THE EWE, LOCHS MAREE, CLARE, AND COULIN 297 



fairyland is disclosed. On every hand the eye and the 

 imagination are captivated. 



It is rather striking that the chief river should be called the 

 Ewe, that the loch from which it flows should be called not 

 Loch Ewe (which name is given to the sea loch into which the 

 river flows), but Loch Maree ; and further that the place at 

 the head of Loch Maree should be called, not Kinloch Maree, 

 but Kinlochewe. This name Kinlochewe is, however, believed 

 to be a survival from the time when the fresh- water loch was 

 called Loch Ewe. I am informed that on ancient maps this 

 nomenclature may still be seen. No doubt the sea once came 

 up to Kinlochewe ; prominent beaches can there be noticed, 

 but one can scarcely think that there were any human beings 

 about in those days who told their children's children that 

 the water was called Loch Ewe. 



The limits of the estuary are not drawn across the entrance 

 to Loch Ewe, but about three miles in from the entrance and 

 before the loch widens out at Mellon Charles to enclose the 

 Isle of Ewe. The limits laid down in the schedule of the 1868 

 Act are " a straight line drawn from Ru-na-Gavann on the 

 west shore to Ru Con on the east shore," and the bye-laws of 

 the Act setting forth those limits came into force in 1865, and 

 of course have remained unchanged, since no power exists for 

 any alteration. About ten bag nets are fished at the mouth 

 of Loch Ewe, just outside the limits of the estuary. This 

 number does not seem to have varied much since those nets 

 were first introduced. On other parts of the coast of the 

 district it would appear, however, that since 1896 the netting 

 has been rather reduced. 



When Hogarth had those fishings the practice was to boil 

 the fish not only of Loch Ewe, but also from Gairloch and 

 Aultbea, at Poolewe ; and before 1865, when the bye-law 

 respecting the limits of the estuary came into force, bag nets 

 used to be fished on either side of the upper loch, and just 

 opposite the mouth of the river at Inverewe. Between 200 

 and 300 salmon were then commonly boiled and packed at a 

 time, and this number might be treated twice or even thrice a 

 week in July. 



There seems no manner of doubt that thirty or forty years 

 ago the district produced a lot of fish. 



