LOCHS LYDOCH AND RANNOCH. 353 



desolate in the extreme, but the lake itself possesses 

 many attractions, being studded with wooded islets, the 

 haunts of the eagle and red deer, and withal abounding 

 in trout. Of these, the generality that rise at the fly 

 are not large, but I understand from a gentleman who, 

 some years ago, there being no boat, trolled a part of 

 the lake, with the assistance of a lath or otter, that it 

 contains trout of great magnitude, upwards of a stone 

 in weight. After leaving Loch Lydoch, which is six 

 miles in length, the Gauer progresses towards Loch 

 Rannoch, a distance of eight or nine miles, and form- 

 ing an island at the head, discharges itself, by two 

 entrances, into the lake. I have fished with great suc- 

 cess at this point, which is close to George-town, a 

 small hamlet, affording, with its inn, tolerable accom- 

 modation to anglers. 



Not far from where the Gauer enters Loch Rannoch, 

 the EEOCHT river also empties its waters, pursuing the 

 latter part of its course with great violence. The loch 

 from which it issues is one of the longest and dreariest 

 expanses of water in Perthshire, extending from the 

 inn at Dalwhinnie, above sixteen miles. It contains 

 plenty of herring-sized trout, and I make no question, 

 larger ones are to be obtained by trolling. In Loch Ran- 

 noch, trout have been caught of thirty pounds weight, 

 and upwards of three feet in length. They ascend one 

 of its feeders, the Aid Eithach, about the end of Sep- 

 tember, for the purpose of spawning, and are there 

 killed with the leister by the inhabitants of the district. 

 It is affirmed that no salmon find their way up to this 

 loch, being unable to surmount the falls on the Tum- 

 mel, but the statement is in part incorrect, for many 

 of these fish are known to overcome the place in ques- 

 tion, and I am inclined to think that some of the large 



