74 THE SALMON RIVERS OF SCOTLAND 



with great balance and charm. From the highest point on the 

 road which skirts the north side of the loch the view is peculiarly 

 fine, and since 1866, when Queen Victoria visited it and wrote of 

 its beauty, has been styled " The Queen's View." 



Geologists identify the end of the rock basin of the loch at the 

 rocks which appear in the Tummel about a mile below the loch and 

 in the hill slopes at Allean House. " For several miles downstream, 

 as far as Faskally, the Tummel cuts through solid rock, composed 

 mainly of the Perthshire quartzite, with bands of black schist. 

 This loch has had originally a greater extension westwards, for it 

 has been silted up by alluvial matter deposited by the streams. It 

 is about 2J miles long, and the soundings show that it forms three 

 separate basins of no great depth, the deepest sounding of the 

 western basin being 128 feet; of the central, 119 feet; of the 

 eastern, 99 feet. Where these slopes and barriers appear, streams 

 enter the lake from the south, which have given rise to cones 

 projecting for some distance into the loch." * 



The rocky defile spoken of here as forming this section of the 

 Tummel culminates at the famous Falls of Tummel, where the 

 river, considerably contracted, plunges over a broken barrier of 

 rock 15 to 16 feet high. 



A photograph gives (as usual in my view) a poor conception of 

 what really charms the eye. The Tummel water is somewhat 

 peaty, and the crest of the fall breaks in fine ale colour, the sultry 

 eddies of " The Pot " below showing echoes of the colour, The 

 movement of the water in the fine S -shaped rapid which forms the 

 Bonskeid side of the fall, is a constant joy to watch, and the har- 

 mony of colour in the rocks and trees beyond finds no response in 

 a black-and-white representation. Under the overhanging rock, 

 which forms a sort of island in the centre of the fall, the dipper 

 commonly builds a secure nest. On one of my many visits to the 

 fall, the little fledglings happened to make their first essay at flight. 

 The mother bird flitted about through the falling spray as if to 

 show how safely it could be done, and one or two youngsters pre- 

 sently made some successful short circles over the eddy below, 

 bobbing in the most approved and grown-up manner as they found 

 themselves again safely on the familiar rock. Then one started 

 off boldly for the Bonskeid shore, but apparently losing nerve 

 above the swinging rapid, fell headlong therein, and was imme- 



1 Messrs. Peach and Home, "Notes on the Geology of the Tay Basin," Scottish 

 Geographical Magazine, xx., No. 1, p. 40. 



