28 A VERTEBRATE EAUNA OF THE MORAY BASIN. 



A considerable part of the ground immediately along the river 

 banks consists of grassy haughs, more especially below Kildonan, 

 and these being periodically flooded, are kept all the cleaner and 

 sweeter for the sheep to graze upon. At two places, between 

 Borrobol and Kildonan, and, again, at and below Torrish, there is 

 a considerable extent of birch wood, but there are no plantations 

 of firs worth mentioning. 



Almost the whole course of the river is gravelly, which may 

 well account for the amount of salmon bred there, as this affords 

 the fish most excellent spawning ground. There is one long 

 stretch of rocky ground, from the head of Suisgill water to the 

 bottom of the Kildonan beat, and many excellent angling pools 

 are thereby formed. 



The strath is mostly wide and open, with the exception of the 

 last four miles from Torrish to Helmsdale, where the hills rise to a 

 considerable height and very straight up from the river, making 

 this portion of it cold, comfortless, and sunless in the winter. 



Besides the two Bens Griam already mentioned, there are only 

 two other hills of much importance on the watershed, namely, 

 Ben Duan, which, looked at from the south, has a long, narrow, 

 ridge-like appearance, like the top of a house, the likeness further 

 increased by a little knob at each end, like the commencement of 

 chimneys. The other is Ben Uarie (1923 feet), from its steeper 



on them ; and here, therefore, it may be sufficient to state that there were 



reclaimed and laid out in farms of various sizes : — 



In Lairg parish ...... 1923 acres 



In Kildonan parish ..... 1315 acres 



Total .... 3247 acres 

 and that the cost was little short of a quarter of a million pounds. 



' But, unfortunately, this huge undertaking has only served to prove that the 

 forces of nature will not in all cases be made the servants of the steam plough and 

 its following ; and what should have been, and was intended to be, a large im- 

 provement and benefit to the county and its inhabitants has proved a failure, both 

 as regards the land itself and return for the money expended. Now (1893) only 

 about 750 acres of the large area reclaimed is under cultivation, much of it having 

 fallen back to its natural condition. Experience has proved that, without a very 

 great change in climate, cultivation in such high-lying and exposed districts as 

 those where the reclamations were carried out cannot be made profitable, however 

 highly fancied the land may be.' 



