BEPOKT. 



SALMON RIVERS AND LOCHS IN THE BLACK 

 MOUNT. 



I have the honour to report that, during the summer and autumn of last 

 year, I inspected, by the direction of the Fishery Board, a number of 

 salmon rivers and lochs in the Highlands of Scotland, commencing with 

 the rivers and lochs of the Black Mount, which I had not previously 

 visited. 



Between the eastern side of the upper part of Loch Etive and the 

 head of Loch Lydoch, lies the Black Mount Deer Forest, a vast tract of 

 mountain and moorland, — a wild but -picturesque solitude, watered 

 by many a river and burn and by numerous lochs and tarns. Among 

 the rivers are the Orchy, the Etive, the Kinglass, the water of Tulla, the 

 Linne-nan-Beathach, the Gannich, the Ba, and several smaller streams. 

 One of the largest of the lochs is Loch Lydoch or Laidon, a dismal and 

 remote lake, bounded on one side by the moor of Rannoch. The rivers 

 Ba and Gannich, after passing through Loch-na-Ba and Loch-na-Gannicb, 

 fall into the head of Loch Lydoch. A few miles southwards is Loch 

 Tulla, 2 \ miles long by 5 furlongs wide, and covering 697 acres, into 

 which flow the water of Tulla and the Linne-nan-Beathach, and out of 

 which flows the Orchy, the principal river of the district, which, after a 

 course of about 14 miles, falls into the head of Loch Aw T e, near Kilchurn 

 Castle. Then there are Loch Mathair Etive, the fountain head of the 

 Etive ; the Black Lochs, near Kingshouse ; Loch Dochard, between 

 Loch Tulla and Glenkinglass ; and many lesser lochs. 



Of these waters, the Orchy, Etive, and Kinglass contain salmon and trout, 

 and so does Loch Tulla. Neither salmon nor sea-trout can, at present, 

 ascend to Loch Lydoch, or to Loch-na-Ba, or Loch-na-Gannich, which, 

 discharge their waters into it. But, as I had the honour of pointing out 

 to the Board, in a Report dated 8th May 1884, the opening up of the 

 Falls of Tummel would enable salmon and sea-trout to ascend to these 

 lochs and the streams connected with them. The distance — measuring by 

 water, through a continuous chain of rivers and lochs from the Falls of 

 Tummel to the head of Loch-na-Ba in the Black Mount, and to Loch-na- 

 Gannich, which is within an hour's walk of Kingshouse, at the head of 

 Glencoe — is between fifty and sixty miles, of which about one-half are lochs 

 and the remainder rivers, with beds of gravelly spawning gror nd, where 

 hundreds of salmon might breed if they were enabled to reach them. 



In 1861, a Salmon Fisheries Bill was prepared and brought in by 

 Lord Moncrieff, then Lord Advocate, and by the late Sir George Lewis, 



