CHAPTER XLVII 



THE BEAULY 



This fine river, with its tributaries, the Farrar, Glass, Cannich, 

 and Affrick, drains two hundred and seventy square miles of 

 country, nearly the whole of which is under deer. The Beauly 

 proper commences at the junction of the Farrar with the Glass, 

 the forest lodge of Struy (Streams) being placed just above the 

 meeting of the two waters. From here the' Beauly has a run of 

 twelve miles until it falls into the Beauly Firth, a little below the 

 picturesque small town of the same name and ten miles to the north- 

 west of Ness mouth. A short distance below the meeting of the 

 Farrar and the Glass, on the left bank, is the beautiful castle of 

 Erchless, belonging to ^Irs. Chisholm. None of the Beauly angling, 

 liowe\'er, belongs to it, for Lord Lovat owns the whole of the fishing 

 on the Beauly, Glass, and Farrar, with the exception of a small 

 portion of the Glass near Cannich. Below Frchless is Lord Lovat's 

 pretty property of Eilean Aigas, \\'ith which there is about three 

 miles of the Beauly angling on the left bank. On the right bank, 

 about half-way between Erchless and Eilean Aigas, comes another 

 beautiful domain of Lord Lovat's, Eskadale House, which has three 

 miles of both banks, with a further three of the left one, and goes 

 right up to the junction of the Glass and Farrar. 



Three miles below Eilean Aigas are the Falls of Kilmorack, 

 noted for their picturesque beauty and grand appearance in times 

 of flood. They look a formidable obstacle to the ascent of fish, 

 and certainly would be so but for the fact that there are excellent 

 salmon ladders, which permit fish to run freely at all times, except 

 in \'ery low water. Though the whole of the Beauly anghng 

 belongs to Lord Lovat, it is chiefly below these falls that it is most 

 vigorously carried on. From time immemorial the river has been 

 renowned for the quantity and quality' of its fish, and at Beaufort 

 Castle there are old statistics still existing which show that the 

 fishings were better in the early part of this century than they are 

 now, demonstrating very clearly the damage done by bag- and 

 stake-nets. 



In the seven years inclusive, from 1S09 ^o 1S15, the average 

 take of each season was 3237 salmon and 5525 grilse. In a like 

 period, from 1856 to 1S62, it fell to an average of 950 salmon and 

 3293 grilse. From 1S63 to 1869 this average rose to 1304 salmon 

 and 4261 grilse. Now, if we compare the 1815 average, which gives 



