Ness, a river carrying off the surplus water of the drainage basin of Loch Ness. As noticed below, it issues from the NE end of Loch Dochfour over a weir, constructed to keep the water of the loch at a proper height for the Caledonian Canal, and has from this a course of about 7 miles, nearly parallel to the line of the Canal, till it reaches the Moray Firth below Inverness. The channel has a regular inclination over a gravelly bottom, and the stream is about 180 feet wide, with a mean depth in summer of about 3 feet, and in winter of often double that amount. The lower part of its course is noticed in the article on Inverness. It is an excellent salmon river, and the fishing season lasts from 10 Feb. to 15 Oct.

(F.H. Groome, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4); © 2004 Gazetteer for Scotland)