ByWilliam Jolly.
Ofall the sea-lochs in the West Highlands, I long thought that Loch Duich, the southern branch of Loch Alsh, bore the palm on the mainland, not only as viewed from the road above the kirk of Loch Alsh, but as enjoyed on the surface of the loch itself, amidst its picturesque and elevated peaks. But after seeing Loch Gruinard, many years ago, in its smiling and varied beauty, homage has been divided. Yet the two scenes are scarcely comparable, so different are they in type,—the one with even shores and unbroken surface, and closely beset by towering mountains; the other open and expansive, and varied with numerous isles. Each is to be admired for its own sake, and both reveal somewhat of the wealth of scenic loveliness created by the union of "the mountain and the flood" in our beautiful land.
Seven miles from Poolewe is Aultbea, with the smooth green Eilean Ewe in front of it, in the middle of Loch Ewe, a transcript of southern cultivation amidst Highland crofts. Before descending on the village the road rises high above the sea, and shews a wonderful view. At your feet lies an upper reach of Loch Ewe, called Tournaig Bay, in calm, smooth as a mirror, which forms the eye of the picture. Beyond it stretches a rolling plateau of bare parti-coloured rock in front, and a screen of great summits roundLoch Fionnand Loch Maree behind. You can distinguish, from the left, the fair Maiden, the pointedBeinn Aridh Charr, the brightBeinn Eay, the darkBeinn Alligin, and their numerous fellows, onwards to the lesser eminences behind Gairloch. The crowded sandstone peaks, crowned with the white Quartzite, likeBeinn Eay, look in the distance like the white crests of gigantic billows suddenly arrested in wild tumult and transformed to stone.
Near Aultbea you turn to the right, and cross the neck of the peninsula of flat Cambrian sandstone that terminates in the Greenstone Point. Near the top of the ridge the road passes through several long serpentine ridges of gravellydébris, with countless embedded blocks. These are the lateral moraines of the huge glaciers that pushed their resistless march from the mountains above out to sea. They are good and patent examples of their class, interesting as existing so far from the parent source of the great ice-sheet of which they were the enclosing walls, and which has left its footprints in well-marked scratchings and polishings on all the exposed rocks round.
A little beyond the highest and best moraine a point is attained where the whole expanse of Loch Gruinard suddenly comes into view. It forms a broad bay, land-locked on right and left, and open to the Minch on the north. On a day of sunshine and shadow it is truly a fair and picturesque scene.
The free sea in front is soon broken up by islands. Eilean Gruinard lies to the right; Priest Island is the nearest in front; and behind it is an archipelago of rocks and islands, of varied size and outline, called by the pleasant name of the Summer Isles. Bold headlands stretch far beyond. To the left is the wide Minch, with the low lands of the Lews in the dim horizon, terminating in the Butt. On the right the bay is enclosed by the indented shores of the mainland, at the entrances of Great and Little Loch Broom.
Inland extends a long succession of mountain summits, similar to those already seen above Aultbea. OverRudha Coigeach, tower the great peaks round Loch Assynt and Kyle Skou, conspicuous among which is the cone of Suilven, flanked by Queenaig and Canisp. Next comes the mountain group of Coigeach, crowned by the broadBeinn Mhor. Then, isolated and steep, the dark double-peakedBeinn Gobhlachheaves itself between the two Loch Brooms, and, being separated entirely from the rest, stands as a grand centre to the picture. Finally, closing the line to the right, rise the domedSail Morand the pointed peaks that stand roundLoch na Sheallag.
This wide expanse of mingled sea and shore, island and mountain, becomes an indelible memory, especially under a favourable sky, bearing with it the proverbial joy.
One extraordinary feature of the scene is the absolute want of trees, except a few at the head of Loch Gruinard. The country looks to the eye as bare of wood as Caithness or the Uists.
But more remains. Descend the road a short distance, and climb a slight eminence on the left, which will tax the strength of none. From its top, low as it is, a still more magnificent prospect may be had, unusual in its sweep and remarkable for the number of hill tops in sight. At one glance your eye commands the whole series of mountains comprised in both the views already obtained, from Sutherland to Applecross, the peaks crowded roundLoch na SheallagandFionnoccupying the centre of the splendid circle. In the far north, in clear weather, the isle of Handa at Scourie is distinctly seen, and under very favourable conditions Cape Wrath itself is reported at times to be visible. Behind you, to the west, appear the outlines of the Lews and Harris, the shadowy representatives of Atlantic lands. This remarkable outlook should by no means be missed.
But there are other matters besides the scenery that will interest not a few. On the shore, where the road strikes the coast, the picturesque old chapel, amid its overgrown graveyard, will draw the antiquarian and the sentimentalist to observe and to meditate. The sandstone cliffs will attract the geologist; and these should interest even the common traveller. The coast consists of a series of steep cliffs, whose unusual redness arrests the eye. Here, hidden away, as it were, in this remote bay, occur two patches of the Trias, one of the rarest systems in Scotland, only a few scattered patches representing that comparatively modern epoch, here enclosed by the two most ancient systems of Britain, the Hebridean gneiss and the Torridon sandstone, as elsewhere explained.
Beyond the sandy bay to the east, the shore rises into high precipices, unusually contorted and picturesque, with isolated stacks and projecting capes, which shew varied forms and remarkable "weathering." A footpath leads down the cliff, and should be followed to the beach. There one of the old caves, excavated by the sea in a crack of the Trias, has been enclosed by a wall and put under lock and key. It is regularly used as a chapel by the Free Church, and there numerous worshippers gather on Sabbath, and, seated on the boulders that form the pews, listen to sacred words and sing their weird Gaelic psalms. This cave is cold and comfortless compared with another at Cove on the other side of Loch Ewe, also utilised as a church. This other is formed in the Torridon sandstone, and is roomy and dry, and well seated with planks laid on stones. The entrance is festooned with wild plants and flowers, and the interior shews a full view of the open bay and the land beyond. Worship under such conditions must be at once picturesque and impressive.
Close to this cave on Gruinard Bay another exhibits a still more interesting sight,—a modern example of the ancient cave-dwellers. It is the home of an old woman of seventy, and a girl her sole companion. The front of the shallow cave has been rudely closed in with stones, turf, and cloths, leaving an opening above through which escapes the smoke of the peat fire. The interior is barely furnishedwith the simplest of necessities. The fire is close by the door on the left, and the bed lies on the ground on the right just under the open roof, though protected by the projecting rock. The old dame seemed bright as the sunshine when we visited her this summer (1886), and declared that, though rough, the place was more comfortable than it looked. As she drank her simple cup of tea from the top of a box, after putting some clothes to dry upon the shore, with her wrinkled but intelligent face, her Gaelic Bible her only literature, the wild rocks round, and the splash of the restless waves in the ear, this simple, solitary old woman looked as picturesque and pathetic an object as I had ever seen, much more so than the wildest of gipsies at a camp fire. But this is not the place to enter into her story.
Beyond this the road passes through two townships called Coast. These stand where an interesting junction occurs between the Trias system and the Torridon sandstone; while a little further on exists another junction between the Torridon sandstone and the grey contorted gneiss.
The numerous blocks along the shore, mostly foreign to the ground, are monuments of the great Ice Age.
