THE SHIN 225 



be multiplied by three, and a much larger stock of breeding 

 fish left in the water. The left bank belongs to Rosehall and 

 the right bank to Balnagoun. At the present time Mr. Gilmour, 

 of Rosehall, rents the rights on the Balnagoun side from Sir 

 Charles Ross, so that he or his tenants fish both banks of the 

 whole river. 



The upper falls, above Glen Muich, 10 miles from Rosehall, 

 are as high as the lower, and are practically complete 

 obstructions. They also are in two sections, the upper being 

 about 11 feet and the lower about 22-24 feet. They are 

 capable of treatment at considerable cost. The river above is 

 still of some volume, and runs for about 6 miles from a 

 number of small lochs on the north side of Ben More. This 

 top section is reported to hold large trout. 



With reference to the falls of Cassley, here is an interesting 

 account of how fish used to be procured as if by the special 

 provision of Nature : " The way of fishing here is neither by 

 cobles or cruives, but at a line (? linn) or cataract, which is 

 within a quarter of a mile to the sea, the fish cannot pas this 

 lin except in time of speats. When the water is low, it endea- 

 vours to leap up, but being at length wearied with leaping, it 

 ordinarly rests in holes and pitts at each side of the catarect 

 or line out of which the fishers take them at pleasure alive with 

 their clipps or large hooks and sometimes with their hands." 1 



THE SHIN 



This is the shortest river in the district, but, below the falls, 

 the best for spring fishing. Thanks to its source from Loch 

 Shin, it is less liable to sudden fluctuations of level, and is also, 

 we may safely presume arguing from analogous cases from 

 which thermometric data are available of higher temperature 

 during the early months of the year, than the other rivers of 

 the Kyle district. 



Loch Shin is 17 miles long, and receives water at its head 

 from Lochs Merkland and Griama. It is never broader than a 

 mile, and lies in a N.W. and S.E. direction. The mean breadth 

 is half a mile, which is a smaller percentage of breadth to length 



1 Geographical Collections relating to Scotland, made by Walter 

 Macfarlane, 1726. Edited by Sir Arthur Mitchell for the Scottish 

 History Society, 1906, vol. i., p. 201. 



P 



