THE NEW FORESTRY. 75 



Where the rainfall exceeded forty inches a year it might be 

 considered a wet climate. A tract of the West Highlands, 

 extending from Dunoon to Balquhidder, stretching north-west- 

 ward, widening out after passing Loch Linnhe and embracing 

 the whole of Skye except a small portion, showed a rainfall 

 of not less than eighty inches. Another region having a rain- 

 fall of at least eighty inches was a very considerable part of 

 the Lake District ; and of the same character was a portion 

 of North Wales about Snowdon, and the centre of Dartmoor. 

 Those districts of Great Britain and Ireland where the rainfall 

 was heaviest were high ridges, extending to some length, and 

 offering from the way they lay a barrier to the westerly winds 

 of the Atlantic. There was another physical configuration 

 which gave a very large rainfall. Perhaps the most typical 

 illustration was Dartmoor, a plateau from which valleys 

 descended in all directions ; and of similar , character was the 

 great plateau of Argyllshire, from which flowed streams into 

 Loch Lomond, Loch Long, Loch Fyne, Loch Leven, and the 

 head waters of the Tay and Spey. Such , a country formed a 

 barrier to the rainy winds from every direction, and on the 

 top of the plateau, and well up towards the top, would be found 

 the greatest rainfall. But for the interposition of Ireland, 

 which robbed the clouds of part of their moisture, there would 

 be a greater rainfall than actually existed in the country to the 

 south of the Clyde and Forth. The Lake District of England 

 and the country about Snowdon were not so sheltered ; and 

 in like manner Dartmoor lay open to all winds. Where there 

 was an excessive rainfall over a ridge, the whole country to the 

 east of it had a rainfall much less than it would otherwise have 

 had. A striking example of this was Wester Ross and Wester 

 Sutherland. The south-west winds had already ,been drained 

 by the mountains of Skye and Lewis, and the result was a 

 rainfall fifteen or twenty inches less than what prevailed 

 immediately to the south of Skye ; so that Wester Ross and 

 Wester Sutherland possessed the most enjoyable climate of 

 all the Highlands. Another point was that firths, such as 

 those of Solway and Severn, opened up the adjacent country 

 to a larger rainfall. As to the practical value of this inquiry, 

 Mr. Buchan remarked that a good deal of disappointment was 

 often felt in having taken summer quarters or purchasing 

 property in a part of the country which turned out to have a 

 wetter climate than had been expected." 



