THE TEITH 41 



Teith is really of very little account. A certain number of fish 

 ascend it annually, but the river is too like a uniform winding canal 

 in actual character to admit of good fishing, and in summer time the 

 growth of weeds in its sluggish waters is excessive. 



RIVER TEITH. 



The head waters of the Teith are in Loch Katrine, and more 

 particularly in the neighbourhood of the place, composed of a hotel, 

 which vies with any other in Scotland for the strength of its name 

 Stronachlacher. The burn called Glen Gyle Water is the actual 

 head stream. The loch is about 8 miles long, and is so deep that 

 although its surface is 364 feet above sea-level, 645 acres of its floor 

 are below sea-level. It needs no description from me. Who has 

 not passed through the Trossachs to Loch Katrine, seen Ellen's Isle, 

 and read The Lady of the Lake ? The water-level has been raised 

 by the barrage of the Glasgow Water Works (and the erstwhile 

 famous " silver strand " covered like the foundations of Philae). The 

 outlet is furnished with nine sluices of different levels and a bye- 

 wash. A very solid salmon pass is built behind and parallel to the 

 weir, and to this each sluice has an opening opposite which is a pool 

 10' x 6' x 2' 3". Inasmuch, however, as all the sluices except the 

 lowest open by being lowered instead of being raised this arrange- 

 ment suiting the purposes of the Water Trustees a waterfall is apt 

 to be formed into each pool. As a matter of fact, however, I am 

 not sure that salmon often make a serious attempt to enter the loch, 

 although on rare occasions they have been noticed in the pass. 

 Their spawning ground beyond Loch Katrine would be confined to 

 the Glen Gyle Burn in any case, and they would be no use for sport. 

 Trout, char, and pike are the inhabitants of this famous sheet of 

 water. 



The Achray Water flows from here to Loch Achray, and, although 

 small in volume under ordinary weather conditions, has some nice 

 gravelly beds for spawning fish. Salmon which do not penetrate as 

 far as Loch Achray ascend the Finglas, which flows into the Black- 

 water between Lochs Achray and Vennacher, at the Brig o' Turk. 

 Unfortunately the Finglas is obstructed by impassable falls when only 

 three-quarters of a mile up, but this short space, during recent years 

 is reported to hold many more fish than formerly. There are four 

 cascades at these falls, which descend over perpendicular ledges in a 

 narrow and deep gorge, and the lowest fall is a sheer drop of some 

 seven or eight feet. No salmon pass is practicable except at very 



