312 APPENDIX. 



Loch Maedie, in the centre of a peat moor, giving birth 

 to the Smoo Burn, which falls into the roof of the wondrous 

 Smoo Cave, in the limestone of Durness ; Loch Crassapuil, 

 close to the Manse of Durness, with its bright clear sand, 

 and vivid green water, and silvery-sided trout most closely- 

 approaching Salmo levenensis. Also Loch Borralaigh, with 

 its char and subterranean outlet communicating with Loch 

 Crassapuil below, and hundreds of others, scarcely one of 

 which is not worth some passing notice, which, however, 

 our space forbids us to attempt. Yet we cannot pass by 

 the strange little pools which perch high on the shoulder 

 of Ben Hope, holding in their clear depths innumerable 

 char of goodly size, nor can we omit to mention the 

 drearier beauties of Loch Laoghal, Loch Slam and Craggie 

 near Durness, or of the many other lochlets which nestle 

 near the base of Ben LaoghaL. 



Of the West Sutherland rivers our choice is the Inver. 

 Wild and rugged, and headlong in its frantic efforts to 

 reach the sea at Loch Inver, throughout its lower reaches, 

 in its upper portions it is calm and smooth, and wide and 

 deep, expanding into little lochs and great ranges of salmon- 

 spawning beds. It is fringed with birch, spruce, and fir 

 — a lovely, wooded ravine— in its lower reaches ; but in 

 its upper, save at the spot where it leaves Loch Assynt, 

 is almost treeless. Thus it offers the finest combination 

 of scenery of any river in the county. Next in loveliness 

 is Kirkaig, if not indeed in its own forte outvieing the 

 Inver. Its magnificent waterfall, 68 feet in height, and 

 the dark romantic pool below, its rugged, narrow, and 

 tortuous course, and its uniformly-wooded sides, make it 

 almost if not quite the equal in beauty of its sister stream. 

 Then comes the Laxford, by its name suggestive of great and 

 goodly store of salmon ; and then the melancholy Strath 

 of Dionard, near Durness. Savagely wild is the Dionard 

 or Grudie in its upP er reaches and at shingly -shored 

 Loch Dionard ; melancholy, dreary, and weird, throughout 

 the last 10 miles of its course, before it falls into the 

 Kyle of Durness. 



Of manv minor streams we could recount their beauties 



