THE FRESH-WATER LOCHS OF SCOTLAND. 197 



the northern branch along the connecting Urm, to the east end of the 

 southern branch, would be about 2 miles in length. The northern branch, 

 nearly lj miles in length, is divided into three portions. That in the east, 

 adjoining the outflow, is quadrate, measuring about a quarter of a mile 

 each way ; it has an even bottom, with a greatest depth of 20 feet. The 

 middle portion is filled with islands, on one of which, Dim Scor, is a Dun. 

 Another, Eilean Dubh Dun Scor, is connected with a larger island on the 

 east by a long causeway. Among these islands the north branch is deeper 

 than elsewhere, the greatest depth being 30 feet. The west portion of 

 this branch is three-quarters of a mile long, and very narrow and shallow, 

 having a greatest depth of only 1 1 feet. It is separated from the central 

 part by a large island, connected with the north shore by a causeway, and 

 having the channel on the south full of stones, and from 1 to 3 feet in 

 depth. The burn from Loch an lasgaich enters the west end of this arm. 

 The narrow passage connecting the northern and southern branches of the 

 loch is shallow in the middle and northern portions, but towards the south 

 it rapidly deepens into one of the basins which form the southern half of 

 the loch. The southern branch of the loch is shorter than the northern, 

 measuring little more than one mile in length, but it is much broader and 

 very much deeper. It contains two distinct basins, the best marked basins 

 in the island, separated by a strait filled with large islands. 



The west basin is triangular, three-quarters of a mile long by one-third 

 of a mile broad. Though the island, on which is the Dun Ban, lies well 

 out from the shore, it does not destroy the simplicity of the basin. The 

 slope of the bottom is steeper on the south side, more gradual on the north. 

 The deepest sounding in this basin, 50 feet, occurs near a small island at 

 the east end of the basin. The east basin is smaller but deeper. It is 

 fully half a mile long l^y a quarter of a mile broad. Its axis runs north 

 and south. The contours are more indented than the outline, owing to the 

 presence of a number of submerged promontories. The slopes of the 

 bottom are about equal on all sides, and the deepest part (maximum 

 sounding of the whole loch, 74 feet) is about the middle of the basin. 

 The narrows between the east and west basins is nearly closed by islands, 

 of which Eilean Dubh, one-sixth of a mile long, is the largest. There are 

 three narrow channels among these islands with depths of only 5 or 6 feet. 

 Large portions of the shores are stony, but rock is exposed in many places, 

 and the principal islands are of rock. The stream flowing out of the 

 north-east corner into Loch Oban nam Fiadh, is one-eighth of a mile long, 

 and has a fall of 2 feet. At the south-east corner the burn from Loch 'ic 

 Colla flows in. The superficial area of Loch Caravat is about 374 acres, 

 or over half a square mile. The drainage area, which includes Lochs an 

 lasgaich, 'ic Colla, an t-Seasgain, and some smaller lochs, has an extent of 

 fully 3 square miles. By volume of water, which amounts to 270 millions 

 of cubic feet, Loch Caravat is the third largest loch in the island. When 

 surveyed on June 8, 1904, the height of the surface above sea-level was 



