406 RIVERS OF THE NORTH AND NORTH-WEST COAST. 



self to the simplest of fare, to bring a stock of provisions 

 along with him. The best mode of approach to the 

 Laxford river is by Assynt, to which from Golspie, by 

 Lairg, there runs two or three times a week a diligence 

 gig or car conveying the mail, and fitted up to carry 

 three or four passengers. Another proceeds from Lairg 

 to Tongue. On arriving at Assynt, the most direct 

 approach is through a part of the district to Kylesku, at 

 which there is a ferry across to Edderachillis. Edder- 

 achillis is close to Scourie, whence there is a road lead- 

 ing to the river in question. 



The streams, on the west coast of Sutherland, have 

 all connection with fresh-water lochs ; their courses are 

 short but rapid, running as they do, through a wild and 

 rugged district - of country. As angling waters, they 

 maintain much of the same character, heightened or 

 otherwise, according to their size, the nature of the 

 upper spawning grounds and the facility of access 

 afforded to the fish, at the mouth or estuary. Besides 

 the Laxford, the Inver, from Loch Assynt, and the 

 Kirkaig, from Lochs Faun and Vattie, afford excellent 

 sport, especially in the way of sea-trout fishing. Loch 

 Assynt itself possesses considerable attractions for the 

 angler, and contains several varieties of trout. It was 

 visited some years ago by Sir William Jardine, the 

 naturalist, who minutely inspected the different kinds 

 of salmonidfs inhabiting the waters of this sequestered 

 district. The lakes in the parish of Assynt are upwards 

 of two hundred in number, and vary in size from six- 

 and-a-half miles in length to a mile in circumference ; 

 the mere tarns are not included in this calculation. 

 From the tops of some of the mountains, no fewer than 

 one hundred of these expanses of water may be discerned 

 at one and the same time. The greater proportion of 



