THE LAXDALE 313 



LAXDALE. 



At low tide this stream winds over a sandy flat, called the 

 Traigh Luskin tyre, for about If miles. At high tide the great 

 Traigh, or stretch of shore, is a lagoon shut off from the Sound 

 of Taransay by a narrow barrier of sand and rock. I recollect 

 crossing the narrow channel from the end of this barrier to Luskin- 

 tyre House on one occasion in a boat which literally leaked like a 

 basket. I don't suppose the passage is more than some three or 

 four hundred yards, but I had my feet on the seat, and we were all 

 awash when we landed. " Row hard, row hard," shouted a man 

 with me, " I cannot swim, I'll be drowned." He only ceased shout- 

 ing when we touched bottom. The knee of one of the thwarts 

 came away in my hands when we attempted to pull the boat up. 



A pool has been constructed just above the point where the 

 Laxdale enters the head of the Traigh by the formation of a broad 

 dyke from the left bank, a mass of rocks on the right hemming in 

 the water largely in that direction. This and the sea-pool just 

 below is said to fish well when the tide is out. It has to be 

 remembered, however, that the Laxdale is a late river. On one 

 occasion when I tried this pool on 5th July I was still too early. 

 From the pool, fish are able to ascend freely to four lochs. There 

 is also a Laxdale in Lewis. 



Other sea-trout streams of similar nature occur along this eastern 

 side, some fished by visitors to Tarbert Hotel, those further south 

 by the Hebridean Association. July, August, and September are 

 the best months. 



On the northern side of West Loch Tarbert, at the head of a 

 small secondary loch with a very long name, is a stream named 



BALLAN A' CISTE, 



which flows out of a small loch called Loch-na-Morcha, or on 

 the maps Loch a' Mhorghain. A great attempt was made here 

 in 1885 to open up the stream in order to allow sea-trout up to 

 the loch. When I mention that this loch is 469 feet above the 

 sea, and only a little more than a mile distant from the shore, 

 some idea of the gradient will be understood. If this were 

 reduced to a uniform gradient of one in twelve, it is impossible 

 to conceive fish managing to last a mile of such ascent. But 

 the incline is in part tremendously steep. The road to 

 Stornoway, which goes alongside, seems to have a much easier 



