THE HOPE 269 



Gobernuisgach, where other streams join from right and left, 

 the level appears to be less than 100 feet a drop of fully 700 

 feet in four miles. The river becomes flat and sluggish before 

 the loch is reached, and all the spawning ground of the district 

 may be said to be in the five miles of water between the junc- 

 tions of the head streams already referred to and the river 

 abreast of Ben Hope, which towers up 3,040 feet on the right. 



Some fine pools exist in the Strath More river, especially 

 below the ruined castle of Dornadilla, and here a very fair 

 number of fish are taken in summer. Eraser, the keeper, tells 

 me he has takan a clean fish on 10th March. The salmon 

 average from 12 to 14 Ib. in weight. The fishing belongs to 

 Mr. Alex. Morrison of Kinloch, who also has a boat on Loch 

 Hope, to fish which necessitates about eight miles on pony back 

 over the hill. Eireboll estate, now belonging to the Board of 

 Agriculture for Scotland, has also the right of one boat on 

 the loch. 



The river Hope itself is a beautiful-looking river of consider- 

 able volume, and contains seven good pools in its short length. 

 I understand that the average take used to be about 45 fish. Mr. 

 Milburn took, in 1920, 53 salmon and grilse and 319 sea-trout. 

 His heaviest fish was 25 Ib. In 1921 he took 110 salmon and 

 grilse before the end of August, and during one week had two 

 days of 8. The river is apparently improving under Mr. 

 Millburn's management. A great number of sea-trout fre- 

 quently ascend. In this respect the Hope is again like the Ewe 

 and Loch Maree or the Shiel and Loch Shiel. Some of the 

 trout run heavy, and I believe the record for this species is 14 Ib. 



It may quite well be that more fish run into the loch in the 

 early part of the season than are thought of, and may be off 

 the take before fishing usually begins. The Hope is always 

 described as a late river. But with very similar conditions 

 occurring at two or three other places, notably on the west 

 coast of Scotland, I want some proof that fishing has been tried 

 and has failed before I am disposed to admit that the Hope 

 must be a quite exceptional river in our country. It has 

 considerable volume, and it has a large loch only a short 

 distance from the sea. The temperature of the loch is not at 

 all likely to be unusually low, the temperature of the short 

 river will be similar, the gradient is easy. The conditions 



