fishings 

 so that resuscitation might take the place of depletion. It is 

 slow work, and it also has been very expensive work, but only 

 perseverance is now needed to bring the river back to a well- 

 stocked and valuable condition. 



The first step was the removal of the cruives, which from 

 time immemorial had been fished by the Duke of Fife. This 

 was accomplished in February, 1898. The cruives were 

 situated about 2 miles from the river mouth. At the date 

 mentioned, the dyke across the river was entirely cleared away. 

 Now it is very difficult to exactly identify the place where the 

 dyke stood. The pool above was, of course, at once lowered, 

 and the site of the dyke is now a rippling stream. 



The improvement looked for, after the removal of the cruive 



