THE FRESH-WATER LOCHS OF SCOTLAND. 
197 
tlie northern branch along the connecting arm, to the east end of the 
southern branch, would be about 2 miles in length. The northern branch, 
nearly miles in length, is divided into three portions. That in the east, 
adjoining the outflow, is quadrate, measuring about a quarter of a mile 
each way ; it has an even bottom, with a greatest depth of 20 feet. The 
middle portion is filled with islands, on one of which, Dim Scor, is a Dim. 
Another, Eilean Dubh Dim Scor, is connected with a larger island on the 
east by a long causeway. Among these islands the north branch is deeper 
than elsewhere, the greatest depth being 30 feet. The west portion of 
this branch is three-quarters of a mile long, and very narrow and shallow, 
having a greatest depth of only 11 feet. It is separated from the central 
part by a large island, connected with the north shore by a causeway, and 
having the channel on the south full of stones, and from 1 to 3 feet in 
depth. The burn from Loch an lasgaich enters the west end of this arm. 
The narrow passage connecting the northern and southern branches of the 
loch is shallow in the middle and northern portions, but towards the south 
it rapidly deepens into one of the basins which form the southern half of 
the loch. The southern branch of the loch is shorter than the northern, 
measuring little more than one mile in length, but it is much broader and 
very much deeper. It contains two distinct basins, the best marked basins 
in the island, separated by a strait filled with large islands. 
The west basin is triangular, three-quarters of a mile long by one-third 
of a mile broad. Though the island, on which is the Dim Ban, lies well 
out from the shore, it does not destroy the simplicity of the basin. The 
slope of the bottom is steeper on the south side, more gradual on the north. 
The deepest sounding in this basin, 50 feet, occurs near a small island at 
the east end of the basin. The east basin is smaller but deeper. It is 
fully half a mile long by a quarter of a mile broad. Its axis runs north 
and south. The contours are more indented than the outline, owing to the 
presence of a number of submerged promontories. The slopes of the 
bottom are about equal on all sides, and the deepest part (maximum 
sounding of the whole loch, 74 feet) is about the middle of the basin. 
The narrows between the east and west basins is nearly closed by islands, 
of which Eilean Dubh, one-sixth of a mile long, is the largest. There are 
three narrow channels among these islands with depths of only 5 or 6 feet. 
Large portions of the shores are stony, but rock is exposed in many places, 
and the principal islands are of rock. The stream flowing out of the 
north-east corner into Loch Oban nam Fiadh, is one-eighth of a mile long, 
and has a fall of 2 feet. At the south-east corner the burn from Loch ’ic 
Colla flows in. The superficial area of Loch Cara vat is about 374 acres, 
or over half a square mile. The drainage area, which includes Lochs an 
lasgaich, ’ic Colla, an t-Seasgain, and some smaller lochs, has an extent of 
fully 3 square miles. By volume of water, which amounts to 270 millions 
of cubic feet, Loch Cara vat is the third largest loch in the island. When 
surveyed on June 8, 1904, the height of the surface above sea-level was 
