THE FRESH- WATER LOCHS OF SCOTLAND. 281 



of which exceeds 35 square miles. The maximum depth of 270 feet 

 was observed in the central part of the loch, but nearer the south- 

 western than the north-eastern shore, as will be seen in the cross section 

 C-D on the map, which is taken at the position of the deepest sounding. 

 The volume of water is estimated at 3201 millions of cubic feet, and the 

 mean depth at 125 feet. Loch Morie was surveyed on August 28, 1902, 

 when the water-surface was found to be 621-6 feet above the sea; when 

 visited by the Ordnance Survey officers on September 28, 1868, the 

 elevation was 622 feet. The loch forms a simple basin, the contour- 

 lines all enclosing continuous areas. The shallower contours follow 

 approximately the outline of the loch, but the deeper ones bend in their 

 central portions towards the south-western shore. The 100-feet basin 

 is over 1J miles, and the 200-feet basin is over a mile, in length. The 

 slope of the bottom is in some places very steep for instance, off the 

 south-western shore towards the north-west end, where a sounding 

 of 75 feet was taken about 60 feet from shore, and one of 124 feet about 

 120 feet from shore, showing in each case a gradient exceeding 1 in 1. 

 The areas between the consecutive contour-lines, and the percentages to 

 the total area of the loch, are as follows : 



Oto 50 feet 148 acres 25 -2 per cent. 



50,, 100 92 15-8 



100,, 150 104 17-7 



150,, 200 113 19-2 



200,, 250 106 18-0 



Over 250 , 24 , 4-1 



587 100-0 



It will be observed that the area between 50 and 100 feet, and to a 

 less extent that between 100 and 150 feet, are smaller than the 

 shallower and deeper zones, indicating an average slope steeper between 

 50 and 150 feet than elsewhere. The temperature of the surface water 

 was 54-0 Fahr. on the date of the survey, but serial temperatures could 

 not be attempted on account of the gale that was blowing. 



Luck Eye (see Plate LXIV.). Loch Eye is a rather large but very 

 shallow loch, about 3 miles from Tain and a mile from Inver bay, an 

 inlet of the Dornoch firth. It was surveyed on September 26, 1902, 

 when the surface of the water was found to stand 47-8 feet above the 

 sea; on December 24, 1867, the Ordnance Survey officers found the 

 elevation to be 50*7 feet above sea-level, or 3 feet higher than in 1902. 

 The loch is 1J miles in length, with a maximum width of nearly two- 

 thirds of a mile, and covers an area of over 210 acres, or one-third 

 of a square mile. The maximum depth is 7 feet, and the mean depth 

 4 feet, the volume of water being estimated at 37 million cubic feet. 



