282 



THE SALMON RIVERS OF SCOTLAND 



understand, been made in the past. Some time ago, when I visited 

 the water, the month of May had produced only 5 fish. Major 

 Blunt has very kindly given me the recent records from Bhidorroch, 

 explaining at the same time that the amount of fishing carried on 

 is very variable and at times comparatively slight. In some springs 

 I believe the water has not been fished at all. 



Year. 

 1899 

 1900 

 1901 

 1902 

 1903 



Spring. 



5 



5 



10 

 11 



5 



Summer. 

 11 



6 



14 

 20 



5 



I am informed by the chief river watchers that sea-trout enter 

 the river in fair numbers, but that, after ascending quite a short 

 distance, they drop back into the sea. I am not sure if this obser- 

 vation refers to more than finnock, whose habit is to fall back into 

 the tide-way. The sea-trout is a creature of peculiarly fickle habit, 

 and one hesitates to make positive statements about its doings 

 without specially watching the particular locality under review. It 

 is comparatively rare, however, to catch a sea-trout in the Ullapool. 

 I believe certain local folks know something about how to catch 

 them at the mouth of the rivers in the neighbourhood. 



THE BROOM. 



A vast amount of erosion has taken place in the glen down which 

 the Broom flows. Loch Broom, the sea loch, must at one time have 

 been the site of a great glacier, which ground its way over the 

 rocky boss upon which the village of Ullapool now stands, and pre- 

 pared the way for the entrance of the sea as it now exists. The 

 river in its course to the sea flows in a sinuous fashion, now at one 

 side now at the other of the great post-glacial river. 



It is formed by the junction of two streams of the Braemore 

 Forest, the confluence being about 4J miles from the sea at the 

 head of Loch Broom. The general direction is N.N.W. The two 

 streams are the Droma and the Cuileig. The former comes from a 

 loch of the same name, and receives on its left, about a mile below 

 Loch Droma, a burn coming from a little circular loch 1831 feet 

 above sea-level, which nestles at the foot of the great hills Sguir 

 Mhor, Sguir-nan-Clach Geala, and their outlying ridges, which 

 occupy the space between the two head streams. The Cuileig 

 flows from Loch-a-Bhraoin (Vruin), a sheet of water about 2f 



