LOCH CLARE AND LOCH COULIN 303 



14 Ib. and 12 Ib. have also been recorded. Trout of 6 Ib. and 

 8 Ib. are apparently not very uncommon. These trout seem 

 to escape the designation of ferox. Char are also present. 



Loch Maree is remarkable also for its number of beautifully 

 wooded islands. There are twenty- seven of them lying in the 

 centre of the loch immediately opposite and to the west of 

 Loch Maree Hotel. The loch bottom between many of the 

 islands is extremely shallow, so that, when the loch is very 

 low, a rowing boat can scarcely pass. Between others the 

 channel is amply sufficient for the passage of a small steamer. 



The water is very clear since the loch is fed by streams flowing 

 from bare mountain ridges. During heavy rain enormously 

 steep little water-courses drain the very summits of the moun- 

 tains, and rush their streaks of white water straight down into 

 the loch as torrents descend the sides of Norwegian fjords. 

 The river Ewe is always as clear as crystal no matter how it 

 may rain. The streams which enter the loch on the south 

 side at Talladale and Bridge of Grudie are of little use to the 

 angler, although the latter has about three miles of compara- 

 tively level, if very stony, course before entering the loch. 

 The stream from Lochan Fada on the north side is quite 

 impassable to salmon. 



The Kinlochewe river, as its name implies, enters at the top 

 of the loch, and flows gently with great bends through an 

 alluvial flat edged with raised beaches. Close to Kinlochewe 

 Hotel it receives two streams, one from the north, the 

 Bruachaig, a useful spawning stream, the other from the 

 south, the Ghairbhe, which drains Loch Clare and Loch Coulin, 

 and as the Coulin river rises from the high ridges 900 to 1,200 

 feet up overlooking Glen Carron a short distance above 

 Achnashellach. This is the channel up which ascending fish 

 chiefly pass and where, in Loch Clare and Loch Coulin, they 

 congregate in considerable numbers. Near Kinlochewe there 

 is a small hatchery and two rearing ponds where both salmon 

 and sea-trout are dealt with. In 1908 some 60,000 yearling 

 salmon were turned out by Sir Kenneth Mackenzie's direction. 



LOCH CLARE AND LOCH COULIN 



Fish well from June onwards, the fly alone, I understand, 

 being used. I have known of 7 salmon taken in Coulin in 



