LOCH ACHILTY. 391 



saw-dust, encountered and gorged by them during their 

 ascent from the Cromarty firth. 



The salmon frequenting Rasay are of a variety quite 

 distinct from those of the Conan and Meig, but they 

 are all three sorts remarkable for their richness of 

 flavour. The cruive dyke below Brahan Castle, pre- 

 vents their access to the upper waters, except on the 

 occasion of large floods or through the Sunday slap. 

 When the water is of moderate size, and salmon have 

 been on the run, they will not rise at the fly in Rasay, 

 until after a day's rest, as has been ascertained, by the 

 circumstance that new-run fish are only to be captured 

 there on the Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and never on 

 the Mondays. A stay of three days in the river is 

 sufficient to give them a tinge of blackness, and rid 

 them entirely of the monoculus piscinus, or sea louse. 



The lowest pool on the Blackwater where salmon are 

 fished for with rod and line, is that at Contin Bridge, 

 near which there is a comfortable inn. 



About a mile to the south, on the road to Scat well, 

 is situated a beautiful sheet of water, Loch Achilty, 

 surrounded with weeping birches, and containing charr 

 and fine trout. Of the former, in July 1835, I captured, 

 one forenoon, by means of the brown hackle and other 

 flies, no fewer than eighteen, along with four dozen 

 trout. Loch Achilty is fed by a small rivulet issuing 

 from a chain of lakes above Craigdarroch. It has 

 however no visible outlet, but is connected subterran- 

 eously with the Rasay or Blackwater, as the springs 

 on the side of that river lying nearest the loch suffi- 

 ciently indicate. Following its feeder upwards, we are 

 guided through a woody dell to another small lake, 

 Loch an Dramh, containing nice lively trout, and be- 

 yond it to a larger one, termed Loch Nech Beann, or 