At the very head of Gruinard Bay a large white mansion may be seen embosomed among trees. That is Gruinard House, situated at the mouth of the Gruinard river, perhaps as out-of-the-world a dwelling-place as may be found in broad Scotland. Towards this point the traveller should make his way either by the good road past Fisherfield, or still better by boat from Coast.
The position of the mansion is admirable, being cosily set close by the pebbly shore, on the edge of a fertile old sea terrace, enclosed by crags, knolls, and mounds. These are wild and steep, and clothed with trees and shrubs on their lower flanks, but bare and grand above, one lion-shaped precipitous rock being specially striking. The place is protected from every wind but the north-west, and has a climate as genial as in the south of England. A road runs by the side of the river, which has cut its way through a rocky pass and plunges over a cataract of huge boulders in foaming grandeur. Beyond a little school you come to a flat green meadow, the bed of an ancient lake. At its far extremity the dark craggy peaks of Ben Dearg form a powerful picture, which has been well rendered in a painting by Weedon. Crossing this plain and ascending the steep ridge at its head, you there command a grand view of the great mountains that encloseLoch na Sheallag,—that is "the loch of the hunting,"—the very name shewing that the old Celts looked on this region as the peculiar habitat of wild creatures. The lake itself is hidden by high ranges of the Hebridean gneiss, but you get a full view of the precipitous peaks which rise right from its waters. On the left you have the great mass of Sail Mor, the pointed Scuir a Fiann, andScuir an Fhithich, the Raven's Rock; and on the right the grand purple peaks of the boldBeinn Deargs, an unusually fine group, excelled by few in the Highlands. In some features Loch na Sheallag and its mountains surpass those of the Fionn Loch, grandas these are. The whole scene is one of remarkable wildness and grandeur, and of unexampled solitariness.
The traveller may return by road to Gairloch back the way he came. But if he is able to face it, he should recross the Meikle Gruinard river, and, ascending the Little Gruinard river, which drains the Fionn Loch, reach Poolewe by the skirts of the mountains, through as rough and picturesque a country as could well be imagined. He has still another course open to him, which will bring him back to the common-places of life. He may order a carriage from Dundonell Hotel, at the end of Little Loch Broom, ten miles distant, or he may take himself thither on foot. There he will find a most comfortable resting-place, and he will certainly think himself fortunate in seeing also the picturesque combinations of glen and mountain, wood and water, which adorn the beautiful Loch Broom.
Thenorth-west Highlands of Scotland are a favourite resort of many anglers. Here the accomplished veteran of the gentle art can find full scope for his consummate skill, and the tyro may often obtain fair sport, inexperienced though he be. There are several classes of anglers who visit the Highlands,—the wealthy man with ample leisure, who takes salmon or trout fishing on lease, together with or apart from shootings and a house or lodge; the determined angler, who spends his annual holiday in this delightful recreation, and usually settles down for several weeks or even months at a hotel at some well-known centre; the less persistent and less fortunate brother of the craft, who in a more desultory manner devotes to it a part or the whole of his briefer holiday; and the tourist, who scarcely claims the name of angler, but carries a rod about with him in his peregrinations, and occasionally takes advantage of such opportunities as may present themselves. For each of these classes there is ample scope in the parish of Gairloch, and my remarks are addressed to all of them.
The angler visiting this country should be provided with at least two rods, viz., first, a trolling rod, strong enough for the powerful lythe of the sea lochs, and yet light enough to be used when trying for the so-called ferox, or large trout of the fresh-water lochs; and secondly, a light single-handed rod, to be used in fly-fishing for the lively sea-trout, or the brown or yellow trout which are to be found in almost all the fresh water in the district. These rods, with a supply of guttapercha sand-eels and strong traces for lythe fishing, lighter traces and artificial minnows for the ferox, and fine gut casts and a variety of flies for trout-fishing, will suffice for all ordinary purposes. The sand-eels and strong traces for the sea can generally be had at the Gairloch Hotel, or may be procured beforehandfrom Messrs Brooks, Stonehouse, Plymouth. The artificial minnows, and the traces for them and the artificial trout flies, may, of course, be purchased from any good fishing-tackle maker. I recommend Mr W. A. M'Leay and Messrs Graham & Son, both of Inverness, as being well acquainted with local requirements. Perhaps two or three flights of hooks for spinning natural bait for ferox may prove a useful addition. The tackle necessary for salmon fishing is not described, as the visitor to Gairloch is hardly likely to get a chance of this noble sport, unless he has arranged for it before his arrival, or unless he be personally acquainted with those who have rights of salmon fishing in the parish. Waders are not required, except perhaps for trout-fishing in some lochs which have no boat.
With these equipments the angler, or even the tyro, staying at any of the hotels, or taking a lodging, may meet with fair fishing, and ought to be able to keep the table supplied.
Let us begin with a visitor to Gairloch, Poolewe, or Aultbea, who wishes to "sniff the briny," and become acquainted with some of its inhabitants. By arranging the day before, a boat with boatmen may be procured, and they will know the best places to be tried. There are two usual modes of sea-fishing for anglers, viz., trolling for lythe, and hand-line fishing for smaller specimens of the finny tribes of the salt water. For lythe the artificial sand-eels recommended above seem to be the best lure. As a rule the smaller sized sand-eel is the most killing, and the pattern coloured red often beats the white. There is a nearly black form of the artificial sand-eel which is sometimes very attractive. Occasionally the sand-eel answers better with the bright metal spinner at the head. Take care that your trace (which ought to be of very stout triple gut) is sound, and that the swivels on it are working freely. The lead weight, about a yard from the sand-eel, should not be a heavy one. The lythe, which is called the whiting-pollack in England, varies in weight from half a pound to 16 lbs., at least that is the greatest weight up to which I have taken them in Gairloch waters. Many of them run from four to seven pounds, and these are the best fish for the table. The lythe is rather soft, but is an excellent breakfast fish when properly fried, and is sometimes firm enough to boil well. It is a very game fish, and is therefore called by some the salmon of sea fishing. If you hook a good one, be hard upon him at first, for if he once gets down to the sea-weed you will probably lose him and your sand-eel and trace into the bargain. This fish appears to be in season from June to December, but it is not always to be met with, at least in any number. I have had splendid sport with them in June, and equally good in November. On 31st October 1879 we captured (two rods) in Loch Ewe, in an hour and a half, twenty-seven lythe weighing 176 lbs., and a good cod weighing 17 lbs., being a total of 193 lbs.; but this was an exceptionally good bag. Sometimes a cod or coal-fish (saythe) takes the sand-eel, when, if the fish be a large one, the captor thinks he has caught a whale. The lythe are generally found near rocky headlands or round island rocks.
Hand-line fishing is not to be compared with rod fishing forlythe, and therefore I have not recommended the angler to carry hand-lines about with him, but they can generally be borrowed if desired. The boatmen know the best "scalps," or banks, and can also obtain mussels for bait. The fish most commonly taken are whiting, haddocks, gurnard, millers or "goldfish," sea-bream or "Jerusalem haddies," and rarely rock-cod and flounders. For sea-bream you must go further out than for the others. Mackerel are not plentiful in Gairloch waters, and are generally taken with spinning bait. Hand-line fishing requires very close attention and a light touch. If you are not smart the smaller fish will continually get away with your bait. For all kinds of sea-fishing the evening is the best, and a half-tide, either rising or falling, is considered most favourable. It is little use fishing where there are many jelly-fish about.
