THE DOON 389 



speak with certainty. The proprietors either do not keep a 

 score or keep an uncertain record, and on this account one is 

 quite unable in a district of such wide extent to arrive at an 

 estimate of what is taken from week to week. As nearly as 

 may be gathered, however, I believe the legal rod-catch is 

 between 200 and 300 salmon. A report of an actual figure 

 of a bad year gave only 175, but added : " The actual number 

 caught was far in excess of that figure." 



RIVER DOON 



ANGMNG SEASON: llth February to 31st October. 

 NETTING SEASON: llth February to 26th August. 



The mouth of the Doon is just 2 miles along the coast, south 

 from the mouth of the Ayr, and the general direction of the 

 river is north-west to this point. The source is away in that 

 high district in the north-west of Kirkcudbrightshire, from 

 which streams radiate not only northwards, but also south- 

 east to the Solway Dee, and in a south and west direction to the 

 Minnock, the chief head stream of the Cree. 



A little shallow loch with several islands, Loch Enoch 

 collects the hill burns, and gives off two streams. It is very 

 unusual to find two outlets from a loch, but the Gala Lane and 

 the Eglin Lane, the two streams in question, maintain a 

 completely separate course from their source to Loch Doon, 

 a distance of 6 miles. The word " lane," as applied to a small 

 tributary stream, is, so far as I know, confined to the district 

 of Carrick and to the counties of Kirkcudbright and Dumfries. 

 The Eglin Lane receives the waters of four small lochs by other 

 lanes leading from the west, and, joining with the Whitespout 

 Lane, is thereafter called the Carrick Lane for about a mile 

 and a half before it reaches Loch Doon. 



The river Doon proper flows from Loch Doon, a narrow sheet 

 of water 4 miles long, partly in Kirkcudbright, but chiefly in 

 Ayrshire, and has a course of about 21 miles to the sea. The 

 surface of the loch is 680 feet above the sea, and is studded 

 with five groups of islands. Not far from the upper end is 

 Castle Island, on which stand the remains of an extremely old 

 octagonal tower called Balliol's Castle. Still nearer the head 



