JULY 199 



association with an Arctic environment. It cannot 

 brook the tepid meres of the midlands nor the sun- 

 shrunk rivers of the north. It Kngers only in mountain 

 lakes of glacial origin where its progenitors established 

 themselves when the ice-field was disappearing from 

 our islands. How they obtained access to these lakes, 

 and how they have disappeared from others of similar 

 character, is part of the attractive mystery which 

 surrounds them. That their presence in certain waters 

 may be due to human agency is proved by the follow- 

 ing bit of experience. 



Loch Ossian is a sheet of water about four miles long 

 in Inverness-shire, lying at the height of 1250 feet 

 above sea level. It is surrounded on all sides by the 

 mountains forming Corrour Forest, except on the north, 

 where its waters escape down Strath Ossian to join the 

 Spean near the foot of Loch Laggan. Beinn-na-lap 

 (3006 feet) and Cnoc Dearg (3433) heave their massive 

 shoulders between Loch Ossian and Loch Treig. Char 

 have long been known to exist in Loch Treig, but not 

 in Loch Ossian, though it is a lake similar in all respects 

 to the other, but of 500 feet higher altitude. Loch 

 Ossian swarms with diminutive trout; one only re- 

 quires patience to pull out a hundred or two with the 

 fly on any day when the wind is seasonable; sweet 

 are they as a breakfast dish, but wae 's me ! they are 

 sma', sma'. 



Well, some six years ago or so we were assembled, 

 a family party, under Sir John Stirling Maxwell's 

 hospitable roof in perfect June weather. The ladies 

 having prepared tea for us by the loch side, we defied 