Sometimes the hand-lines will capture a specimen of the larger fishes (more usually taken by the professional fishermen, who set long lines), such as cod, ling, conger-eel, skate, and even the halibut, locally termed turbot. The conger-eel, as well as the fresh-water eel, are not eaten by the natives, who regard them as allied to the serpent tribe, and therefore related to the tempter! The halibut here frequently attain a large size. In January 1885 I purchased from a fisher-lad his one-third share of a halibut. On arriving at home with my prize I found it scaled fully thirty-three pounds, so that the fish when entire must have weighed 100 lbs. Wonderful stories are told of enormous skate taken on this coast. I have heard 2 cwt. stated as the weight of a single skate! Dr Mackenzie mentions john-dory and mullet as being sometimes captured in Gairloch, but not with bait.
LochMaree reigns supreme amongst the angling waters of the parish of Gairloch, with the exception of course of its outlet the River Ewe.
It is true that the excessive fishing which followed on the opening of the Loch Maree Hotel at Talladale has to some extent injured the angler's chances, especially by diminishing the number of large black trout usually called ferox. But there is still excellent sport to be had with sea-trout and loch trout.
The angling of Loch Maree is open to visitors staying at the hotels at Kenlochewe and Talladale, except the lower part, about two miles in length, which is reserved by the proprietor for himself and his shooting-tenants. The reserved water includes the whole of the narrow part of the loch lying to the north or north-west of Rudha aird an anail on the west side of the loch, andAn Fhridh Dhorchon the north-east side.
The best fishing ground is to be found amongst the bays and shallow banks around the islands and off the points.
The fish in the loch are salmon, sea-trout, and brown trout; no doubt there are also char in the loch; I believe they occur in most Highland lochs, but they are very difficult to take. I never heard of one being caught in Loch Maree; but they say the last Lord Seaforth used to visit Loch Maree every autumn to net char in shallow waters, and that he got them of remarkable size running up to 1 lb. weight. The char is a deep-water fish, and only comes towards the shores for about a fortnight at the end of autumn to spawn.
Salmon are but rarely taken in the loch, though they must be numerous in its waters. I have known one taken with a blue artificial minnow off the Fox Point, and two were bagged in Tollie bay in 1882 with ordinary sea-trout flies and a light rod; one of these weighed 15 lbs. I have heard of other instances of salmon being captured in different parts of the loch; several at its very head, others among the islands, and others again at places I need not specify. The statement made by some gillies that salmon are never taken in Loch Maree is a delusion; that they are not generally taken, I admit; but every angler on Loch Maree, at any time of the year, whether throwing the fly or trolling the minnow, has a chance of hooking a specimen of the monarch of fishes.
Sea-trout come next. In some years they are very abundant, in others comparatively scarce. This fish has different names in different parts of the kingdom. Sometimes it is called the white trout; sometimes the salmon trout; sometimes the sewin. Again the term white trout includes the bull-trout, which is an immigrant from the salt water. The sea-trout of Loch Maree appear to be of three distinct species:—
I. The sea-trout or salmon trout (Salmo trutta); II., the bull-trout (Salmo eriox); III., the finnock or whitling (scientific name unknown to me). Some say the finnock is a samlet.
Of these No. I. is abundant; No. II., scarce; and No. III., which never exceeds half a pound in weight, is also abundant. The sea-trout here vary from ¾ lb. to about 6 lbs.; they afford excellent sport, and are good eating. The sea-trout fishing is at its best in the months of July, August, and September. The finnocks are nice little fish, and for their size give pleasant sport. The only bull-trout I have known were taken from the Ewe.
Salmon and sea-trout fishings in Scotland belong exclusively to the crown and its grantees. In Gairloch the fishings are held by Sir Kenneth Mackenzie, Bart. of Gairloch, under an ancient charter from the crown. Any person taking a salmon or sea-trout, without the permission of Sir Kenneth, is simply a poacher.
Brown trout are not so plentiful nor so large as they used to be. InPart IV., chap. xiii., I have mentioned the large trout killed in the bay of Corree, or Ob a Choir 'I, in the summer of 1878, when I was fishing along with a friend. This splendid fish weighed 21 lbs. when we got it to the nearest railway station, then at Dingwall. It was certainly not a sea-fish,i.e.not a bull-trout, salmon, orsea-trout, and it had not the large head and wild look of the fish usually called ferox; in my opinion it was just a brown trout.
Here I must propound my pet theory, that the so-called ferox and the brown or yellow trout are one and the same species. I have caught, or known caught, a number of large trout out of Loch Maree and other smaller Gairloch lochs, weighing from three to twelve lbs., besides the 21 lb. fish of 1878. I am quite aware of the number of large fish taken during years past in Fionn Loch, and I have shared in the capture of some of them. I know that the greater part of these fish would generally be classed under the head ofSalmo ferox. I feel sure they were only ordinary trout which had grown to an extraordinary size; many of them were completely out of condition, like a spent salmon; one or two, indeed, were not trout at all, but were spent salmon. I have talked with several old anglers, who professed to know the points of a ferox; none of them agreed in their diagnosis, and the characteristics they tried to point out were obscure, and to my mind not distinctive. Everyone knows that trout vary greatly in size, form, and appearance, according to the nature of the water and the bottom, and the quality and quantity of food. Even from the same loch I have seen trout, taken on the same day, so unlike each other that a tyro would have been pardoned for calling them different species. I have noticed no differences between the so-called ferox and any other large brown trout, that have not corresponded with the differences between various specimens of the smaller fish. It seems to me that whenever some anglers capture a trout above 3 lbs. weight they call it a ferox.
The ordinary loch trout are taken with similar flies to the sea-trout, but if you want the big ones you must troll either natural bait or the artificial minnow. The large brown, or rather black, trout (the so-called ferox) are never worth eating, and are rarely beautiful objects to look at; they would be seldom sought for, but that salmon fishing is so costly that many anglers can only realise the excitement of playing a salmon when they succeed in hooking what they call aSalmo ferox.
Sir George Steuart Mackenzie wrote:—"In Loch Maree is that species of trout called the gizzard trout." I suppose he meant the variety commonly called the gilaroo trout, which occurs in a loch near Inchnadamph, in Sutherland. I can only say I never caught one, nor heard of one being caught, in Loch Maree or any other loch in Gairloch.
BesidesLoch Maree there are many other fresh-water lochs within the parish of Gairloch; they are enumerated inPart III., chap. i. Those which are within deer forests or grouse shootings are nearly all strictly preserved, but permission to fish several good onesmay be obtained by visitors staying at the different hotels. Those in private lodgings may sometimes get limited permission to fish, but except at Poolewe this cannot be easily obtained.
There are very few lochs which do not contain trout of more or less respectable quality, yet trout are not so numerous in Gairloch waters as they were formerly. Writing of trout as they were in the early part of the nineteenth century Dr Mackenzie says:—"Seventy years ago (about 1815) there were in every pool of water in our west (Gairloch) the most marvellous quantities of trout. Our lakes were, I suppose, never counted. Innumerable, like the trout, some contained good, well-fed, pink-fleshed trout, and others a mere mob of say four ounce bags of water. These filled the pools that ran to the sea from every loch in shoals, and, singular to say, sometimes as plentiful above falls, far too high for any fish to swim up, as below them. I have been told that water beetles, all of whom can fly, have been caught fresh from a feast on fish roe, with some of the roe adhering to their back; and in this way it is supposed fish have been planted in lakes from which there was no stream, or none up which they could have found their way.
