298 THE SALMON RIVERS OF SCOTLAND 



RIVER .EWE 



It is a little difficult to tell where the river begins, for Loch 

 Maree at its low end is prolonged into a narrow channel, which 

 only gradually merges into a river bed. From the foot of this 

 prolongation the river has a course of only about a mile and a 

 half to the sea. Where the current makes itself noticeable 

 are three constrictions, named the upper, middle, and lower 

 narrows, and these are regarded as the surest casts for salmon. 

 "The middle narrow" has the highest reputation, but the 

 glamour is rather a reflection from the past, for the number of 

 salmon taken out of the Ewe nowadays is often very small 

 indeed. The total has sunk, I believe, as low as eight. Yet, in 

 the mile and a half of river from the " narrows " to the mouth, 

 the water is beautiful, free running, rapid, yet with nice holding 

 pools. 



In general character the Ewe resembles the Awe. "The 

 narrows " corresponds to the Brander Pools, and immediately 

 thereafter the water becomes rapid and broken, and goes 

 hurrying down with two big bends to the sea at Poolewe. A 

 cruive used to exist in ancient times not far above the road 

 bridge at Poolewe. Later this structure was shifted to what 

 is now called "the old cruive pool," about half-way up the 

 river. Ultimately the cruive was moved still higher up below 

 " the lower narrow " to enable more angling to be secured 

 below. The structure was finally removed, Mr. Osgood 

 Mackenzie informs me, in 1847 or 1848. The walls of the old 

 cruive pool were not removed in the same way, but additional 

 walls were put in at the foot of the pool in order to raise the 

 water level, and enable water to be taken to Pool House by 

 means of a ram. This old cruive pool is, therefore, a much- 

 built pool, while in one or two other pools piers or jetties have 

 been erected for the purpose of securing a better cast. In the 

 cruive pool and in those jetties we have other resemblances to 

 the river Awe. The only difference is that the Ewe is a fourth 

 of the Awe's length, and that fish, therefore, run through it 

 all the more rapidly. 



Great numbers of fish were taken out of the river when the 

 cruive existed. In the early " thirties " an old man, lately dead, 

 saw three cobles full of fish taken by one haul of the net in the 

 tidal pool at Pool House. Sea-trout were then given away to 



