246 
BATHYMETKICAL SUKYEY OF 
Loch of Littlester (see Plate CV.) is of somewhat rhomboid form, 
longest from west to east, where a shallow arm goes off. It is surrounded 
by low heather-covered hills, except at the east end, where a stretch of 
fiat meadow is covered by crofts. The length is half a mile, by fully 
a quarter of a mile broad. The basin is fiat-bottomed, with a greatest 
depth of 9 feet, and a mean depth of 5 feet. The surface area is about 
64 acres, and the volume 13 millions of cubic feet. The drainage area 
is barely one-third of a square mile. The burn flows east into the 
stream which also drains Loch Kettlester, and enters Burra Yoe. The 
surface was 34*25 feet above sea-level on August 7, 1903; the Ordnance 
Survey determined the elevation on September 28, 1876, as being 34*7 feet 
above the sea. On the first-mentioned date the water was low, and might 
rise IJ to 2 feet. 
The temperature of the surface water was 56°*0 Fahr. 
Loch of Cliff (see Plate CVI.) is in the northern part of the island of 
Unst, and is the most northerly loch in the British Islands. It is a long 
and narrow loch, running north and south in the long valley which 
occupies the whole central part of Unst from north to south. Near its 
northern end a long arm runs to the south-east. The valley in which 
the loch lies is at this part very narrow. The hills to the west are high , 
attaining to 558 feet in Libbers hill, heather-clad in the higher parts, 
with pasture below. On the east are lower grassy hills; in the bend 
formed by the eastern arm and the main loch is a domed heather-covered 
hill, the Ness of Queyhouse. The arm is filled with weeds in its eastern 
end, and the south end of the loch is also weedy. There is a pile of 
stones in the centre of the loch, opposite the opening into the eastern 
branch, and another heap, composed of large stones, at the broadest part 
of the loch. A bright green flat bars the northern end of the loch, and 
through this the Burn of Burrafirth cuts a zigzag course into Burra Firth. 
The length of the main loch, measured in a straight line between the 
extremities, is 2| miles. This is just a little less than the Loch of Strom. 
The eastern arm measures over three-quarters of a mile, following the 
centre. The greatest width in the main loch is a little over a quarter of 
a mile. 
The Loch of Cliff is relatively very shallow ; the maximum depth of 
21 feet is in the widest part, and to this the slope is on all sides gradual. 
In the narrowest part, towards tht north end, the depth in the centre is 
only 13 feet, and north of this it d?-^pens slightly to 16 feet. The eastern 
arm, except a small portion near thr main loch, is less than 10 feet deep. 
The mean depth is fully 10 feet, the surface area about 256 acres, and the 
volume of water 118 millions of cubic feet, which is only exceeded by that 
of the Loch of Girlsta, and is a lit.le greater than that of the Loch of 
Spiggie. The drainage area of 8J square miles exceeds that of any other 
loch in Shetland and includes the Loch of Watlee, a fairly large loch 
