xii 
Report on Salmon Fisheries. 
There are three obstructions on the Ballisodare River, the first 
consisting of a perpendicular rock, 22 feet in height, stretching right 
across the mouth of the river just where it falls into the sea ; the 
second, a little way further up, 12 feet high ; and the third, at 
Collooney, about a mile and a half above the river's mouth, 22 feet 
6 inches high. The ladders are all on the same principle of con- 
struction, being on the pool and jump-system, with an easy gradient 
and spacious pools. They are all in two parts which form an 
angle with each other. The Collooney ladder, at the angle formed 
by the junction of its two branches, has a spacious resting pool 
about 15 feet square. At the top of each of the ladders there are 
sluices regulating the flow of water. 
Salmon-ladder The River Moriston flows through Glen Moriston into Loch Ness 
atlnvermoris- ft courge Qf 2Q mileg from C[unie ft ^ g mileg ^ 
and about half a mile wide. It is a perfect model of a small salmon 
river, with beautiful streams and pools, and fine spawning ground. 
But nearly half a mile above its junction with Loch Ness, a rock, 
28 feet high, intercepts its course over which the whole body of the 
river rushes in a picturesque but utterly impassable waterfall. 
Mr Grant of Glenmoriston, however, has placed a ladder upon this 
Fall, which, although not as yet as successful as the ladders on the 
Ballisodare, has enabled a good many salmon to reach the upper 
waters, as salmon have been caught 16 miles above the Falls, and 
a number of parr have been seen, showing that the fish have bred 
in the river. 
River and Lo l ^ e ^ snui ? s * n ** ne Balgay River, the Inspector states, are very 
Damph? 001 remote and inaccessible, being at least 15 miles from the nearest 
Inn. Before fixed nets were erected at the narrows in Loch 
Torridon, into which the Balgay falls, the river fishings in the 
Balgay and Torridon, which flow into the head of the Loch, were 
of great value ; so much so, that they have been repeatedly con- 
veyed by name since 1624 ; the half of the fishings of the Balgay 
even being thought worthy of being split into two equal portions 
in 1624, between the representatives of the two heirs portioners of 
Donald of the Isles ; and, to come to more modern times, the case 
of ( Stuart v. M'Barnet,' 30th March 1867, was carried through all 
the Courts to the House of Lords for their exclusive possession. 
At present, however, the Balgay does not produce thirty salmon in 
the year. Yet, in the case of Stuart v. M'Barnet, many of the wit- 
nesses spoke as to the immense numbers offish in former times. Thus 
George Mackenzie, elder, 83 years old, said, ' He would get eight 
' or nine salmon a night poaching in the old time. Remembers a 
' new net broken by the weight of fish in the mouth of the Balgay ; 
' fifty salmon were caught on that occasion.' Alexander Chisholm, 
Keeper to Sir John Stuart, stated in the same case ' that he fished 
' the mouth of the Balgay from 1861 to 1863 with net and coble, 
' and caught as many as 400 to 600 salmon, including grilse, in a 
' season.' 
The Balgay River issues from Loch Damph, and, after a course of 
about a mile, falls into Loch Torridon. Loch Damph, which is 
situated in Applecross Parish in west Ross-shire, is a wild but 
picturesque sheet of water, 3J miles in length by half a mile in 