"I have often filled a large fishing-basket twice over in a few hours in a hill burn not two miles long, and requiring much cookery help ere their consumers praised them.
"I have never yet heard an explanation why there are only about one trout in the same burns and lochs for every ten now that there used to be seventy years ago; unless it be that then the moors washed into the lochs far more cattledébristhan there happens now, when sheep with their horrid anti-fish 'tarry-woo' are everywhere, with a flavour as hateful to fish as it is to game; no eatable insect growing in sheepdébris, while from cattle and horses crowds go to feed fish."
The Doctor's theory, that the falling off in the numbers of trout is due to the substitution of sheep for cattle, is generally accepted. Something is also due to unconscious expansion in reminiscences of the good old days, surrounded as they are by the halo of youthful enthusiasm; and no doubt there is too a real falling off in the number and weight of trout, owing to increased travelling facilities bringing north a far larger number of tourist-anglers. However extensive a loch may be, it must be remembered that its deepest parts are seldom feeding ground for trout, which mostly congregate in the shallows adjoining the shores and on the few banks there may be further out.
Next to Loch Maree itself,Fionn Loch, which is five hundred feet above the sea level, is the best known. It used to be celebrated for its yield of the so-called ferox. There is a wonderful record of the large number of these monsters that were captured in the months of March and April some thirty years ago by a celebrated sportsman.
My own experience ofFionn Lochis, that the trout have slowly but surely fallen off in number and size. In 1871 I remember making some grand baskets on this high-level loch. We used to pass the night at the shepherd's house in the bay ofFeachasgean, and the evening and the morning made our day. Our bags generallyincluded two or three fish of four or five pounds, and a dozen or two ranging from one to two pounds, at which last weight we could have got as many as we wished with a favourable breeze. At this time it was almost a virgin loch, and there was no road within four miles of it.
Perhaps the best day's trout fishing I ever had was on a glaring hot day in June 1874, when in the upper pools of the Little Gruinard river, a short distance belowFionn Loch, I caught with ordinary trout flies one monster of ten pounds, about a dozen from two to three pounds, and a large number of lesser fish.
Permission must now be obtained to fishFionn Loch, and no angler need expect to make the bags of the old times, either in number or size.
At the head ofFionn Lochis a smaller loch, called theDubh Loch, swarming with large trout. In 1876 and 1877 this sheet of water was the subject of litigation. The Lord Ordinary, in the Outer House of the Court of Session, decided that theDubh Lochwas not a separate loch from theFionn Loch, and that Mr O. H. Mackenzie had a joint right of fishing in it as well as in theFionn Loch, part of the shores of which belong to him. This decision was reversed by the Inner House, whose judgment was (on appeal) finally upheld by the House of Lords. The issue raised was a nice one, and depended on the determination of several interesting questions.
In a small loch on the Inverewe ground, on 24th September 1874, I hooked three trout of one pound each at one cast, and succeeded in landing them all. I have several times landed three small trout on the same cast when fishing the Little Gruinard river, but I never got three really good ones except that once.
All the lochs open to visitors at the hotels yield fair sport to the fly-fisher, and those who like bait fishing will be sure of a nice bag of trout from any of the smaller lochs, if the tempting worm be tried in the "gloaming," or twilight.
Large trout may be captured by trolling on Loch Kernsary, which is, I believe, open to visitors staying at the Poolewe Hotel. It is my opinion, as already said, that char exist in most Highland lochs. I have only known these pretty little fish to have been actually taken from four of the lochs in Gairloch. Loch Kernsary is the only one of these lochs which is open to tourist-anglers. Char may be taken by the angler, and possibly may be thrown into the creel without the captor noticing the red belly which is the chief distinction between the char and the trout. Very few char are taken in Gairloch, and they are usually small, about four or five to the pound. In flavour they are not to be distinguished from trout, any more than the pink-fleshed trout are to be distinguished from those with white flesh. If you doubt me, try an experiment; let some one whose palate you can trust be blindfolded, and he or she will, to your surprise, be unable to discriminate between char and trout, and between pink and white-fleshed trout. Take care the experiment be tried fairly, and it will not fail.
The ordinary trout of the country do not rise to the fly before May, and then in no great numbers. In June they yield goodsport, but July is the month in which the largest bags of well-conditioned trout may be expected. Trout fishing requires more delicate skill than salmon fishing, and is grand training of the senses of sight and touch.
There are eels in all the lochs and streams, but they are seldom hooked, and, when they are, what a mess they make of your tackle!
The only other fish in the fresh waters of Gairloch is the voracious pike. I believe this monster only occurs in theFeur(orFiar) Loch andLoch Bad na Sgalaig, and in the river Kerry, all in connection, and I only hope he will not spread further. Dr Mackenzie gives the following account of the importation of pike to Gairloch. Writing of his boyhood, he says:—"No loch had pike till one black day my eldest brother inveigled me into catching a dozen small pike in the east coast Blackwater and driving them to the west, where I launched them safely into Fiar Loch, a small twenty acre sheet surrounded with bullrushes, and just boiling with innumerable trout. It only communicated with one other lake, and from it the pike flew to the sea over a high waterfall, down which we never dreamed that the abominable creatures would go. Very soon the lochs were not boiling with trout on a summer evening as of old, and plans were laid for famous pike-fishing with trimmers, or a flock of geese with trout-baited hooks fastened to their legs and sent across the loch. But ere this ploy came off a salmon fisher in the river below the falls caught a fine pike on his salmon hook; the abomination was one of those I had launched into Fiar Loch, and who ought to have broken his neck when shooting the Kerry falls; alas, it was quite ower true a tale! The vermin had learned that the Kerry was a salmon river with lots of delicious smolts there in May, and parr,i.e.young salmon, all the rest of the year. So they soon stocked every pool in the Kerry, and a salmon in that river has for years become a greater wonder than a white blackbird; the fry all carefully eaten up, and few salmon return to the Kerry."
Sir Kenneth Mackenzie, the present baronet of Gairloch, states that none of the pike above-mentioned as having been put into Feur Loch survived, and that pike were introduced (or re-introduced) in his day—about 1848.
With this I commend the fish of Gairloch to all jolly anglers, only begging them not to angle where they have no permission, and not to interfere with other people who have a superior right.
May good sport wait on the patient angler!
Salmonfishing is undoubtedly at the head of all angling, whether in Gairloch or any other part of the world. Here it may be enjoyed under very pleasurable conditions, and with fair prospects of sport.
There are five salmon rivers in the parish of Gairloch, viz.:—the Kenlochewe orGarbhriver, the Kerry, the Badachro, the Ewe, and the Little Gruinard river.
