of the Fisher a Board for Scotland. 



whom the river belongs, and in addition to this improvement, it was 

 resolved that no netting of the estnary be permitted before June. In 

 the case of the Brora, a flood of great height, which occurred about 

 twenty-eight years ago, seriously damaged the cruive dyke, which, I 

 understand, contained four boxes ; in the interests of the river fishings 

 no effort was made to rebuild the structure, and subsequent floods have 

 gradually demolished it. I am informed by the Duke of Sutherland's 

 factor at Golspie that no cruives now exist in any of His Grace's 

 rivers. The one case in which a sole proprietor maintains his cruive 

 dykes, although no fishing of the boxes has been carried on for upwards 

 of twenty years, is that of the River Beauly. The rod fishing of the 

 upper river is let, but the dykes are maintained in order to secure a 

 good supply of fish in the private fishings of the beautiful pools below. 

 The dykes are two in number, and meet above a small island, at Beaufort 

 Castle, so as to form a widely spread V. The dyke from the right 

 bank has four boxes, that from the left bank has three boxes. At no 

 cruives in Scotland are there so many boxes as here. An advantage 

 secured to the general fishings of the river, however, is evident from the 

 presence of the seven openings in the dykes and from the breadth of 

 the openings ; the rush of water is distributed, and no one box passes 

 a foaming race of water such as may be seen at some other cruives, and 

 which forms an impenetrable obstacle to so many fish during certain 

 conditions of water flow. * The dykes themselves are most substantial. 

 Each arm of the V measures about 170 yards in length, and during 

 summer level of the river, stands from four to five feet above the 

 surface of the water on the upper side, and is broad and flat on the top. 

 Except during high floods, the dykes form a convenient causeway by which 

 the river may be crossed. In former times the cruives of the Beauly 

 were situated lower down the river, at a place still named Cruivend, 

 near the new Lovat Bridge. Here the fish used to be boiled in huge 

 coppers previous to being packed in flat circular tubs of small size. 

 The ancient apparatus still remains, but, probably through increased 

 facilities of transit, the practice of boiling was discontinued some sixty or 

 seventy years ago. 



Turning now to rivers in which the interests of many proprietors are 

 concerned, we may first simply mention that on important rivers such 

 as Spey and the Aberdeenshire Dee, cruives have for very many years 

 been cleared away. 



In the Ewe district a cruive was removed about forty years ago in 

 order, I am informed by Sir Kenneth Mackenzie of Gairloch, to lower 

 the level of Loch Maree. In the neighbouring district of Bedachro 

 and Kerry, also, a cruive has been allowed to disappear under the 

 influence of floods. 



In the Alness district at Ardros, the cruive was broken down about 

 thirty years ago and has not since been repaired. 



In the district of the Conon, at Brahan Castle, near the mouth of 

 the river, are extensive cruives somewhat similar to those of the Beauly. 

 Immediately above an island about seventy acres in extent, the V-shaped 

 dykes unite. In this case the dyke from the left bank is very much 

 longer than the other. It slants down the river a long distance and 

 contains three boxes of a width of twelve feet ; the middle box is at 

 present boarded up so that water does not flow through it. The right 

 dyke is short and contains one box. The dykes are not so widely built 

 as is the case at Beaufort Castle, nor are they constructed so as to stand 

 so high above the ordinary level of the river. They are built after the 

 manner of ordinary weirs. I am informed by the Clerk of the District 

 Fishery Board that the cruives have not baen fished for nine years. 



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