{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_58894/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_58894","id":"gutenberg_58894","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/58894","summary":null,"tags":["Category: History - Other","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Folklore -- Scotland","Oral tradition -- Scotland","Precognition","Witchcraft -- Scotland"],"text":"E-text prepared by Susan Skinner and the Online Distributed Proofreading\nTeam (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made available by\nthe Google Books Library Project (https://books.google.com)\n\n\n\nNote: Images of the original pages are available through\n      the Google Books Library Project. See\n      https://books.google.com/books?id=LuY0AAAAMAAJ&hl=en\n\n\n\n\n\nWITCHCRAFT AND SECOND SIGHT IN THE HIGHLANDS AND ISLANDS OF SCOTLAND\n\n\n      *      *      *      *      *      *\n\n_BY THE SAME AUTHOR._\n\n\n_Uniform with this Volume: Price 6s. net._\n\nSuperstitions of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. Collected\nentirely from Oral Sources by the late John Gregorson Campbell, Minister\nof Tiree\n\n\n_SOME PRESS OPINIONS_\n\nThe border line of fairyland once crossed is a bourne from which few\nantiquaries return. We have had great difficulty in getting back\nourselves, led on as we were by the seductive John Gregorson Campbell,\nassuredly, if ever man was, since Campbell of Islay\u2019s day, in the\ninnermost secrets of the Elfin folk. Indeed, Campbell\u2019s _Popular Tales\nof the West Highlands_, full to overflowing though they are, do not seem\nto us to express with anything like the same fullness and body the misty\nlegend and wayward romance and quaint realism of the Celtic supernatural\nas does this plainer and prosaic notebook of an old parish minister\nbetween 1861 and 1891. Folklore whether of Celt or Saxon, henceforward\nhas to reckon with the posthumous notebooks of John Gregorson Campbell\nfor an indispensable section of its apparatus of study.\u2014_ANTIQUARY._\n\nThe importance of the work from the scientific point of view can hardly\nbe exaggerated, as its accuracy is absolutely indisputable. And yet being\nlittle more than a collection of stories told in the simplest English, it\nis as enjoyable as one of Mr. Lang\u2019s fairy-books.\u2014_THE SPECTATOR._\n\nAltogether the volume is in its way singularly interesting, and forms a\nrich mine for the folklorist. Some of the stories may be met with under\nother versions, but most of them appear here for the first time and are\nwonderfully varied. The light they throw upon the Highlander\u2019s ways of\nthinking is remarkable.\u2014_SCOTTISH REVIEW._\n\nStatements and beliefs are given exactly as they reached the author, nor\ndo I think it would be possible to detect a single instance in which\nwider knowledge or prepossession of any kind has induced him to alter\nor distort a fact. This rigid conscientiousness will always secure for\nMr. Campbell\u2019s work the confidence and regard of true folklorists....\nCampbell of Tiree takes his place by the side of Kirk, and of Walter\nGregor of Pitsligo, among those recorders of folk-lore to whom the\nstudent can always turn with increased confidence and admiration.\u2014MR.\nALFRED NUTT _in FOLKLORE_.\n\nStudents of tradition will find much to interest them in this new\ncollection of Highland folk-lore, for although a good deal of the\ninformation is similar to that contained in previous works of the kind,\nyet many details are new, and even those which are already familiar have\nthis great recommendation\u2014that they were obtained at first-hand from the\npeasantry, and not from other books.\u2014_RELIQUARY._\n\nOn the whole their can be few richer fields of ancient folk-belief,\nespecially of the gloomier and sterner sort, than that which was so\nsuccessfully cultivated by the lamented author of this book.\u2014_ATHEN\u00c6UM._\n\nMr. Campbell has escaped most of the difficulties by which his\npredecessors were beset. A very interesting series of stories has\nbeen collected, and the volume exercises much fascination over the\nreader. On the subjects such as divination, spells, the devil, etc.,\nmuch interesting information is given. While scientifically thorough\nin treatment, the book is indeed admirably suited for general\nperusal.\u2014_NOTES AND QUERIES._\n\nThe tales are plucked directly from their native soil in the popular\nmemory; and while few of them are absolute rarities, there is hardly\nanyone that does not in some way illustrate the infinite variety and\nthe vivid imaginative colouring, as well as the wealth of Highland\nsuperstitions.