The river Ewe is by far the best of them. It has, or had, the reputation of being one of the best salmon rivers in the Highlands, but since the removal of the last of the cruives it has not yielded large bags to the angler, except in a few unusually good seasons. The cruives were removed about 1852, with the object of lowering Loch Maree, and so draining land at the head of the loch. The cruives consisted of dams or weirs constructed across the river, containing openings; in these were inserted boxes or large creels, through which the water could pass down the river, but fish could not pass up except at certain times when the cruives were open. The oldest cruive on the Ewe was that which is still called "the old cruive," a little below the Poolewe manse. A great part of the dam still remains. The lower banks of stones were the original cruive; the higher dam was more recent. When entire the old cruive was frequently used by pedestrians as a means of crossing the river, which had then no bridge. Some deaths by drowning occurred here. For instance, the piper Roderick Campbell (Part II., chap. xvi.) was drowned whilst endeavouring to cross this cruive. Again, an American merchant was drowned in the pool below the old cruive about sixty years ago. He was crossing the cruives when his tall hat flew off; he swam across the pool to recover it, and he got to it on the little island, and stood there a minute. In returning, the stream at the tail of the pool was too strong for him, and carried him down to the rough water, where Alexander Maclennan, the old mason of Moss Bank, saw him dashed against a large stone or rock opposite the Poolewe Free church, and so killed. He saw the poor man no more; the body was found, a fortnight after, at the ebb, on the Ploc-ard side of the head of Loch Ewe. It was long after this time that the old cruive was abandoned, and the new cruive was erected just at the foot of the navigable water of the Ewe, where are the remains of the old ironworks called the "Red Smiddy." This cruive appears to have only existed for some ten years; it was removed about 1852, as already stated. Great numbers of fish were taken in these cruives. Bag-nets and other engines for taking salmon in the sea are still sanctioned by the legislature, and some people think the gradual but certain diminution in the stock of fish is due to them, though this charge is by no means proved. There is sometimes a good year, like 1883, but on the whole the tendency is downwards, as both the net-fisher and angler complain.
The fortunate angler who has permission to fish the Ewe must first learn something of the pools on the river. The Ewe is nearly two miles long from the place where it leaves Loch Maree, close above Inveran, to the bridge at Poolewe. Taking the casts from Loch Maree downwards, we find on the east side of the river (whose course is very little west of due north) the following pools or casts:—There is a cast, almost useless, at the lower end of the kitchen garden at Inveran; it is difficult to fish from the shore, and I have neverknown anything but a chance sea-trout taken from it. Sir Kenneth Mackenzie once captured two bull-trout here. The Upper Narrow below the fir wood comes next; it is an excellent cast when the river is high. Below this the river expands, and at the end of the birch wood, where it begins to contract again, is a cast called the "Kelt corner;" it is of little use, but sometimes a grilse is hooked in it. The Middle and Lower (or Little) Narrows are the next casts, and are both good; indeed, I would rather have the Middle Narrow than all the rest of the river. The Lower Narrow is a favourite resting-place of running fish, after struggling through the rough water below. Then comes the New Cruive Pool, which is excellent, and fishes best from this side. Below is a stream called Mac Cordaigh; in Gaelic the name signifies "the pool of the son of Mac Cordaigh," who was probably a noted angler, but whose deeds are lost in the obscurity of the past. Below is the Ash Pool, a good place for grilse. Some distance further on is the Craig Pool, or Manse Pool, which is difficult to fish from this side, owing to the high rough rock which juts down into it. The flat between this pool and the old cruive affords a considerable stretch of good fishing when the river is in spate, but is useless when the river is low. The Old Cruive Pool, immediately below the cruive wall, is an uncertain place. Alongside the Free Church meeting-house is the Sea Pool; it fishes better from the other side. From the other side of the river are the following casts, viz.:—The Middle and Lower Narrows, same as the other side; the New Cruive andMac Cordaigh; and then the Ash Pool and the Hen Pool. The Manse Pool, which comes next, is best fished from this side. It often holds good fish, but they are "very stiff." The "flat" is well worth fishing from this side; it requires a pretty long cast, and there is a bank behind. The Old Cruive Pool being out of reach, the next and last pool on this side is the Sea Pool, an excellent cast. There is a beautiful dark pool below Poolewe bridge. It looks very tempting, but it is very rarely indeed that a salmon is taken in it. I have, however, known a grilse of 7 lbs. weight, and several good sea-trout, taken from it.
The Ewe is not an early river, and many of the fish that do come in the spring run through into Loch Maree, and as far as Loch Clair. The kelts, or spent fish, often remain in the river until May or even June. There is generally a run of salmon early in May. The grilse and more salmon come in June and July, especially July, and fish continue running until the breeding season in November; indeed, some say there are always fresh-run fish in the water. If a low state of the water hinders the kelts from going down to the sea, they become very numerous in the Ewe in the spring, and I have landed as many as eight in one day. Of course they had to be returned to the river, pursuant to law. The Ewe salmon is a handsome fish when fresh run. I once caught a fresh-run bull-trout in the river weighing 21 lbs., a very handsome fish. The natives call these bull-trout Norwegian salmon. Mr Osgood H. Mackenzie, some years ago, caught one of them which weighed 27 lbs., the largest fish he ever took from the Ewe. I have caught several largesea-trout, which were of the same species. A few of the ordinary sea-trout are got in the river when they are running up to Loch Maree, and occasionally a respectable brown trout. The largest salmon on record from the Ewe weighed, I believe, 34 lbs., and was taken from Mac Cordaigh by an angler fishing on the west bank of the river. I got a fine hen salmon of 30 lbs. from the Middle Narrow in August 1876. The best flies for the Ewe have yellow or black bodies rough and full, and mixed wings also pretty full, jay hackle or heron hackle, and a gold pheasant tail. Small flies kill best, unless the river be in spate.
If the Ewe could tell its own tale, it would mention many illustrious characters, and would no doubt give us some good stories of them. Here is an amusing yarn of Dr Mackenzie's. Speaking of the landlady (about 1808) of the Kenlochewe Inn, the doctor writes:—
"She would wait long for a character from the late Sir Humphrey Davy, who used to fish and write 'Salmonia' on the river Ewe. Once going east with Lady Davy, he had put up a 20 lb. pattern salmon, probably to show his friends what sort of fish he was catching. They arrived at the inn, when, I suppose, the larder was rather empty, and the landlady, who valued a salmon no more than any other fish, imagined the twenty pounder was being carried by Siromfredavi (as a foreigner once addressed him by letter) to help empty Highland larders as he moved through the land; so she chopped Mr Salmo in two, without a hint or 'by your leave,' and astonished her guests by presenting it boiled as their mainstay for dinner! It was reported that Sir Humphrey's ugly language was audible half a mile away, and that listeners suspected he was on his way to an asylum."
Not many years ago I was walking along the road from Inveran to Poolewe, and saw, as I thought (and rightly), a well-known politician fishing the river. His attendant was the water-bailiff, John Glas, who came up to speak to me about something or other. I asked him, "Who is that gentleman fishing?" He replied, "One Bright." I said, "The great John Bright, you mean?" His answer was, "I never heard of him, but he is a good fisher." Such is fame!
How many odd little incidents happen to the angler; they seem so extraordinary at the moment, but perhaps lose their effect by repetition. When a salmon is in good humour, or hungry, or irritated, or vicious, or whatever it may be, he will take any sort of fly. Having gone out one day to fish the Ewe without my fly book, I suddenly discovered the old fly I was fishing with had come to pieces; there was little left of it but the hackle, untwisted, and attached to the hook at one end. I shortened it to the length of the hook, and got a salmon with it at once.
