WINTER FLOODS. 



fields on the left bank carried away, in spite of the 

 persevering efforts of the landed proprietors to 

 neutralize the effects of the flood, or to repair the 

 damage hy buttresses of timber enclosing huge 

 masses of closely packed boulders, chevaux-de-frise 

 of fir-trees, and similar contrivances to resist the 

 torrent. 



I have just said that the salmon pools between 

 "Boat o' Brig" and the Spey bridge which 

 spans the river near Fochabers preserve, less or 

 more, their locality from year to year, although 

 their depth and character arc frequently altered ; 

 but the case is very different "below bridge." 

 There are occasional exceptions to this but they 

 only serve to prove the rule. A more particular 

 description of some of these pools may be 

 attempted hereafter. This is only a rough sketch 

 a bird's-eye view, as it were, of the river and 

 its shores. 



For some miles past, the hills on the left bank 

 have retired from the bed of the stream, and the 

 rich alluvial plain is the site of several of the 

 most fertile and highly cultivated farms in the 

 north of Scotland. On neariug the bridge the 

 higher ground gradually approaches the river, 

 which here cuts its way for some distance through 

 a rock of red sandstone ; but shortly after, the 



