THE AWE 353 



loch being unable to recede as fast as the ebbing tide of the 

 more open side seawards, pours over the rocks in a huge rapid 

 or salt-water fall. The cantilever bridge of the Connel and 

 Ballachulish branch railway now spans the old ferry imme- 

 diately below the falls. 



Loch Etive forms the estuary of the Awe and Etive, the 

 statutory limits of which are " the point north-west of Dunstaff- 

 nage Castle on the south, and the south-west point of Garbhart 

 on the north." The old Dunstaffnage for in some period of 

 the Middle Ages an almost new castle seems to have been built 

 the original of the present ruin, was one of the very early 

 fortresses in Scotland. It is believed to have been built by a 

 monarch of these parts, who was contemporaneous with Julius 

 Caesar. It was a fairly old place when the Vikings came 

 cruising about in the ninth century. Robert the Bruce 

 captured it in 1308 from the Lord of Lorn after his victory in 

 the Pass of Brander ; and in the same year, it is believed, he 

 held a parliament in Ardchattan Priory opposite Achnacloich. 

 In quite recent days Dunstaffnage has, from a legal point of 

 view, once more become a casus belli. 



RIVER AWE 



The characteristics of this river may be said to be its broken 

 and impetuous course, its clear water, its boulder- strewn banks 

 and steep wooded slopes. The Awe is a splendid type of a 

 Highland river ; it has that dash and swirl about it, at once 

 courageous and full of purpose. It has no time to meander 

 amongst meadows or rest in rocky caverns. When it glides 

 out of the Pass of Brander below towering Ben Cruachan, it 

 has barely 4 miles to go, at the nearest, to Loch Etive, and 

 down its widening glen it goes with a gladsome rush and 

 sparkle. A hundred and sixteen feet or so it runs down in 

 those 4 miles, so it doesn't turn often to look behind. 



The Awe salmon seem to partake of the spirit of the river. 

 They are lusty fellows, deep-keeled and fine in the lines ; hard 

 fighters that will cut you if they can, and perhaps rush for the 

 sea if they cannot. Men who have had far more experience 

 fishing salmon in various parts of the world than I, say the 

 Awe fish are amongst the very finest to catch. I can believe 



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