234 BATHYMETRICAL SURVEY OF 



Loch of ClicJchimin (see Plate XCV.) is a very small tidal loch lying 

 close to the west of the town of Lerwick. The channel to the sea is cut 

 through a low bar of gravel ; on the west rises a steep hill. The east 

 and south shores are strewn with boulders, and there are many also in the 

 loch. A brough or Dim stands on a promontory strewn with stones. 



Loch Clickhimin is barely half a mile long, fully a quarter of a mile 

 wide, and 10 feet in maximum depth, with a mean depth of between 5 and 

 6 feet. The superficial area is about 46 acres, and the loch drains an area 

 of half a square mile. The volume is 11 millions of cubic feet. The 

 bottom is covered with mud, sand, and boulders, and is in parts weedy. It 

 is said that only high tides enter, and that there are no fish in the loch 

 except eels. 



The surface temperature was 52'0 Fahr. on July 7, 1903. 



Loch of Girlsta (see Plate XCYI.) is a fine large loch of oblong form 

 situated 6 miles to the north of Lerwick. Its long axis runs north and 

 south. The shores are desolate heather-covered hills rising on east 

 and west, higher on the west. There is a broad beach of small grey 

 stones on east and west, and a sandy beach at the north end. The island 

 in the loch is low and heather covered. Rock is exposed on the island 

 and at several spots on the east shore. Near the outflow there is rock in 

 vertical strata worn to the level of the beach. The outflow, controlled by 

 a dam and sluice, is through a stony flat southward into Wadbister Voe. 



Loch Girlsta is 1^ miles long, and fully one-third of a mile broad in the 

 middle. Its depth, 74 feet, is the greatest among the lochs surveyed in 

 Shetland, though it only exceeds Clings Water by one foot. The mean 

 depth, 31 feet, is the greatest in Shetland. The superficial area, one-third 

 of a square mile, is exceeded only by Lochs Strom and Cliff, and is about 

 the same as that of Loch Spiggie. The volume of water, 308 millions of 

 cubic feet, is nearly three times as great as that of any other loch in 

 Shetland, the four next largest, Lochs Cliff, Eela, Strom, and Clings Water, 

 each slightly exceeding 100 millions. Only small burns enter Loch Girlsta, 

 the largest being the Bretto burn, which drains four small lochs on the 

 west, and flows into the loch opposite the island. The outflow is on the 

 south by a mill lead, one-third of a mile long, to the mill of Girlsta. The 

 area drained is nearly 2 square miles. When surveyed on July 8, 1903, 

 the loch was 87 -6 feet above sea-level. Except for tfie slight interference 

 by the shallow water around the island, the basin is very simple, with 

 approximately parallel contours and even slopes on all sides to the deepest 

 water in the middle. 



The temperature only varied 0*3 degree from surface to bottom ; the 

 surface temperature being 54'l Fahr., and at 75 feet 53*8. 



Loch of Burraland (see Plate XCVII.) is situated 4 miles south from 

 Ollaberry and a little to the east of the main road. There is a farm 



