THE KIRKAIG 277 



Archaean gneiss. Wherever this ancient rock is exposed, as it is so 

 largely in western Sutherland and Eoss, the general features of the 

 landscape are similar. The hollows between the innumerable 

 rounded knolls are occupied by lochs great and small, while at 

 intervals great landmarks rise in isolated masses on the surface of 

 this ancient foundation. In this neighbourhood the most remark- 

 able is Suilven the Sugar Cone. To mention Loch Inver and the 

 Kirkaig and make no reference to Suilven, would be like describing 

 London without St. Paul's. Suilven rises a bare, gaunt, and impres- 

 sive monument of Torridon sandstone 2399 feet above the sea. The 

 other mountains in the district Canisp, Quinag, Cul Mor are of the 

 same formation. In Suilven the sandstone is bedded horizontally, in 

 the others there is a gentle dip. From a great distance out in the 

 Minch it is easy to identify Suilven. A vast thickness of strata has 

 been denuded by the ice between those isolated hills. When we 

 look at the rocky knolls by the Inver and the Kirkaig we are seeing 

 the foundation-stones of Scotland, at one time buried deep by the 

 stuff Suilven is made of. That hill is merely a remnant of the old 

 surface. 



In the 2J miles of the Kirkaig there are twenty-two separate 

 casts. In general character it is a rocky, swift-flowing river, with a 

 nice inviting look in many of the pools ; but one has to be careful of 

 one's footing, for many of the pools are not too easy to reach, and in 

 coming and going from one pool to another a deal of climbing up 

 and clambering down has to be done in the rocky gorge of the upper 

 section. The Fall Pool is a sort of black abyss when one looks from 

 a height, and where even the fish, as they show on occasion, seem 

 black, for one only sees their backs. The names of the two pools 

 immediately below are significant. They are the Upper Smash and 

 the Lower Smash. There is no leaving either if you fail to keep 

 your fish on pretty close terms. If it goes down-stream in spite of 

 you, you get one or other variety of smash. If you do try to 

 follow, the chances are you have a worse smash than that of 

 your tackle. 



The river is divided into two beats, the lower has ten pools, and 

 the upper has twelve, and although only the right bank belongs to 

 the Duke of Sutherland, His Grace has the sole right of fishing. 

 Gulag Hotel is allowed four days a week, and Loch Inver Lodge the 

 remaining two days. The Kirkaig fish are rather heavier than the 

 Inver fish, the average being about 11 lb., and fish up to 20 Ib. are 

 not very uncommon. From 40 to 50 are usually got in the season, 



