158 THE SALMON RIVERS OF SCOTLAND 



more broadly, as the defile opens out into the more pastoral and 

 agricultural part of the country. The names recall the many 

 romantic incidents woven by Sir Thomas Dick Lauder into his 

 "Wolf of Badenoch." 



Below the suspension bridge which carries the Torres-Nairn road, 

 the river widens out into a rather shallow straggling expanse, but 

 opposite the town of Forres it becomes again a steady swinging 

 river of fine pools ere it enters the Bay of Findhorn. This so-called 

 bay is in reality a wide triangular lagoon or tidal basin, 2 miles in 

 length, bounded towards the mouth on the west side by the famous 

 Culbin Sands huge hills of piled wind-blown sand, which form a land- 

 mark for many miles out in the Moray Firth, and can be clearly 

 seen from the Sutherlandshire coast. The actual mouth of the river 

 is comparatively narrow and has, on the right or east side, the village 

 of Findhorn, where a great peninsula of sand runs out in a north- 

 westerly direction into the sea, and suffers constant washing away 

 and rebuilding as the action of river or sea predominates. Two 

 other Findhorn villages have existed in the past. The first was 

 some two miles to the west, on the opposite side of the river mouth 

 as it now exists. This was entirely buried by the drifting of the 

 Culbin Sands already referred to. The second Findhorn stood about 

 a mile to the north-west, on ground now covered by the sea. It 

 was swamped by a great inundation which occurred in 1701. It is 

 an uncanny region this between " The Bar " some ten to fifteen miles 

 along the coast to the west, where the river had its mouth, I suppose, 

 in early days, and the present village of Findhorn. Some folks 

 would not give much for the permanency of the present village. I 

 don't know if Insurance Companies take the vagaries of sea and sand 

 into account, but the salmon fishers are bound to do so. 



Much uncertainty has arisen in the past as to how netting can be 

 lawfully carried on by opposing interests from foreshores which are 

 liable to alteration. A question of very material importance was 

 settled a few years ago by the case of Hogarth v. Munro Ferguson 

 and Grant, and as a result netting may be continued in the mouth 

 of Findhorn Bay so long as the spit of sand on the east side of the 

 mouth remains uncovered by the tide. The very valuable netting 

 held by the late Mr. Hogarth has now been purchased by Mr. Sellar, 

 who fishes upwards from the mouth a distance of 3 J miles to a point 

 in the river about a mile above the suspension bridge, called the Eed 

 Craig. Judging by the price which was given for these fishings they 

 should yield a substantial revenue. 



