184 
BATHYMETRICAL SURVEY OF 
Eaval, 1138 feet) gives an impressive bird’s-eye view of the curious 
conformation of country. In the western part of the island is an extensive 
elevated tract, with few lochs, culminating in Marrival, 757 feet in height. 
The lower ground towards the shore is, even in the western part of the 
island, studded with little lochs. A great many of the lochs are tidal or 
brackish, and the shore-line is further broken up by long ramifying arms 
of the sea, which penetrate to the very heart of the island. When a 
panoramic view is taken from one of the higher hills, it is obvious, from the 
complicated shore-line, numerous islands, and absence of broad stretches of 
water anywhere, that no great depth is to bo expected. The lochs are in 
fact shallow, with irregular bottoms, and bear no evidence of being rock- 
basins, except in a few instances close to the bases of Lee and Eaval. The 
considerable depth of 150 feet (having regard to the conformation of the 
land) was observed in Loch Obisary. 
The conditions under which the survey had to be made were peculiar. 
Though we had the permission of the proprietor, Sir A. J. Campbell- 
Orde, Bart., to use the estate boats, we found that very few lochs had 
boats on them. The hotel had boats on a few of the best fishing lochs. 
The difficulty was overcome through the kindness of the hotel proprietor, 
Mr. McFadyean, of Lochmaddy, who allowed us to move his boats from one 
loch to another, and provided us with gillies to assist in the transfer. 
Most of the lochs are so chained together that the boats had usually to be 
taken over very narrow isthmuses, but in some instances they had to be 
laboriously hauled over ridges 100 feet or more higher than the lochs, 
and for distances of about half a mile. Owing to this mode of survey many 
small lochs were sounded, which would not have been regarded as worth 
the trouble, because they happened to lie on the chain through which the 
boat had to be taken. For the same reason many salt or brackish lochs 
were sounded, but in many of these cases we were unaware of their 
character till too late. Every gradation as to saltness is found, from lochs 
filled at every tide to those which only receive at long intervals an 
exceptionally high tide, and which are fresh enough to be drinkable, and to 
sujDport the usual freshwater fauna. 
In measuring the height of the various lochs above sea-level we had 
very few bench-marks to help us. There were no bench-marks except on 
a few of the lochs hear the road. The great number and close proximity 
of the lochs rendered levelling over great distances comparatively easy. 
Nearly all the lochs north of Loch Eport could be measured from one or 
other of the ramifications of Loch Scadavay. From one bench-mark on the 
Garnish road all the lochs to the south of Loch Eport, some of them 7 
miles from the bench-mark, had to be measured. 
The lochs of North List are on the whole of such a uniform character 
that it is considered needless to describe each loch in detail. Loch 
Scadavay, besides being by far the largest of the lochs, shows in peculiar 
erfection those features which are possessed in some degree by the great 