What a pleasant incident it is, how flattering to one's self-esteem, when a friend who has toiled in vain all day begs you to try his rod, and you immediately get a salmon from a pool he has just fished! This has happened to me more than once, each occasion being a palpable fluke.
I remember hooking a very lively fish one day in May 1881 at the Middle Narrow; he jumped, he flashed hither and thither; he now had out almost the whole of my line, and in another instant was at my very feet. After a little of this sort of work, he got off; I was horrified when the line came slack, and in a bit of a tiff jerked the rod up, drew the line, and threw it again. At the moment the fly touched the water another fish took it, which I ultimately bagged. A friend standing by positively never noticed that I had parted company with the first fish!
Fishing a year later at the same Narrow, I felt a slight suction as my fly approached a well-known yellow stone in the water. I pulled the fly away, thinking it might be a fish. My gillie said he saw nothing. After a brief pause I began again, and again felt the slight suction at the same spot. My gillie had seen nothing, and assured me it was but the eddy round the stone that I had felt. However, I allowed the usual interval, and, instructing my attendant to place himself where he could command the best view, I re-commenced. The same suction, the same remark by the gillie. So without further pause I threw again, and this time hooked a good fish at the same stone, which, after a sharp struggle, I brought to bank. It was he who had been at me all the time.
On another occasion, after I had fished the New Cruive Pool, I was coming ashore from the stone I had stood upon, and carelessly left the line dangling in the water. On lifting the rod I found there was a fish on, and I soon grassed a fresh run grilse of 7 lbs.
How well I remember the February fish which my faithful attendant declared (wrongly) was a kelt, and the other one, really a kelt, which I landed above the Middle Narrow, marked and returned to the water, and caught again two days later in the Old Cruive, when he received quite a cordial greeting and a second benediction to help him further on his way down to the sea!
It was in the spring of 1883 that, fishing the Lower Narrow one afternoon, two fish, almost elbowing each other, came at my fly at the same moment, an incident that had never occurred to me before. I hooked one of them, but it proved to be a kelt; these kelts are greedy beasts.
A friend with me one day hooked a big fish in the New Cruive Pool; the fish ran and leaped for some minutes, and then went down. We alternately held on from elevena.m.till fivep.m., when a growing suspicion proved true that the fish had got the line fast under a stone, and had escaped.
I shall never forget the Rev. Gordon Calthorp, minutely cross-examining me at a lunch one day on the subject of salmon fishing, and, a day or two afterwards, during a church mission, using the information he had thus acquired to illustrate, in his telling way, the wiles of Satan. Of course, the successful angler represented the Evil One! I was meekly sitting near.
The present water-bailiff of the Ewe is John Mackenzie (Iain or John Glas), of Moss Bank, Poolewe. He is a silent man, but knows the river thoroughly. His predecessor was Sandy Urquhart, well rememberedfor his stupendous loquacity. He had many good stories,—one, of the "fine gentleman" who had a day on the Ewe, killed a salmon, and gave Sandy a five pound note (!); another, of a well-known Ewe angler, who, Sandy said, being annoyed by the long sulking of a fish, stripped and dived down to the hole where the salmon lay. He succeeded in pulling the fish from his lair, but also pulled the hook from the fish's mouth.
The Ewe is easy to fish. There are few trees or banks, and all the casts are accessible. Waders are not necessary, and a long cast is seldom required. There are convenient "toes" for many of the casts, though not always quite in the right places. A north-west or north wind is the best for the Narrows, as it rouses a useful ripple against the scarcely apparent stream. I have said nothing about rod and line; they should be light. It is no use the angler wearying himself with a heavy nineteen or twenty foot rod. A sixteen or seventeen foot rod is quite enough, remembering the elementary principle that the shortest line which will cover the water is the best. I never now use a gaff on the Ewe. It is quite unnecessary, as there are no steep banks. I never lost a fish for want of a gaff, but many I have hooked have got off during vain attempts to gaff them, even when the gaff has been wielded by an experienced hand. To gaff a kelt involves an almost certain breach of the law, for the kelt is nearly sure to die. To gaff a clean fish is to mar one of the most beautiful objects of sport. My plan is to draw the nose of the fish to the edge of the water, then lay down the rod, and instantaneously grasp the root of the tail firmly with one hand, whilst the other hand, under the head of the fish, assists to place it the next moment high and dry upon the bank. Dr Hamilton of Windermere has invented a spiked glove to be worn on the hand tailing the fish, but I see no need for it; and between the difficulty of putting it on at the right moment and the clumsiness that must accompany its use, I would rather be without it.
The number of salmon and grilse taken from the Ewe is insignificant as compared with the quantities captured in the bag-nets. The largest number I have ever known killed in one day was eight clean fish; this was in 1874. I never got more than five clean fish myself on the same day. Sir Kenneth Mackenzie once killed ten fish in a day on the Ewe,—his best bag. Mr O. H. Mackenzie of Inverewe about 1853 killed seven salmon in one day, and five the next day. He was only a boy at the time, and was not fishing long on either day. For a notice of the sport the late Sir Hector Mackenzie and others had in the Ewe many years ago seeAppendix E.
Sir Hector had a singular mode of fishing. His son, Dr Mackenzie, writes:—"Few were better able to handle a rod than our father, and then there were no wading mackintoshes dreamed of to keep all dry. And as many pools in our river needed to be waded into or a boat to fish them rightly, wicked knowing old white Trig was ridden by my father into the pool, which thus was commanded by his rod all over it; and very soon Trig became quite interested in the sport, and the moment he saw a rush from a salmon or sea-trout,he backed slowly and steadily to the bank and let my father dismount and land the fish." This was on the river Conan.
The charms of the Ewe are manifold,—the wooded knolls on its upper reaches; the lovely peeps of the mountains of Loch Maree, and of the nearer range of Craig Tollie; the stories of the past that linger about its neighbourhood; the beauties of the river itself, replete with bird life and with wild flowers; and above all the exciting sport, are attractions which cannot fail to delight the angler, especially if he be successful. And there are pools in the Ewe that yield an occasional fish, even when the river is at its lowest. After August the fish are mostly dark in colour, though I have known a bright grilse bagged as late in the season as 11th September.
The other salmon rivers in Gairloch depend more on a good supply of water than the Ewe. They fish best in July if there be water. Each of them has had cruives at some time. They are all in private hands. For the benefit of any angler who, being a friend of the tenant of any of these rivers, obtains permission to fish, I may mention that the river running from Loch Clair to the head of Loch Maree, called the Garbh, is best fished from Kenlochewe, and is let with the Kenlochewe shootings; the Badachro river is let with the Shieldaig shootings; and the Kerry river is let with the Flowerdale shootings. The Little Gruinard river is not exclusively in one hand; the principal right to it is let with shootings.
Thered-deer of the Highland mountains form the subject of a branch of sport largely used as a means of recreation and recuperation by many of our most busy and often overworked statesmen, soldiers, and commercial and professional men.
The red-deer is indigenous in the northern parts of Scotland, as it used to be throughout the kingdom. There are so few obstructions that I believe it would be possible for these wild deer to roam if they pleased from the north of Caithness to the south of Argyleshire, but as a rule the deer attach themselves to particular localities. Their numbers do not increase rapidly, even under favourable circumstances. The antiquity of the red-deer in Gairloch is proved by their cast-off horns having been found deep in peat bogs, where they must have lain many centuries (Part III., chap. v.).
