THE MEIG 211 



fall a short distance above the loch, and thereafter the Meig is 

 steep and broken by the various rock terraces which cross it in 

 its descent of 735 feet from source to loch. The description of 

 the river below this loch is admirably given by Mr. Hinxman 

 in his description of this district. 1 



" The Meig issues from Loch Beannachan through a deep 

 accumulation of fluvio-glacial sand and gravel, which to some 

 extent holds up the waters of the loch ; the rock is first met 

 with in the bed of the stream a mile below the outlet. Between 

 Inverchorainn and Milltown of Strathconon the river runs 

 N.N.E., and nearly at right angles to its higher course, through 

 a straight canon-like valley, whose lofty and precipitous eastern 

 wall of shattered and reddened rock forms one of the most 

 striking features in the scenery of Strathconon. This valley 

 has been determined by a powerful line of dislocation, which 

 can be traced for a great distance through the counties of Ross 

 and western Inverness, with a trend parallel to that of the 

 faults which have determined the Great Glen and the upper 

 part of Strath Glass. This Strathconon fault has already been 

 mentioned as crossing the head of Loch Luichart. At Milltown 

 the Meig leaves the fault-valley and resumes its normal easterly 

 course with a fairly even fall through Strathconon. For a 

 distance of half a mile above Little Scatwell the gradient 

 is less matured, and the stream struggles in a deep and 

 narrow gorge through the silicious flagstones of Torr and 

 Bhealaich." 



It is unfortunate, since the Meig is the tributary which enters 

 a short distance below the falls, that it does not contain a 

 greater extent of spawning ground. Fish hang about the Little 

 Scatwell pools, just above the Meig junction, being barred in 

 their further ascent of the main river. On dropping back, 

 these fish naturally ascend the Meig, where much of the water is 

 in rocky chasms not easily fished and of no use for breeding. 

 Where the river assumes a direction east and west, however, 

 some gravelly streams occur, as below Strathconon Woods and 

 at the outlet of Loch Beannachan. Summer is well advanced 

 before fish are to be found in any numbers, however, and late 

 comers are not able to ascend the river very far. 



1 "The Rivers of Scotland: The Beauly and Conon," Scottish 

 Geographical Magazine, xxiii.. No. 4, p. 200, 



