242 
BATHYMETRICAL SURVEY OF 
numerous small islands and a few larger ones, the largest being Eilean 
Gleann Fhionainn at the head of the loch, while on Eilean Fhianain, 
at the narrows towards the foot of the loch, are the remains of St. 
Finnan’s Church and a romantic burying-place of the Clanranald. At 
the head of the loch stands Prince Charlie’s monument, erected by the 
late Colonel Macdonald, of Glenaladale, on the spot where that ill-fated 
prince raised his standard. Salmon, grilse, sea-trout, and brown trout 
abound in the loch, and yield fair sport, some of the salmon and trout 
being very heavy. 
Considering its great length. Loch Shiel is very narrow, for at no 
place does the loch attain a width of a mile, the maximum breadth 
being about nine-tenths of a mile, and this occurs at the great bend in 
the outline of the loch, opposite the entrance of the river Polloch. The 
mean breadth of the loch is less than half a mile, being only per cent, 
of the length — a smaller percentage than has been observed in any of 
the larger lochs surveyed by the Lake Survey, the lochs most nearly 
approaching it in this respect being Loch Shin with 3 per cent., and 
Loch Ness with 4*3 per cent. The waters of Loch Shiel cover an area 
of about 4840 acres, or over square miles, and it drains directly an 
area of over 72^ square miles, but, since it receives the outflow from 
Loch Dilate, its total drainage area is about 85J square miles — an area 
over eleven times greater than that of the loch. Over 700 soundings 
were taken, the maximum depth recorded being 420 feet, about 4 miles 
from the head of the loch, between the heights of Beinn a’ Chaoruinn 
and Beinn Odhar Bheag to the north-west, and of Meall nan Creag 
Leac to the south-east. The volume of water contained in the loch is 
estimated at 27,986 million cubic feet, and the mean depth at 132| 
feet, or nearly 32 per cent, of the maximum depth. Loch Shiel was 
surveyed on July 2 to 9, 1902. The elevation of the lake-surface above 
the sea was determined, by levelling from bench-mark, as being 1L4 
feet; when levelled by the officers of the Ordnance Survey on November 
6, 1897, the elevation was found to be 12 feet above sea-level. The 
water may rise 4 to 5 feet higher than the level given above. 
The floor of Loch Shiel is on the whole rather irregular. The 
50-feet contour-line encloses a continuous area extending from close to 
the upper end to within 2 miles from the lower end at Acharacle, but 
all the deeper contours are broken up so as to enclose two or more 
isolated areas. The 50-feet contour follows approximately the general 
outline of the loch, but it is in places of a sinuous character. At the 
head of the loch it extends both to the north-west and south-east of 
Eilean Ghleann Fhionainn. About 2 miles down there are sinuosities 
in the contour on both sides of the loch, due to a tongue of deep water 
projecting between the south-eastern shore and the island Sgeir Ghiubh- 
sachain, and to a shoaling of the water off the north-western shore 
from 33 to 15 feet. Further down, off the north-western shore, above 
