186 THE SALMON RIVERS OF SCOTLAND 



the river at the bottom. Where the ground is sufficiently sloped above 

 the sheer precipices, a variety of trees grow in profusion and make 

 the view at once finer and more difficult to see. At Eilean Aigas 

 a bridge spans the gorge at no great height, and a path descends or 

 rises on either side, and from this point of vantage an excellent 

 view up and down stream is obtained of the sheer walls of con- 

 glomerate. The photograph is taken from the edge of the wooded 

 slope near the path that runs above the gorge on the left bank, 

 looking down-stream to the bend above Kilmorack. It is a wild 

 place to fish, and a wilful salmon is here likely to have his way; yet 

 the Eilean Aigas rods get a fair number of salmon and grilse in 

 summer and autumn. There is a considerable fall or heavy cascade 

 below Eilean Aigas, which is quite sufficient to check fish, but the 

 difficulty is less here than at Kilmorack. 



The Upper Kilmorack Fall, or the Eed Fall as it is locally 

 named, is a very considerable obstruction, being about 13 to 14 feet 

 in average height. Photographs of this fall are common. The 

 ledge runs directly across the river, and the drop is almost sheer, 

 except at the right bank, where the action of the water has 

 sculptured a sort of pot hole of considerable size at a rather higher 

 level than the fall pool. The course of the river immediately below 

 becomes so narrow that the water is kept constantly in turmoil, so 

 that fishing here is useless. From the pot hole already referred to 

 a wooden fish-pass leads up the extreme edge of the fall in a 

 slightly angular manner. It does not look by any means an easy 

 pass for fish to ascend, but it is the road by which all fish go to the 

 upper waters. With the force of water hopelessly great, I have 

 seen plucky fish leaping boldly as far into the pass as they could 

 get. By judicious blasting, a natural pass of a comparatively easy 

 gradient could be created round the fall at the left side. 



The action of the water plunging over the fall seems to have 

 gouged out a channel of great depth, rather than to have eroded the 

 upper walls of the gorge. The result is that a short distance below 

 the fall the rocks on either side of the river approach as near as 

 about 7 or 8 feet, the whole volume of the Beauly, which shortly 

 before was contained in perhaps a hundred and fifty feet of channel, 

 being carried in an infinitely black and deep-looking cavern below. 



In times of flood these subterranean channels are unable to 

 take more water, and, the upper rocks being so narrow, the water is 

 pent up so that the level rises at an exceptional rate. About 50 

 feet of a rise has, I understand, been noticed here in high flood, and 



