THE SHIEL DISTRICT 323 



1586 feet, and spreads its flat stretch of alluvium at the junction 

 with the loch. It was on this small flat that the standard was 

 raised, and here a high monument or tower was erected in 1815 by 

 the late Colonel Macdonald of Grlenaladale and others. The Mac- 

 donald of Glenaladale of the "'45" entertained the Bonnie Prince on 

 the previous evening, and took a prominent place in this stage of the 

 rising. The long inscription at the base of the monument is in 

 Gaelic, Latin, and English. 



Hill Burton relates that on the 19th of August, the date fixed for 

 the ceremony, the Prince had to wait two hours and undergo 

 considerable anxiety and forebodings before any supporter arrived. 

 Then Lochiel's pipes sounded from the hill and a body of between 

 seven and eight hundred Camerons appeared over the sky-line. 

 Before evening the assemblage amounted to 1500 men. 



Queen Victoria visited the spot in 1873 by driving over from 

 Inverlochy. She writes 1 : " I thought I never saw a lovelier or 

 more romantic spot, or one which told its history so well. What a 

 scene it must have been in 1745 ! And here was 7, the descendant 

 of the Stuarts and of the very king whom Prince Charles sought to 

 overthrow, sitting and walking about quite privately and peaceably." 



The hills on either side of the head of the loch are extraordinarily 

 steep especially Meall-a-Bhainne and of splendidly bold outline. 

 When seen pouring with many white streams, just as clouds break up 

 after rain and mists rack and vanish, the effect is magnificent. A 

 few minutes after the rain ceases, the little streams cease also, for 

 the water runs off as from a house-roof. While it lasts, on the 

 other hand, my experience here is that the rain is really very wet. 



The loch forms a splendid reservoir, by means of which the river 

 Shiel is enabled to maintain its level better than would otherwise be 

 the case. Yet in June and July, which are about the best fishing 

 months in the district, the rivers often get too low. The head 

 streams in which fish spawn are the Finnan, already mentioned, 

 which has fine spawning ground in its lower reaches ; the Doilate, 

 the largest feeder, which enters the loch about 11 miles from the 

 head on the east side, just before the narrows of the loch are 

 reached. It descends a comparatively even glen, and has a course 

 of nearly eight miles. It is variously called the Hurich when in 

 the glen which has the same name and the Polloch at the mouth, 

 where the course is quiet and sluggish. The name Doilate, or 

 Dilate, is given because it passes through a small loch called 



1 More Leaves from the Journal of a Life in the Highlands, 1884. 



