THE FRESH-WATER LOCHS OF SCOTLAND. 
325 
12-3 feet above sea-level. The highest drift-mark observed was 9 feet 
above the surface of the water on the date of the survey, and, according 
to the local ghillie, the water might fall 2 feet lower, giving a total 
range in level of about 11 feet. 
The floor of Loch Hope is somewhat uneven. Proceeding from the 
lower (northern) end of the loch for a quarter of a mile, one meets with 
a small 25-feet area, based on soundings of 26, 30, and 32 feet, whence 
the bottom rises in the vicinity of the reputed old castle already 
mentioned, which lies toward the eastern shore ; off the opposite shore 
in this locality there were many boulders in the water. Thence pro- 
ceeding to the southwards, the water rapidly deepens until it attains 
a depth of 104 feet opposite the entrance of the Allt an Huighein, 
about IJ miles from the foot of the loch. Thence for a distance of 
about three-quarters of a mile the bottom rises again until the depth 
in the centre is 44 feet, with deeper water on both sides. This shoal 
coincides with a narrowing in the outline of the loch, whence to the 
south the loch broadens out and the water deepens so rapidly that at 
a distance of little more than half a mile from the 44 -feet sounding the 
maximum depth of the loch (187 feet) is met with. A section across 
the loch in the position of the deepest sounding is shown in cross- 
section C-D on the map. From this position the bottom rises gradually, 
though irregularly, towards the head of the loch. A section down the 
centre of the loch along the axis of maximum depth is shown in 
longitudinal section A-B on the map, which brings out the salient 
features in the conformation of the lake-floor, but gives no indication 
of some of the minor irregularities. For instance, the 44-feet shoal 
already referred to is not shown because a depth of 56 feet occurs 
nearer the western shore, nor another shoaling covered by 117 feet of 
water to the south of the deepest sounding. The offshore slope is in 
some places rather steep — for instance, along the eastern shore, where 
off the entrance of the Allt a’ Mhuilinn a sounding in 53 feet was taken 
about 60 feet from shore, and off the entrance of the Allt a’ Phris Ghil 
a sounding in 28 feet was taken about 30 feet from shore ; also along 
the western shore about IJ miles from the head of the loch, where a 
sounding in 25 feet was taken about 30 feet from shore. The following 
table gives the approximate areas between the contour-lines at equal 
intervals, and the percentages to the total area of the loch ; — 
0 to 
50 feet 
723 
acres 
48 0 per cent. 
50,, 
100 „ 
474 
>5 
31-5 „ 
100 „ 
150 ,, 
218 
>> 
14-5 
Over 
150 „ 
91 
6 0 „ 
1506 
5 5 
100-0 
T eni'perature Observations . — A series of temperatures was taken at 
