234 
BATHYMETKICAL SUEVEY OF 
Loch of Clichhimin (see Plate XCV.) is a very small tidal locli lying 
close to the west of the town of Lerwick. The channel to the sea is cut 
through a low bar of gravel ; on the west rises a steep hill. The east 
and south shores are strewn with boulders, and there are many also in the 
loch. A brough or Dim stands on a promontory strewn with stones. 
Loch Clickhimin is barely half a mile long, fully a quarter of a mile 
wide, and 10 feet in maximum depth, with a mean depth of between 5 and 
6 feet. The superficial area is about 46 acres, and the loch drains an area 
of half a square mile. The volume is 11 millions of cubic feet. The 
bottom is covered with mud, sand, and boulders, and is in parts weedy. It 
is said that only high tides enter, and that there are no fish in the loch 
except eels. 
The surface temperature was 52°*0 Fahr. on July 7, 1903. 
Loch of Girlsta (see Plate XCVI.) is a fine large loch of oblong form 
situated 6 miles to the north of Lerwick. Its long axis runs north and 
south. The shores are desolate heather-covered hills rising on east 
and west, higher on the west. There is a broad beach of small grey 
stones on east and west, and a sandy beach at the north end. The island 
in the loch is low and heather covered. Kock is exposed on the island 
and at several spots on the east shore. Near the outflow there is rock in 
vertical strata worn to the level of the beach. The outflow, controlled by 
a dam and sluice, is through a stony flat southward into Wadbister Yoe. 
Loch Girlsta is 1 J miles long, and fully one-third of a mile broad in the 
middle. Its depth, 74 feet, is the greatest among the lochs surveyed in 
Shetland, though it only exceeds Clings Water by one foot. The mean 
depth, 31 feet, is the greatest in Shetland. The superficial area, one-third 
of a square mile, is exceeded only by Lochs Strom and Cliff, and is about 
the same as that of Loch Spiggie. The volume of water, 308 millions of 
cubic feet, is nearly three times as great as that of any other loch in 
Shetland, the four next largest. Lochs Cliff, Eela, Strom, and Clings Water, 
each slightly exceeding 100 millions. Only small burns enter Loch Girlsta, 
the largest being the Bretto burn, which drains four small lochs on the 
west, and flows into the loch opposite the island. The outflow is on the 
south by a mill lead, one-third of a mile long, to the mill of Girlsta. The 
area drained is nearly 2 square miles. When surveyed on July 8, 1903, 
the loch was 87*6 feet above sea-level. Except for the slight interference 
by the shallow water around the island, the basin is very simple, with 
approximately parallel contours and even slopes on all sides to the deepest 
water in the middle. 
The temperature only varied 0*3 degree from surface to bottom ; the 
surface temperature being 54°T Fahr., and at 75 feet 53°*8. 
Loch of Burraland (see Plate XCVII.) is situated 4 miles south from 
Ollaberry and a little to the east of the main road. There is a farm 
