376 RIVERS OF THE MORAY FIRTH. 



shock, and afterwards by the Dorback from Loch-an- 

 Dorb. Near Loch-an-Dorb lie a number of small 

 lakes, some containing trout and others pike. The 

 Muckle-burn, to which sea-trout have access, discharges 

 itself at the mouth of the Findhorn. It abounds in 

 small fresh- water trout. 



The salmon-fishings on this river are by no means 

 so productive as formerly. The great flood of 1829, by 

 altering the course of the river at its confluence with 

 the sea, assisted much to reduce their value. They are 

 now, however, as far at least as the lower fishings are 

 concerned, improving, and likely to return to their 

 wonted state of productiveness. On an average, there 

 are six hundred boxes of salmon shipped annually for 

 the London market, the value of each box being about 

 five pounds. The rent paid for the river, sea, and 

 bay-fishing was, a few years ago, one thousand one 

 hundred and eighty pounds. 



At Sluie, several miles from the mouth of Findhorn, 

 the fishings were at one time of great celebrity. As far 

 back as 1648, when the mode of taking salmon was very 

 imperfect, it is stated in the New Statistical Account of 

 Scotland, that, according to a letter from the Earl of 

 Moray to his Countess, no fewer than thirteen hundred 

 salmon were taken in one night on the pool of Sluie 

 alone, and at a single draught six-and-twenty scores. 

 About thirty-six years ago, three hundred and sixty 

 salmon were caught in the same pool in one day. The 

 number now captured in this portion of the river does 

 not exceed, during the whole season, seven hundred 

 fish. The right of angling is retained by the Earl of 

 Moray, but the fishings are held by Messrs. Hogarth 

 and Co., of Aberdeen. At the Ess, or fall, which is 

 about six feet in height, there is practised a singular 



