CHAPTER XXVII. 



LOCHY DISTRICT. 



RIVERS LOCHY, SPEAN, ROY, ARKAIG. 

 LOCHS LOCHY AND ARKAIG. 



ANGLING SEASON : February llth to October 31st. 

 NETTING SEASON : February llth to August 26th. 



District Fishery Board sits in Fort- William. Clerk, Nigel Mackenzie, Esq., 

 Solicitor, Fort- William. 



THIS district contains two separate river systems, the Lochy and the 

 Spean, which unite a few miles from the sea, the united river being 

 termed the Lochy, flowing into the head of Loch Linnhe in the 

 Lochaber district, the southern termination of the great fault which 

 cuts through Scotland in a north-east and south-west direction, and 

 is now utilised as the Caledonian Canal. 



The district is a rather remarkable one. We have the southern 

 drainage from the line of Loch Lochy, which extends back to the 

 low divide from Loch Oich, but which also receives the water from 

 Loch Arkaig to the west at right angles. On the eastern side the 

 rocky Spean tumbles downward 800 feet from the Moor of Eannoch, 

 and enters the main valley at an equally abrupt angle ; and to still 

 further carry out cross-lines of water-flow, we have the Eoy enter- 

 ing the Spean at right angles from the north. 



There is no other district in Scotland where rivers unite at such 

 abrupt angles from such diverse directions, and in no district, except 

 perhaps in that of the Findhorn, have we such an example of pro- 

 longed and deep rock erosion as is to be seen in the course of the 

 Spean. The main axis of the land is certainly north-east and south- 

 west, but in this district from the lower Lochy the transverse valleys 

 are also most marked, so that it may be said great gaps in the 

 mountains extend like arms of an immense cross to four points of 

 the compass. 



