THE EARN 91 



approximately in the centre and shallowing gradually in all direc- 

 tions. The greatest sounding found in Sir John Murray's survey 

 was 287 feet. Previous to this, I believe, its depth was believed to 

 be 600 feet " in many places." The floor of the loch is below 250 

 feet in depth for a distance of nearly two miles, and the 200 area is 

 4J miles long. 



The very regular nature of the basin is shown by the fact that 

 " of the entire lake-floor 39 per cent, is covered by less than 100 feet 

 of water, 31 per cent, is covered by water with depths between 100 

 and 200 feet, and 30 per cent, by water exceeding 200 feet in depth." 1 

 It cannot be said to be much of a loch for salmon, although a fish is 

 occasionally taken. I have seen newspaper accounts of salmon being 

 taken quite early in the season, but I have a suspicion that the fish 

 must have been very lean, and with a good many maggots in their 

 gills. 



There is no doubt that a number of fish enter the loch, but they 

 do not do so as a rule till late in the season, when salmon loch- 

 fishing is useless. I recollect on one occasion I essayed from 

 Lochearnhead to catch something on a good-sized phantom minnow. 

 In the hotel before starting I got one of the hooks of the tail 

 triangle up to the bend in my forefinger. One cannot pass the 

 hook of a triangle right through, so I just had to harden my heart 

 and cut it out. When I did get the thing going in the loch, I 

 caught one small trout about half as big again as the phantom 

 smelt my blood on the tail hook I suppose. I have cut out more 

 than one hook from the fingers of other people. I prefer that 

 operation. 



The river issues from the loch at a level of 306 feet above the sea, 

 or practically 50 feet lower than Loch Tay. It is for several miles 

 a beautiful if rather small gravelly stream, flowing largely through 

 varied woods as far as Comrie. Here it is joined by the Euchill 

 Water, an important tributary, which flows in a north-easterly 

 direction through Glen Artney. Four miles up, the Euchill becomes 

 extremely rocky, and is deeply cut in a gorge. Serious falls for long 

 obstructed the further passage of fish, but of recent years these have 

 been modified with considerable ingenuity and made passable, so that 

 a fair number of salmon are now taken above, and a valuable extent 

 of spawning ground opened up. About 50 fish were taken above the 

 falls the first season after the operations (1901). Other tributaries 



J "The Survey of British Lakes," Scottish Geographical Magazine, vol. xviii., 

 No. 8, p. 416. 



