96 BATHYMETRICAL SURVEY OF 



LOCHS OF THE GIKVAN BASIN. 



THE river Girvan, or water of Girvan, which has its entire course in the 

 county of Ayr, originates in a tiny lochan, called Loch Girvan Eye, on the 

 northern elope of Shalloch on Minnoch, a hill 2520 feet in height, near 

 the county border. For some 10 miles from its source it runs from south- 

 east to north-west, parallel to, and very near, the river Doon, passing 

 through a number of small lochs, the chief of which is Loch Bradan, then 

 at the village of Kirkmichael it turns at right angles and flows south-west- 

 ward to the sea at Girvan. Three lochs near the source of the river were 

 surveyed, Loch Bradan, of fair size, the other two (Loch Lure and Cornish 

 Loch) very small. The three lochs have a combined area of nearly one- 

 fifth of a square mile, a volume of 24 millions of cubic feet, and drainage 

 area of 5J square miles. 



Cornish Loch (see Plate XXXVII.). A very small loch lying at an 

 elevation of 1303-7 feet above the sea, near the source of the river Girvan. 

 Eugged rocky and heather-clad hills surround the loch, rising more steeply 

 on the north side. The promontories round the shore are of rock. On the 

 south side, where two large streams enter, one of them the water of Girvan, 

 there is a broad boggy flat, liable to floods. The length, from east to west, 

 is a quarter of a mile, and the greatest breadth one-seventh of a mile. The 

 loch is shallow and the bottom nearly flat, with a greatest depth of 7 feet, 

 and a mean depth of 4 feet. The area is about 15 acres, and the volume 

 3 millions of cubic feet. The area drained is fully a square mile. The 

 water of Girvan flows northward from the west end of the loch. 



The surface temperature on November 1, 1906, was 42- 5 Fahr. 



Loch Lure (see Plate XXXVII.). A very small loch, immediately 

 west of T>"*h Bradan. It lies among rough moorland, and on the south 

 rises a rugged and sparsely wooded hill. The length is over one-third of a 

 mile, and the greatest breadth one-seventh of a mile. It is flat-bottomed 

 and shallow, the maximum depth 7 feet and the mean depth 4 feet. A 

 large area at the west end is filled with reeds and floatiDg plants. The area 

 is about 29 acres, and the volume 5 millions of cubic feet. The drainage 

 area, including Cornish Loch, is nearly 4 square miles. The water of 

 Girvan flows in at the west end, and out at the east, as a broad short 

 stream flowing around numerous islands to Loch Bradan. The height of 



