LOCH NESS 177 



although if certain seches are caused by differences of barometric 

 pressure while the more common variety are caused by tem- 

 perature differences it is quite possible that they may 

 accompany changes in the fortunes of fishermen. 



So far as superficial area of water goes, Loch Ness comes 

 second to Loch Lomond. The area of Loch Ness is 21| square 

 miles, of Loch Lomond 27| square miles. 1 The maximum 

 depth of the loch is, however, 754 feet (in the centre of the loch 

 about a mile south of Castle Urquhart) and, what is even more 

 remarkable, the mean depth is 433 feet, or 57-4 per cent, of the 

 maximum depth. Loch Morar, the deepest loch, has a mean 

 of only 284 feet. On account of this great mean depth, the 

 volume of water is surprisingly great. " The volume of water 

 contained in Loch Ness is estimated at 263,000 millions of cubic 

 feet, or If cubic miles. In no other Scottish loch does the 

 bulk of water amount to a cubic mile in fact Loch Ness 

 contains about three times as much water as the two lochs 

 which most nearly approach it in this respect, viz. Loch Lomond 

 with 92,800 million cubic feet, and Loch Morar with 81,000 

 million cubic feet. ... As far as we are aware the volume of 

 water contained in the large lakes of Ireland has not yet been 

 carefully worked out, but, taking Loch Neagh, for instance, 

 which is said to cover an area of 153 square miles (or seven 

 times greater than the area of Loch Ness), and to have a 

 maximum depth of only 48 feet, a rough calculation will show 

 that the bulk of water in Loch Neagh must be less than that in 

 Loch Ness. It seems quite possible, therefore, that Loch Ness 

 may be the largest body of fresh water, not only in Great 

 Britain, but in the United Kingdom." 



Another remarkable feature about the loch is the steepness 

 of the shore in many places. The contour lines drawn at each 

 100 feet of soundings show this. 2 



The 100 feet basin is 22 \ miles long. 

 200 21f 



300 20| 



400 20 



500 18$ 



1 " Bathymetrical Survey of Fresh Water Lochs of Scotland," Scot- 

 tish Geographical Magazine, xxiv., No. 4, April, 1908. 



2 Ibid. 