\u2014_SCOTSMAN._\n\nThis volume is posthumous, and we cannot but regret that the author was\nnot spared to see it safely launched. It is a capital book written in\na thoroughly sane and sober spirit. In this it differs from most books\nthat deal with the manners, customs, and usages of the Gaels of Scotland,\nfor in them the wildest theories, based mainly on fanciful ideas, are\ntreated as facts and enunciated as truths. In gathering his material the\nlate Mr. Campbell relied solely on oral communications made to himself so\nthat in every case of doubt he could interrogate his informant.\u2014_SCOTTISH\nGEOGRAPHICAL MAGAZINE._\n\nAltogether the book is a notable and valuable addition to the literature\nof British folk-lore not unworthy to take its place alongside Mr. J.\nF. Campbell\u2019s classic \u201cPopular Tales of the West Highlands.\u201d\u2014_GLASGOW\nHERALD._\n\nThe more collections of this sort we get the better will be the verdict\nof all who read this interesting book; and those who look at the question\nmore from the scientific point of view will echo the wish.\u2014_MAN._\n\nThe fairies and tales about them, gathered by himself or by\ncorrespondents in all parts of the Highlands and Isles, take up the half\nof the book before us, the remarkable feature of which is that the whole\nof its contents has been taken down from oral sources. There are many\nvariants and many common stories which are variously localised. Printed\naccounts of the fairies are religiously ignored.\u2014_THE NORTHERN CHRONICLE._\n\nThose who are interested in our west Highlands and Islands\u2014and who is\nnot?\u2014will find Mr. Campbell\u2019s book a perfect mine of strange, weird\nstories and legends, the latter entirely characteristic of the people,\nthe former dealing with magic, divination, and the superstitions of\nfairyland. Indeed it takes a place by itself, and a very important place,\nin our folk-lore literature.\u2014_THE BAILIE._\n\nThe tales are very diversified. They relate to the \u201cfairies\u201d and\nthe superstitions regarding them. A chapter is devoted to augury,\nanother to premonitions and divination, to dreams and prophecies, to\nimprecations, spells, and the black art. In short we have a very varied\nand manifold collection of Highland beliefs told with great freshness and\nvividness.\u2014_OBAN TIMES._\n\n    Glasgow\n    James MacLehose and Sons\n\n    Publishers to the University\n    London and New York: Macmillan and Co., Limited\n\n      *      *      *      *      *      *\n\n\nWITCHCRAFT AND SECOND SIGHT IN THE HIGHLANDS AND ISLANDS OF SCOTLAND\n\n\n      *      *      *      *      *      *\n\n                              PUBLISHED BY\n                   JAMES MACLEHOSE AND SONS, GLASGOW,\n                      Publishers to the University.\n\n                    MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD., LONDON.\n\n                _New York_,       _The Macmillan Co._\n                _London_,         _Simpkin, Hamilton and Co._\n                _Cambridge_,      _Macmillan and Bowes_.\n                _Edinburgh_,      _Douglas and Foulis_.\n\n                                 MCMII.\n\n      *      *      *      *      *      *\n\n\n\nWITCHCRAFT & SECOND SIGHT\nIN THE\nHIGHLANDS & ISLANDS OF SCOTLAND\n\nTales and Traditions collected entirely\nfrom Oral Sources\n\nby the late\n\nJOHN GREGORSON CAMPBELL\n\nAuthor of \u201cSuperstitions of the Highlands and\nIslands of Scotland\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGlasgow\nJames MacLehose and Sons\nPublishers to the University\n1902\n\nGlasgow: Printed at the University Press\nby Robert Maclehose and Co.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n                                                        PAGE\n\n                        _CHAPTER I_\n\n                     Black Witchcraft\n\n    Introductory                                           1\n\n    Witches and Milk                                       7\n\n    Counter-Charms                                        10\n\n    Going to Sea                                          15\n\n    Raising Storms and Drowning People                    19\n\n    Witches as Sheep                                      30\n\n    Witches as Hares                                      33\n\n    Witches as Cats                                       34\n\n    Witches as Rats                                       42\n\n    Witches as Gulls                                      42\n\n    Witch as Cormorant                                    43\n\n    Witches as Whales                                     44\n\n    Delaying the Birth of a Child                         45\n\n    Clay Corpse                                           46\n\n    Silver Sixpence                                       49\n\n    Saving Horses                                         50\n\n    Tailor and Witches                                    50\n\n    Celebrated Witches                                    50\n\n    Wizard Rising after Death                             52\n\n    How to Detect Witches                                 53\n\n                       _CHAPTER II_\n\n                     White