324 
BATHYMETRICAL SURVEY OF 
LOCHS OF THE HOPE BASIN. 
The only loch to be dealt with here is the large Loch Hope, one 
of the most important and the most northerly of the Sutherlandshire 
lochs. There are several small hill lochs within the basin, which 
could not be sounded at the time of the visit of the Lake Survey. 
The headwaters of the basin take their rise on the flanks of Ben Hee, 
of Meallan Liath, and of Meall Horn, whose summits attain heights 
exceeding 2500 feet. The total area of the basin is 75 square miles, 
of which nearly the whole drains into Loch Hope. 
Loch Hope (see Plate LXXVII.). — Loch Hope lies close to the eastern 
shore of Loch Eriboll on the north coast of Scotland, at an elevation 
of only 12| feet above sea-level, so that a slight subsidence would 
convert it into an arm of the sea and a branch of Loch Eriboll. The 
natives declare that* the sea never enters the loch, though ordinary 
spring tides attain a point not more than half a mile from the foot 
of the loch, and at the upper end three terraces are to be seen, and 
traces perhaps of a fourth, Ben Hope rises very steeply to a height 
of over 3000 feet to the south-east of the head of the loch, and the 
ground further north and to the west, though not so high, is also 
steep close to the shore ; some parts of the shores are well wooded. 
The loch is free from islands, but on the date. of the survey a reputed 
old castle was just showing a few inches above the water about a mile 
from the foot of the loch. The trend of the loch is almost north and 
south, and the total length exceeds 6 miles. The two ends of the loch 
are narrow, but it broadens out in the central portion, where there is 
a maximum breadth of three-quarters of a mile ; the mean breadth 
of the entire loch is over one-third of a mile. The waters of the loch 
cover an area exceeding 1500 acres, or 2J square miles, and it drains 
an area exceeding 73 square miles. The maximum depth of 187 feet 
was observed about midway between the two ends of the loch. The 
volume of water is estimated at 4032 millions of cubic feet, and the 
mean depth at 61|^ feet. The loch was surveyed on September 30, 1902, 
when the elevation of the lake-surface was found, by levelling from 
bench-mark, to be 12*55 feet above the sea; when levelled by the 
officers of the Ordnance Survey on August 9, 1858, the elevation was 
