32 



Appendices to Seventh Annual Report 



Scourie. — From Riconich I went to Scourie, where there is a comfort- 

 able inn and where Mr M'lver, the factor for this district of Sutherland, 

 has his residence. Close to Scourie there is a large and apparently 

 deep loch called Loch Baddidarroch, which discharges its superfluous 

 waters through a short stream which falls into the head of Scourie Bay. 

 When I was at Scourie some years ago there was an obstruction con- 

 nected with a mill near the mouth of this stream, which prevented the 

 ascent of salmon or sea-trout into the loch. This, however, has now 

 been removed, as I recommended, and there is nothing to prevent fish 

 getting up, when there is sufficient water in the burn, except a dark 

 passage about 20 yards long near the sea. It would be easy to place a 

 dam and sluices at the outlet of the loch and so send down a spate 

 when fish are in the bay wishing to ascend, but are unable to do so 

 owing to want of water.* 



There are now more attractions for the angler near Scourie than there 

 used formerly to be, as boats, have recently been placed on Loch Clais- 

 fearn, a pretty loch with wooded islands between Scourie and Laxford ; 

 on one of the Duartmore lochs ; and on another loch in the Kylesku 

 direction. There is a small loch near the Free Church manse, which is 

 said to contain trout of excellent quality and of an average size of quite 

 half-a-pound. 



Duartmore River and Lochs. — In addition to yellow trout, the lochs 

 connected with the Duartmore River contain sea-trout and grilse since 

 the fall near the mouth of the river has been opened up. I recom- 

 mended this to be done several years ago and it has now been most 

 skilfully carried out. In the end of last July I went to inspect the 

 river and lochs along with Mr Louis M'lver. A long passage, not 

 much short of 150 feet, has been blasted and cut round the main fall, 

 forming a series of streams and pools well calculated to facilitate the 

 ascent of salmon ; and a little below, a subsidiary dam has been formed, 

 which raises the water on the main fall. 



There are two lochs on the Duartmore between the high road and the sea ; 

 the uppermost almost covered with reeds, so that there are but few clear 

 spaces of water where it is possible to fish ; the lower loch is much clearer. 

 A little way above the bridge on the road there is a second fall on the 

 Duartmore, but it also has been blasted, and I do not think that sea-trout or 

 grilse can have much difficulty in ascending when the water is in such 

 a state as to induce them to run. Above this fall is the largest loch in 

 the Duartmore basin, about a couple of miles in circumference, in which 

 sea-trout and grilse are frequently caught, f 



Sea Fishing in Loch Kylesku. — From Scourie I travelled to Lochinver, 

 stopping at the inn at Kylesku Ferry by the way. The scenery here is 

 magnificent and the sea-fishing, like that near Riconich, excellent ; and 

 while comparatively neglected by the natives, it seems to be appreciated 

 and enjoyed by strangers. From the fishing record in the inn, I find that 



* About fifty years ago salmon appear to have been both plentiful and cheap in the 

 extensive parish of Edderachillis, in which Scourie is situated ; as, in the description 

 of the pai-ish in the New Statistical Account of Scotland, it is stated that, in 1839, 

 4400 salmon and grilse were captured and sold at 4Jd. the pound. 



t The Duartmore is within the district of the River Laxford, and its annual close 

 time is the same as that of the Laxford. But it is not a tributary of the Laxford, 

 and it has recently had a separate estuary fixed for it by a Bye-law which was pub- 

 lished in the Edinburgh Gazette, and which took effect from 20th February 1885. 

 By the said Bye-law, the limits which divide the Duartmore River, situated between 

 Scourie on the north and Kylesku Ferry on the south, including the estuary thereof, 

 from the sea, arc declared 'to be a straight line drawn from the Point called the 

 1 Point of the Raven's Rock, at the south end of the island of Calvamore on the 

 ' west, to Duartmore Point on the south side of Loch Sark on the east,' 



