136 THE SALMON RIVERS OF SCOTLAND 



Netting was at that time carried on in the river from the mouth 

 up to the bridge of Alvah, a distance of 3 miles. In the early part 

 of the season this extent of water was fished by one boat's crew 

 alone, one crew by day and another crew by night. From July 

 onwards this amount of netting was doubled, two crews fished by 

 day and two by night. Outside the river mouth, in Banff Bay, nets 

 were set within 400 yards, this being the limit of the estuary, and 

 those nets were " outrigged " so as to project well out into the bay. 



Another factor most adverse to the fishing interests of the river 

 had also developed in the peculiar formation of gravel banks at the 

 river mouth. Banff Bay is open to the north, and receives the full 

 force of the sea, which frequently sweeps in from the Moray Firth, 

 piling up huge beaches of gravel, and, even in moderate weather, 

 rolling the finer stones about to a surprising extent. Nowhere, I 

 think, have I seen such perfectly round stones as in Banff Bay, 

 and at the mouth of the Spey further to the west. The river 

 Deveron entering the bay in a direction opposite to that of the 

 waves brings about a combat of forces, and according as the sea is 

 stormy and the river low, or the river in flood and the sea calm, so 

 one force or the other temporarily gains the mastery, and arranges 

 the gravel accordingly. A current in the bay sets, however, in a 

 westerly direction, and so, with the on-shore action of the waves, a 

 lateral action is also imparted, as is also noticeable in Spey Bay. 

 The result of this is that the gravel is constantly being pushed along 

 in a westerly direction, and that the river is at its mouth also de- 

 flected in this direction. A considerable change may result from a 

 storm at any time, but the common appearance is a high unbroken 

 beach of gravel right across the natural position of the river mouth 

 a tidal lagoon of greater or less extent at the back or landward side 

 of this, and a contracted and shallow outlet for the fresh water as 

 far to the west as the limits of the bay will allow. This limit has 

 commonly been a built up front to a street in Banff called Low Shore. 



At long intervals the river has, as it were, asserted itself and 

 broken through the high beach. In or shortly after 1834, after a 

 severe storm, it even broke away to the eastward and entered the 

 bay at the Macduff side, near rocks called Palmer's Cove ; but as 

 a rule the natural conditions compel the river mouth to be at the 

 west side of the bay. The lagoon and high beach are much against 

 the entrance of fish, for not only is the actual mouth obstructed, but 

 a very great amount of water percolates through the high gravel 

 barrier, and robs the outflow of its proper force and volume. 



