THE LAXFORD 271 



in the Inchard district, it is practically no use for salmon fishing. 

 M'Leod, the head stalker, once informed me when I was passing 

 through the glen, that in his thirty years' experience he had only 

 known of 4 salmon being captured. If I recollect right, I had, 

 the day previously, had a long talk with Mr. Evander M'lver at 

 Scourie House, a hale and hearty old Highlander, then in his 90th 

 year, who two years afterwards was gathered to his fathers. He 

 came to the district in 1845, and with his clear memory and wide 

 range of experience was a man well worth listening to. He 

 reviewed the whole history of the west Sutherland salmon fishing, 

 and maintained that the existing regulations leave little to be desired. 

 I wandered through his garden afterwards, and saw the New Zealand 

 cabbage palms which flourished so well there and at Inverewe. 



Loch Stack in superficial area is not very much less than Loch 

 More, but it is entirely different in shape and character. From 

 where the Loch More stream enters to where the Laxford flows out, 

 the line is fairly straight, and this section of the loch partakes 

 of the long narrow character frequently met with in steep glens. 

 On the left, or south side, Ben Stack rises abruptly to a height of 

 2364 feet an isolated hill and naturally gives the straight 

 character to this side of the loch. On the right, however, a 

 broader loch basin has become joined, as it were, to the long narrow 

 section, so that the loch consists of two basins and an elongation. 

 The shore-line of Loch Stack is about 8 \ miles ; the shore-line of 

 Loch More about 10 miles. The level above the sea is given as 

 118, and the distance to the sea is four miles. 



Loch Stack is the best sea-trout loch in Sutherland, and I 

 cannot think of any other loch in Scotland which can yield what 

 this loch does. An average basket of sea-trout should weigh from 

 15 Ib. to 25 lb., and very great catches are sometimes made. Trout 

 of over 5 lb. are not uncommon, but curiously enough I have been 

 informed that it sometimes happens that quite a number of trout 

 of smaller size are net marked when taken. The total number 

 taken in a good year amounts to 1000 or 1200 fish. About a 

 score of salmon may also be got. 



The river Laxford proper, i.e. from the outlet of Loch Stack to 

 Laxford Bridge, is 3J miles, after which a half mile of tidal river 

 continues. In general character the Laxford is a most attractive 

 stream. The current is merry but not too fast. There is much 

 gravel and not a few boulders, but a fine succession of pools, some 

 18 in number. The best pool is, perhaps, that called the Duke's 



