156 THE SPEY. 



runs about a hundred and twenty miles before it falls into the 

 sea, and some parts of the river are very picturesque. 



" Dipple, Dundurcus, Dandaleith, and Dalvey 

 Are the bonniest haughs on the run of the Spey. 



The stream is very rapid, having in its course a fall of twelve 

 hundred feet ; it rushes on in one continuous gallop from its 

 mountain well to the sea, giving rise to the local proverb of 

 there being " no standing water in Spey," although there are 

 pools thirty feet deep. Still, as a rule, the river is shallow, 

 having generally a depth of about three feet ; and there are 

 places which, when the water is a little low, may be crossed 

 by a man on foot. 



I have seen rafts of wood coming down from the hills at the 

 rate of ten miles an hour ; and the Spey is not only the most 

 rapid, but also the widest of our large Scottish rivers. " The 

 cause of this is easily explained. The river drains thirteen 

 hundred miles of mountains, many of whose bases are more than 

 a thousand feet above the level of the sea. The Dulnain, 

 draining the southern part of the Monagh-Lea Mountains, runs 

 more than forty miles before entering Spey ; and the Avon, with 

 a course as long, brings down the waters of Glenavon, which 

 lies between the most majestic mountains in Britain. Besides 

 these great tributaries, the Spey has the Truim, the Tromie, 

 the Feshie, the Fiddoch, and other aflBuents, swelling her 

 volume with the rapidly-descending waters of a mountainous 

 country." The river Spey is an example of a well-managed 

 stream, producing a very handsome revenue. It is well managed, 

 because the Duke of Eichmond fishes it himself ; and, of course, 

 it is his interest to have it well protected, and to keep a proper 

 stock of breeding fish. On the Spey, however, there is no con- 

 fusion of upper and lower proprietors to fight against and take 

 umbrage at each other, the river belonging mostly to one pro- 

 prietor. Other Scottish rivers also yield, or did at one time yield, 

 large annual sums in the shape of rental ; and on the larger 

 salmon rivers of Scotland the income derived by many of the 

 " lairds " from salmon-shots forms a very welcome addition to 

 their land revenues. Mr. Johnstone, the lessee of the Esk fisheries 

 at Montrose, stated at a public meeting held in Edinburgh to 

 protest against the removal of stake-nets that he estimated 

 the Duke of Sutherland's fisheries at £6000 a year, and quoted 

 his own rents as .£4000 per annum, giving him the privilege to 



