190 BATHYMETRICAL SURVEY OF 



When surveyed, the temperature was uniform, 47-7 Fahr., from 

 surface to bottom, following on a gale of three or four days' duration. 



Loch nan Geireann (see Plate LXXIL). A little tidal loch near 

 Lochmaddy, the lowest of the Scadavay basin. It is about two-fifths of 

 a mile long by one-fifth of a mile broad. In form it is oblong, with an 

 arm running towards Loch Skealtar. There are some small islands, and 

 the bottom has many large boulders scattered over it, some of which 

 project above the surface. It is a simple basin, but the contours are 

 irregular, and do not closely follow the shore-line. The maximum depth 

 is 31 feet. The stream entering from Loch Skealtar has no appreciable 

 length, there being merely a fall of a foot from a little loch intervening 

 between Lochs nan Geireann and Skealtar. The outflow is a drain under 

 the road into Loch na Ciste, a sea loch. The fauna was that of fresh water. 

 Only high tides come in and raise the surface from 1 to 1J feet. The 

 height above sea-level, on May 9, 1904, was 7'45 feet. The temperature 

 at the surface was 49'0 Fahr., and at 25 feet only less. 



The Strumore Basin. This comprises a chain of three lochs, of which 

 Loch an Strumore (tidal) and Loch Fada (fresh) were surveyed, while the 

 intermediate little Loch Galtarsay was not sounded. 



Loch an Strumore (see Plate LXXIL). Loch an Strumore (or Loch 

 an Aastrom) is a pretty large tidal loch of oblong form, situated about 

 a mile north-west from Lochmaddy. It is a little more than a mile long, 

 and half a mile in greatest breadth. The outline is irregular, with 

 many little inlets. There are many islands, the largest near the middle, 

 where the loch is much constricted, and lying close to the north shore. 

 Rock and stones alternate on the shore. The bottom is almost level, 

 about 12 feet deep in the central parts, the bays shallower. There is a 

 deeper hole at the east end, near the outflow, with the maximum depth 

 of 22 feet. Ordinary tides enter, and the loch is filled throughout with 

 fucoids, but juncus also grows abundantly. Level on May 10, 1904, 

 when the tide was out, 3*7 feet above the sea. The temperature at the 

 surface was 49 0> 2 Fahr., and at 18 feet 47-2. 



Loch Fada (see Plate LXXIL). Loch Fada consists of two portions 

 connected by a narrow channel. The north portion is narrow and elon- 

 gate from west to east. It is studded with islands, on which large numbers 

 of gulls and other birds nest. The greater part of it is less than 1 feet 

 in depth. The maximum depth of 26 feet is found close to an island at the 

 east end. There is also a very narrow channel, with depths up to 25 feet, 

 between the peninsula called Ard Fhada and a chain of small islands. 

 The southern portion of the loch is triangular. It is one of the largest 

 bodies of open water on the island, but even here there is a heap of stones 

 projecting above the surface almost in the centre of the triangle. There 



