314 THE SALMON RIVERS OF SCOTLAND 



gradient, and yet looks in parts as if this must be about one in 

 seven. Up this steep ascent, at immense cost, a tortuous way was 

 constructed for the benefit of the sea- trout. In 1886 it was 

 described as a complete success, but as a matter of fact it is a com- 

 plete failure. Some of the embankments have now burst, and the 

 stream in part descends in its old steep channel. It is a monu- 

 ment to the most sanguine belief in what a sea-trout will climb, as 

 well as one of the most extensive operations of its kind I have ever 

 seen. Only one other instance occurs to me as worthy to compare 

 with it, and that is the equally ruinous works in the island of Kum, 

 originally constructed by the late Lord Salisbury. 



There is a famous fishing on the property of Sir Samuel Scott, 

 not far to the west. It is commonly called Avonsui (Amdhuinn- 

 suidh). Here a chain of five lochs joined by a stream called the 

 Eavat come down from a great height in a steep glen. Below this 

 the stream enters a sheltered little sea-creek at the mouth of the 

 West Loch Tarbert, opposite the north end of Taransay. The 

 lowest two lochs are very small, but the loch next above, Loch 

 Leosaidh, is about three-quarters of a mile long and only 131 feet 

 above the sea. A fish-pass, formed by rock blasting, was necessary 

 to make this fishery what it is, but the gradient is comparatively 

 easy, and the fishing in the lochs above is not only first-class, but 

 constantly reliable. 



RIVERS OF SKYE. 



ANGLING SEASON : llth February to 31st October. 

 NETTING SEASON : llth February to 26th August. 



A Joint District Fishery Board sits in Portree. The Clerk is Kenneth Macrae, Esq., 



Sheriff-Clerk, Portree. 



The Isle of Skye is divided into two fishery districts, Snizort and 

 Sligachan, and although many small streams exist with short courses 

 at different parts of the island, salmon are chiefly confined to the 

 two main rivers which give their names to the districts. 



THE SNIZORT 



is the largest river in the island, and flows in a northerly direction 

 into the large and ramifying sea loch of the same name on the 

 north-west coast, the district of Trotternish being on the right hand, 

 and Vaternish on the left. It may be said to have three sources ; 



