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Appendices to Fourth Annual Report 



a short distance above the road, there is a waterfall fully 4 feet high, 

 with the pool below almost filled up by a large block of stone. This 

 should be removed and a subsidiary dam should be formed across the 

 stream, about half-way between the fall and the road, with the boulders 

 which are lying close at hand. If this were done, I have no doubt that 

 sea-trout would find their way to the lower loch from which this stream 

 flows, and also to the great chain of lochs connected wdth it. Labourers 

 can be had in Benbecula for 13s. a week, and I think it probable that a 

 couple of men working for three days would be able to do all that is 

 required. 



SOUTH UIST. 



The ford between Benbecula and South Uist is only about half a mile 

 wide. Cockles abound both in the great ford to the north, and in the 

 little ford to the south of Benbecula, and mussels, whelks, and spout-fish 

 are also to be got ; but they do not appear to be turned to profit as they 

 might and should be, although many of them are gathered for local use. 

 South Uist has an area of about 110 square miles. It is 22 miles in 

 extreme length and about 7 in extreme breadth. The eastern side is 

 mountainous, rising boldly from the sea, and culminating in a fine range 

 whose highest peaks — Hecla, Benmore, and Carradale — are upwards of 

 2000 feet in height. The western side is a sandy flat of varying breadth, 

 diversified by numerous lochs, but in many places producing good 

 pasture and fair crops of oats, barley, and potatoes. In 1881, the 

 population was 6078, of whom 5842 were Gaelic speaking people. 

 Various arms of the sea penetrate deeply into the land on the east side 

 of the island, the principal of which are Lochs Skiport, Eynort, and 

 Boisdale. Fresh water lochs are numerous, both in the mountainous and 

 moorland district on the east and in the long sandy flat on the west; and, 

 as in North Uist, the trout in the moorland lochs are far inferior in size 

 and quality to those in the lochs in the machair or meadow district, in 

 which the feeding is better and more "^wied. The largest fresh water 

 loch in South Uist is Loch Bee, which is about 3 miles long by 1 

 broad. It is a shallow loch not exceeding 2 fathoms in the deepest 

 part. At spring tides the sea has access to it, and it contains flounders 

 and mullet in addition to trout. The next largest sheet of fresh water lies 

 a little to the north of Hecla, and is called Loch Druidibeg. It has 

 winding irregular shores and several islands where gulls and other wild 

 birds make their nests. The drive from the north point of South Uist to 

 the comfortable and well kept inn at Loch Boisdale is somewhat dismal 

 and uninteresting, the dreariest part of it being the 3 miles nearest Loch 

 Boisdale, where you pass through a brown barren flat, with nothing to 

 relieve its monotony. The lochs and streams in South Uist are very late, 

 later than in the Lews and Harris ; the migratory salmonidse not making 

 their appearance until the middle of July or even later. About a mile 

 from the hotel, there is a loch communicating with the sea called Loch-a- 

 Bharp, where in the autumn there is good sea-trout fishing ; and the 

 Bornish Lochs, 7 miles ofi^, contain fine yellow trout and sea-trout also in 

 the season. 



The Howmore. 



The Howmore is by far the best river in South Uist, and is quite a 

 phenomenal little stream at the right period of the year and with the water 



