160 THE SALMON RIVERS OF SCOTLAND 



" Nancy," which carried a crew of six men, wrote a log of his extra- 

 ordinary cruise, in a breezy, amusing style. For instance, after 

 making his passage down the turnpike road and landing at the 

 Little Bridge End, he set off again, and writes, " set all sail, scudded 

 with a fair wind over Mr. Davidson's farm, and steered for a small 

 house on the north side of the estate of Tarmachy. . . . Having 

 taken in Mr. Smyth of Waterford's grieve and two men servants, 

 we sailed down the market green, and by the end of the Lee-brig, 

 and out the road to Waterford." 



There were many branches of the lower Findhorn when the floods 

 began to subside, and it is impossible nowadays to picture the scene 

 of wreckage and desolation. The Divie opened a considerable stretch 

 of entirely new course. I believe floods of more recent date have at 

 times reminded the inhabitants of this fertile Forres region of what 

 happened in the past. Strangely enough, Forres is one of the dryest 

 regions in the country, and if it be true that the average rain-fall in 

 Scotland or elsewhere is slowly becoming less and less, they may be 

 secure in trusting that the like will never occur again. 



Here and there in the gorge above Sluie the water is hard to 

 reach, but if early fish were allowed up, there is much of the river 

 which would become of greatly increased value ; and at the same 

 time the distribution of the available stock would become much 

 more uniform at the spawning season. 