Deer are said to have been scarce in Gairloch in former times, when, notwithstanding rigorous penal statutes to the contrary, there was much poaching. In the reign of James I. (1424), there was an enactment that "alsoone as onie Stalker may be convict of slauchter of Deare, he sall paie to the King fourtie shillings; and the halders and mainteiners of them sall paie ten poundis;" and there were statutes of a similar character in almost every succeedingreign, the penalties becoming more serious as time went on. Since the time when the present system of letting deer forests was introduced, the number of deer in Gairloch has greatly increased.
A considerable part of the hill ground is now under deer, or, to use the popular but (to the uninitiated) misleading expression, is "forested." This word is supposed by some to be a corruption from the Gaelic wordfridh, which they say was originally synonymous with the English "free;" not meaning that forests were free and open to the public (for nothing was less so under the old Scots acts), but signifying that the ground had been "freed from," or made clear of, cattle and sheep. If this were so, the word "forest" as thus used would of course have nothing whatever to do with trees. But the better opinion seems to be that the Gaelic wordfridhalways meant a forest in the usual acceptation of the English word, and so was really covered with wood. The forests of timber which formerly clothed the Highlands have been previously mentioned, and the causes of their disappearance in recent times have been discussed (page 74). It was mostly the woodland that was kept unpastured, and so became the resort of wild animals, including deer. Thefridhwas most strictly preserved, and exactly corresponded to the "forest" of the old Scots acts. In a Scots act of 1535, prohibiting the intrusion of "gudes, nolt, scheepe, horse, meires, or uther cattle," into "forrestes" reserved for "wild beastes and hunting," the "forrestes" are classed with "haned wooddes." Now "hained" is a Scotch word still in use; on the Borders they constantly speak of a grass field being "hained" when the stock are withdrawn from it, either to take a hay crop from it or to rest it. Iffridh(Anglicè, forest) was in 1535 considered equivalent to a "hained" wood, it appears unlikely that it ever meant a "free" wood. In any case, there is abundant evidence that for at least nearly five centuries deer forests have been private hunting grounds strictly protected by the legislature.
The deer forests of Gairloch are to a great extent unsuitable for sheep. The recently formed deer forests have been constituted by putting the sheep off what were previously sheep farms. It may surprise some readers to learn that in this part of the Highlands, as well as in many other parts, it generally requires at least ten acres of hill ground to support one sheep.
There are the following deer forests within the parish of Gairloch:—
These forests will by-and-by probably yield altogether about two hundred stags a year, besides a like number of hinds in the winter, but not until the newer forests have had a year or two more to allow of an increase of their stock of deer. It is impossible to estimateaccurately the number of wild red-deer in Gairloch. Considering, however, the number of deer that may probably be killed in Gairloch after the next year or two, I would suppose that the stock when that time arrives will number about two thousand five hundred deer. This is a mere guess, based upon a comparison of the number killed and the stock on the ground, ascertained approximately by census, in some old deer forests that have come within my knowledge.
Stags are usually in condition for killing between 15th August and 8th or 10th October. These dates depend upon the season. In the case of a stag with a very fine head, the sportsman will probably not wish to shoot it until the horns are quite free from velvet, which perhaps may not be until well into September. Roaring begins in the last days of September, and a week or ten days later the stags are out of condition. There is no close time fixed by law for killing stags, and some proprietors do not even limit the season, which really fixes itself by the condition of the deer.
A stag which has twelve points to its antlers is called a royal, but a royal head is not necessarily first-rate. The best heads are distinguished by their wide span, thickness, and long points. A good stag is generally eight or ten years old at the least. The stag casts its horns every spring, and it is said the hinds eat the old horns; certainly they are seldom found.
Hinds are in the best condition for shooting in November and December. The hinds have only one calf in a year, though there have been rare cases known of a hind having two calves.
Deer-stalking is an arduous and absorbing sport,—its difficulty is its glory. This is especially so in the stag season, for in summer and autumn the deer often keep to the higher parts of the mountains. Frequently a stalk is only attempted when a good stag has been spied in the early morning, or even the day before. If it be decided to stalk a particular stag, the sportsman and his attendants endeavour to approach by such a route as that, if possible, they may not be visible, and so that no breeze may convey their scent to the wary deer. Notwithstanding every precaution, it will sometimes happen that the suspicious stag gets an alarm from a previously unseen sheep that has strayed into the forest, or from a crowing grouse, or a frightened mountain hare, or even an eagle, and it may be the chance of a shot is lost to the sportsman for that day.
Hence it will be seen how fatal to a successful stalk would be the sudden presence upon the scene of a thoughtless rambler upon the mountains, who, quite unintentionally it might be, would thus mar the pleasure and success of the hard-earned and well-paid-for sport of the deer-stalker.
Until late years the deer were hunted by staghounds, and the present method of deer-stalking was rarely practised. Now-a-days dogs are not much used except for the purpose of tracking wounded deer; and cross-bred dogs, including strains of the collie, pointer, lurcher, and other breeds, are found to be better adapted to this use than the handsome staghounds so grandly depicted by Sir Edwin Landseer, scent being more important than speed. Even for tracking, dogs arelittle used in the smaller forests, lest their baying might drive deer away to other ground.
In "The Pennylesse Pilgrimage," by John Taylor, "the King's Majestie's Water Poet," printed 1633, an excursion he made to Scotland is described. He visited the Earl of Mar at Braemar, and made the following quaint record:—
"There did I find the truely noble and Right Honourable Lords John Erskine, Earle of Marr; James Stuart, Earle of Murray; George Gordon, Earle of Engye, sonne and heire to the Marquise of Huntley; James Erskin, Earle of Bughan; and John, Lord Erskin, sonne and heire to the Earle of Marr, with their Countesses, with my much honoured, and my best assured and approved friend, Sir William Murray, Knight, of Abercarny, and hundreds of others, knights, esquires, and their followers; all and every man in general in one habit, as if Licurgus had been there and made lawes of equality. For once in the yeere, which is the whole moneth of August, and sometimes part of September, many of the nobility and gentry of the kingdome (for their pleasure) doe come into these Highland countries to hunt, where they doe conforme themselves to the habite of the Highland men, who, for the moste parte, speake nothing but Irish; and in former time were those people which were calledred-shanks. Their habite is shoes with but one sole apiece; stockings (which they call short-hose) made of a warme stuff of divers colours, which they call tartane. As for breeches, many of them, nor their forefathers, never wore any, but a jerkin of the same stuffe that their hose is of, their garters being bands or wreathes of hay or straw, with a plaed about their shoulders, which is a mantle of divers colours, much finer and lighter stuffe than their hose, with blue flat caps on their heads, a handkerchiefe knit with two knots about their necks; and thus are they attyred. Now, their weapons are long bowes and forked arrowes, swords and targets, harquebusses, muskets, durks, and Loquhabor axes. With these weapons I found many of them armed for the hunting. As for their attire, any man of what degree soever that comes amongst them must not disdaine to weare it; for if they doe, then they will disdaine to hunt, or willingly bring in their dogges; but if men be kind unto them, and be in their habite, then they are conquered with kindnesse, and sport will be plentifull. This was the reason that I found so many noblemen and gentlemen in those shapes. But to proceed to the hunting.
