268 



Appendices to Fourth Annual Report 



Snizort River. 



The Snizort River, which flows into the head of Loch Snizort Beg, is 

 the largest stream in Skye — larger than the Broadford and Portree Rivers 

 united. Just above the bridge on the high road which crosses it near 

 the picturesque residence of Mr Macdonald of Skeabost, there is a water- 

 fall which is a serious obstruction to the free ascent of salmon from the 

 sea. I inspected it on two occasions — the first when there was but 

 little water in the river, and the second when it was subsiding after a 

 flood — and I am convinced that it must stop a good many fish. But either 

 by blasting the rock on the left bank, or by putting in a Macdonald 

 Fishway, the obstruction might easily be rendered passable in ordinary 

 states of the river. Above it, there is quite a mile of fine gravelly 

 spawning ground where the river is broad and deep. But below the 

 bridge the river bed is rocky and unsuitable for spawning. Besides the 

 Snizort, there are two other streams — each about the size of the Portree 

 river — which run into Loch Snizort Beg. The one is called the Haultin, 

 and rises at the back of the Storr Mountain, and the other, which joins 

 the loch nearer its mouth, is called the Romsdal. There is a fine pool at 

 the mouth of the Romsdal, 8 or 10 feet deep, even in the low state of the 

 stream when I visited it, into which the tide flows. It looks a splendid 

 place for sea-trout or grilse. 



Drynoch River. 



A pretty little river called the Drynoch, with a course of 6 or 7 miles, 

 runs into the head of Loch Harport on the west coast of Skye. It is one 

 of the best spawning streams in the island ; its bed being chiefly composed 

 of gravel and small stones. Like most of the Skye rivers, it dwindles 

 down to a mere silver thread after a long period of prolonged drought, and 

 I think it not unlikely that some of the spawn deposited may occasionally 

 be lost from the falUng of the water leaving the ova dry. There are several 

 good pools in the Drynoch, both above and below the shooting lodge. 



Rivers Sligachan, Orley, and Oze. 



The Sligachan rises in Hart-a-Corry, one of the wildest corries of the 

 Coolin Mountains ; traverses the grand glen of the same name for some 

 miles, hemmed in by the Forest Mountains on the east and the serrated 

 peaks and scarred sides of the Coolins on the west ; and finally flows into 

 the head of Loch Sligachan. There are some capital pools in the river about 

 a mile up the glen, and also below Sligachan Inn which are frequented 

 by heavy sea-trout in July and August after a flood. The Orley and Oze 

 are streams about the size of the Sligachan, and flow into Loch Braca- 

 dale. None of these rivers can be properly termed good angling streams 

 for salmon. Their smallness alone will not account for this, as rivers in 

 the Lews and Harris, no larger than the Snizort, or Drynoch, or Sligachan, 

 yield splendid sport to the angler. Perhaps, the fact that there are no 

 bag-nets on the coast of Harris, and scarcely any on that of the Lews, 

 whereas, the coast of Skye bristles with them, may account for the poverty 

 of the sport yielded by the Skye rivers, when contrasted with the 

 productiveness of those in the other islands. In old times too, the streams 

 of Skye seem to have been more fruitful in fish ; for, in the Description of 

 the Western Isles of Scotland, by Dean Monro, who travelled through 

 most of them in the year 1594, there is the following account of the rivers 

 of Skye :— 



