238 
BATHYMETRICAL SURVEY OF 
1876, viz. 149 -4 feet ; the water was low at the time of the survey, and 
might rise about 3 feet. 
The temperature at the surface was 56°*0 Fahr., and at 25 feet 55°*4. 
Loch of Aithness (see Plate C.) is a small loch of triangular form, 
draining eastward into Aith Voe. The surrounding land is low, but 
on the north the hill rises steeply to 100 feet above the loch. The 
loch is half a mile long and a quarter of a mile broad. It forms a 
simple basin, with the bottom sloping evenly on all sides to the centre, 
and slightly steeper on the north. The maximum depth is 57 feet, and 
the mean depth 19 feet. The superficial area is about 58 acres, and 
the volume of water 46 millions of cubic feet. The area draining into 
the loch is about two-thirds of a square mile. The surface of the water 
was 33*7 feet above sea-level on August 29, 1900, when the loch was 
visited by the Ordnance Survey ; when visited by the Lake Survey on 
July 13, 1903, it was fully 2 feet higher, viz. 35*9. 
The temperature at the surface was 55°’0 Fahr., at 25 feet 54^*6, at 
55 feet 54°-4, a total range of only 0°*6. 
Loch of Vaara (see Plate C.) is a fairly large loch in Aithsting, of 
oblong form, with its long axis running east and west. The surrounding 
moorland rises to no considerable elevation ; hills of a little over 200 feet 
lie to the west and south-east. The shores are in part stony, but rock is 
exposed at various parts, and at the outflow at the north-west corner, 
whence the Vaara burn runs for a quarter of a mile northward into Loch 
Clousta. The loch is nearly a mile long and half a mile in greatest 
breadth. It forms a shallow basin of flattish bottom, with gently sloping 
sides, and the maximum depth of 25 feet almost in the centre. Towards 
the shores at various parts many stones and some points of rock show 
above the surface. The mean depth is more than half the maximum depth 
(or 13J feet). The superficial area is about 128 acres, and the volume of 
water 80 millions of cubic feet. The area drained is about IJ square 
miles, the chief inflow coming from the south-east by the Mouldry burn. 
The surface level on the date of the survey, July 13, 1903, was 25*95 feet, 
identical with the level determined by the officers of the Ordnance Survey 
on August 22, 1900, viz. 26 0 feet above the sea. The water was low at 
the time of the survey, and might rise 3 to 4 feet. 
The surface temperature was 54°*4 Fahr. 
Loch of Clousta (see Plate C.) is a pretty large loch of rhomboid 
form, longest from north to south. The surroundings are moorland — 
the shores of the loch chiefly rock. There are many islands of stones 
or rock, and many boulders and points of rock, some of them just 
submerged. The loch is nearly a mile long, and half a mile broad 
at the north end. It is constricted in the middle, where it is only 