"My good Lord of Marr having put me into that shape, I rode with him from his house, where I saw the ruines of an old castle called the castle of Kindroght," &c.
It thus appears that lowlanders were in the habit of visiting the Highlands nearly three hundred years ago for the purpose of hunting the red-deer, and that to please the natives they adopted the Highland dress whilst in the north.
It was not, I believe, until between 1830 and 1835 that the present system of letting deer forests became general in the Highlands. The rents paid to the proprietors have enabled them in many cases to free their estates from encumbrances, and to effect material improvements,whilst the annual visits of wealthy southerners have conferred considerable benefits on the native population.
The well-remembered Colonel Inge, who (about 1832) began his sporting visits to the Highlands, is often spoken of as one of the pioneers of English sportsmen in the north. At that time he rented deer-stalking in Gairloch from Sir Francis Mackenzie, and the military discipline he maintained among the forty keepers and gillies he always employed is still spoken of, as are also his passion for method and order, and his love of a good joke.
There are many misconceptions abroad with regard to deer forests, even among those who might be expected to be better informed.
In 1883 a Royal Commission inquired into the condition of the crofters and cottars in the Highlands and islands of Scotland. In the report of the Commissioners a large section is devoted exclusively to deer forests and game. The Commission was considered to be decidedly friendly to the interests of the crofters. The report can be purchased through any bookseller for 4s. 8d., and ought to be perused by all who are interested in the subject. The following quotations speak for themselves:—
The Commissioners say:—"The principal objections advanced against deer forests, as presented to us, are the following:—
"1. That they have been created to a great extent by the eviction or removal of the inhabitants, and have been the cause of depopulation.
"2. That land now cleared for deer might be made available for profitable occupation by crofters.
"3. That it might at all events be occupied by sheep farmers, and that a great loss of mutton and wool to the nation might thus be avoided.
"4. That in some places, where deer-forests are contiguous to arable land in the occupation of crofters, damage is done to the crops of the latter by the deer.
"5. That deer deteriorate the pasture.
"6. That the temporary employment of gillies and others in connection with deer forests has a demoralising effect.
"1. In regard to the first of these objections, we have to state that we have only found, during the course of our inquiry, one clearly established case in evidence of the removal of crofters for the purpose of adding to an already existing forest. Depopulation, therefore, cannot be directly attributed to deer forests, unless it can be shewn that they employ fewer people than sheep farms.
"2. The evidence on this head is, as might be supposed, very conflicting. It is of course true that there are few deer forests where an occasional spot of hard green land might not be found which would be available for a crofter's residence, and cultivation; but, looking to the small proportion of arable to pasture land in such places, it may fairly be assumed that almost insuperable difficulties would be offered to the settlement of crofters in these deer forests, as they would find it impossible to defray the expense of purchasingthe large sheep stock which the ground is competent to carry, even though they would not in this case be obliged to take over the stock on the ground at a valuation.
"3. Suffice it to say, that as sheep in the Highlands do not come into the market until they are three years old, and, making no allowance for losses, there would be an additional annual supply of about 132,000 if all these forests were fully stocked with sheep; it is thus abundantly evident that, in view of the sheep in the United Kingdom amounting to 27½ millions,—besides all the beef grown at home, and all the beef and mutton imported, both dead and alive, from abroad,—the loss to the community is not only insignificant but almost inappreciable; while owing to the large importation of wool from abroad, the additional supply of home-grown wool would be altogether unimportant, if the area now occupied by deer were devoted to sheep."
"4. This complaint has been brought several times under our notice. In some cases the proprietor has, when appealed to by the crofters, shewn readiness to erect a fence to protect their crops from depredation, or to afford aid in warding off the deer; but in others the small tenant has been left without protection and without assistance." To meet these latter cases simple remedies are suggested.
5. The Commissioners state that the evidence on the fifth objection is conflicting; they express no definite opinion of their own upon it.
6. In discussing the last objection, the Commissioners state the pros and cons, which they seem to balance pretty evenly. They add: "It must be remembered, however, that temptations to dissipation are not tendered to the youth of the Highlands by sporting employments only. They may be found with equal facility, and less qualified by wholesome influences, in connection with the existence of a sea-faring man, a fisherman, or a casual labourer in the lowlands,—in fact, in all the other walks of labour and of gain to which the Highlanders betake themselves, and betake themselves with confidence and success. That there is a certain number of persons living loosely on the custom of tourists, anglers, and occasional sportsmen in the Highlands, and thus engaged in pursuits unfavourable to habits of settled industry, is undoubtedly true; but these people are not attached to forests, and their existence is inseparable from the general attractions of the country."
The Commissioners then summarise the subject in discussing two comprehensive questions. The first is, whether "the occupation of land as deer-forest inflicts any hardship or injury upon any class of the community, and if so upon what class?" and in reply to this question they say, "It has been shewn that crofters have rarely, at least in recent times, been removed to make or add to deer forests; that comparatively little of the land so occupied could now be profitably cultivated or pastured by small tenants; that no appreciable loss is occasioned to the nation, either in mutton or wool; and that the charge of inducing idle and intemperate habits among the population is not consistent with experience. There remains the class of sheep-farmers, of whom it may be said, that if they are affected atall, it is only in connection with the cost of wintering their hill sheep, and that in this respect deer forests have undoubtedly benefited those who remain by diminishing competition.
"We next have to inquire, Whether deer forests are of substantial benefit to the various classes which compose the community in the Highlands? There can be no doubt that in the case of landowners this is so. If it were otherwise, they would clearly not let their land for the purpose. The advantage is especially felt at the present moment, when sheep farms are very difficult to let. We believe that if it were not for deer forests, and if the present condition of sheep farms is prolonged, much of the land in the Highlands might be temporarily unoccupied, or occupied on terms ruinous to the proprietor.
"It has been shewn in evidence that not only does the proprietor derive pecuniary benefit from the system, but that, either through himself or his shooting tenant, substantial advantages have accrued to other classes of persons resident in the district. In the first place, the high rents given for deer forests must have the result of reducing local taxation, and this affects the smallest crofter as well as the largest farmer. The material advantage to the inhabitants of such districts does not, however, stop here. We have evidence that a very large expenditure has been effected, both by owners and lessees of deer forests, which would not certainly have been the case in their absence. Especially as regards those who have recently purchased Highland properties, it seems that while a deer forest formed the chief original attraction, this may subsequently become only an incident in the charm of a Highland residence, and that a great portion of the improvements made by new proprietors has little direct reference to sport. As instances of the latter may be mentioned the erection of houses of a class far superior to mere shooting-lodges, roads, farm buildings, and, above all, plantations, which in some cases are on a very large scale, and which, so far from being immediately dependent on or connected with deer, require to be carefully protected from them by six-foot wire fences. The expenditure directly connected with deer forests occupied by tenants includes bridle-paths, shooting-lodges, and keepers' houses, besides a good deal of wire-fencing, sometimes between sheep and deer, and sometimes between one deer forest and another. Taken together, the expenditure is very large. It will be thus seen that, contrary to what is probably the popular belief, deer forests in a far greater degree than sheep farms afford employment to the various classes above mentioned, and this consideration forms, in our judgment, the most interesting of all those which have been submitted to us."