384 BATHYMETRICAL SURVEY OF 



width is 2 miles. The portion of the loch from Torr point to Bona 

 ferry for about 1J miles varies in width from a half to a quarter of a 

 mile, and the central portion of Loch Dochfour is about a quarter of 

 a mile in width. The mean breadth of the entire loch is nine-tenths 

 of a mile, or less than 4 per cent, of the length ; a smaller percentage of 

 mean breadth to length has been recorded only in Loch Shiel and Loch 

 Shin, with 2J and 3 per cent, respectively. 



The waters of Loch Ness cover an area of nearly 14,000 acres, or 21| 

 square miles. Among the Scottish fresh-water lochs this is exceeded 

 only by Loch Lomond, which has a superficial area of nearly 27J square 



FIG. 60. INCHNACARDOCH BAY, LOCH NESS, SHOWING CHEERY ISLAND AND THE 



" HORSESHOE " IN THE DISTANCE. 



(Photograph by Mr. G. West. From " Proc. Roy. Soc. Edin.," by permission of the Council.) 



miles. As already stated the area draining directly into Loch Ness is 

 about 332 square miles, while its total drainage area, including the 

 area draining into all the tributary lochs, is about 686 square miles 

 an area over thirty times greater than that of the loch. 



The maximum depth observed by the Lake Survey staff in Loch 

 Ness was 754 feet, about a mile due south of Castle Urquhart in the 

 centre of the loch. A greater depth than this has been recorded in only 

 one Scottish loch, viz. Loch Morar, which has a maximum depth of 1017 

 feet, and after Loch Ness come Loch Lomond and Loch Lochy, with 

 maxima of 623 and 531 feet respectively. 



