

THE FRESH- WATER LOCHS OF SCOTLAND. 149 



passes along its northern shore. It receives the outflow from Lochs 

 Awe, Maol a' Choire, and Leitir Easaich, and its waters are discharged 

 by the river Inver, which, after a wild and tortuous course of over five 

 miles, falls into Loch Inver. It is a good fishing loch, containing trout, 

 sea-trout, salmon, and Salmo ferox. The ground around the western 

 end is low, but on proceeding eastwards it becomes higher, Beinn 

 Gharbh rising on the south shore to over 1700 feet, while on the north 

 shore Quinag attains 2600 feet, Ghlas Bheinn 2500 feet, Beinn Uidhe 

 2300 feet, and farther to the south-east Coniveall and Ben More Assynt 

 reach 3200 feet. On a promontory on the north shore about a mile 

 from Inchnadamph stand the ruins of Ardvreck Castle, once a strong- 

 hold of the M'Leods and afterwards of the Mackenzies. There are a 

 few small islands and islets near the shore in the western half of the 

 loch. 



Loch Assynt has the reputation of being very wild and rough, and it 

 certainly fully maintained that reputation during the week spent upon 

 it by the staff of the Lake Survey. The general trend of the loch is 

 west-north-west and east-south-east, while the western end bends 

 sharply at Loch Assynt lodge to the south-west, and the eastern end 

 bends less sharply to the south-east. It is 6J miles in length, and 

 nearly a mile in maximum breadth, the mean breadth being half a 

 mile, or 8 per cent, of the length. Its waters cover an area of nearly 

 2000 acres, or over 3 square miles, and it drains an area fourteen times 

 greater, or over 43 square miles. Nearly 400 soundings were taken, 

 the maximum depth observed being 282 feet. The volume of water 

 contained in the loch is estimated at 8,730,905,000 cubic feet, and the 

 mean depth at 101 feet, or 36 per cent, of the maximum depth. The 

 length of the loch is 120 times the maximum depth and 330 times 

 the mean depth. 



The floor of Loch Assynt is rather irregular, as shown by the 

 longitudinal section and two cross sections on the map; this is more 

 especially the case in the half lying to the north of the medial line. 

 The 100-feet contour running along the northern shore is of a most 

 sinuous character, quite independent of the shore-line, and is in striking 

 contrast to the same contour running along the southern shore. In the 

 position of the cross section E F, moreover, the 150-feet and 200-feet 

 contours show a curious prolongation in a northerly direction, and 

 here an isolated sounding of 210 feet was recorded separated from the 

 200-feet area by a sounding of 198 feet. The 50-feet, 100-feet, and 

 150-feet basins are continuous areas, while the area over 200 feet in 

 depth is cut up into four portions, and that over 250 feet in depth into 

 three portions. The 50-feet basin extends practically from one end of 

 the loch to the other ; the 100-feet basin stretches from 200 yards from 

 the eastern end to beyond Rudh' an Alt-toir, where the loch bends 

 sharply to the south-west, and is 5 miles in length ; the 150-feet basin 