Witchcraft\n\n    Introductory                                          54\n\n    E\u00f2las                                                 57\n\n    Cure for the Evil Eye                                 59\n\n    Charm for Sprains                                     66\n\n    Charm for Bruises                                     67\n\n    Charm for Rheumatic Pains                             67\n\n    Charm for Consumption                                 68\n\n    For Affections of the Chest                           68\n\n    Charm for Toothache                                   69\n\n    Made for Merrion MacFadyn                             70\n\n    Charms for Cattle                                     71\n\n    Charm against Danger                                  73\n\n    The Old Wife\u2019s Charm for her Cow                      73\n\n    Charm for a Sheep in its Cot                          74\n\n    Against Drowning and in War                           74\n\n    Charm against Dangers in War                          75\n\n    Charm for Cloth                                       77\n\n    Charm for General Use                                 79\n\n    \u201cThe Gospel of Christ\u201d                                79\n\n    Charm for conferring Graces                           80\n\n    Charm for the Faces of Young Women                    81\n\n    Love Charm                                            82\n\n    Charm to keep away Harm in a Lawsuit                  83\n\n    Serpent Stone                                         84\n\n    Snail Beads                                           88\n\n    Frog Stone                                            89\n\n    Stones                                                90\n\n    Fairy Arrow                                           91\n\n    Cruban Stone                                          92\n\n    Various                                               93\n\n    Gospel                                                94\n\n    Miscellaneous Cures                                   94\n\n    Warts                                                 94\n\n    Stye                                                  95\n\n    Tetter                                                95\n\n    Hiccup                                                96\n\n    Hooping-cough                                         96\n\n    Stiff Neck                                            96\n\n    Toothache                                             96\n\n    Falling Sickness                                      97\n\n    Madness                                               97\n\n    Axillary Swelling                                     99\n\n    Lumbago                                              100\n\n    Consumption                                          100\n\n    Leprosy                                              100\n\n    Loch Ma N\u00e0r                                          101\n\n    Wells                                                101\n\n    Mountain Ash                                         103\n\n    Pearlwort                                            103\n\n    St. John\u2019s Wort                                      104\n\n    Juniper                                              105\n\n    Yarrow                                               106\n\n    The Enticing Plant                                   106\n\n    The Daughter of the King of Enchantments             107\n\n                       _CHAPTER III_\n\n                      Death Warnings\n\n    Introductory                                         109\n\n    Hugh of the Little Head                              111\n\n                       _CHAPTER IV_\n\n                       Second Sight\n\n    Introductory                                         120\n\n    Spectres of the Living                               132\n\n    Apparitions of the Dead                              137\n\n    Strong and Undue Wishes                              141\n\n    T\u00e0radh                                               144\n\n    Marriage                                             147\n\n    Coming Misfortune                                    148\n\n    Events at a Distance                                 149\n\n    Death                                                150\n\n    Coffin                                               151\n\n    Noise of Glasses to be used at Funerals              154\n\n    Funeral Procession                                   155\n\n    Wraiths seen before Death                            158\n\n    Drowning                                             160\n\n    Horses and Dogs                                      163\n\n    Crying heard before Death                            166\n\n    Lights                                               169\n\n    Spirits seen before Death                            172\n\n    Return of the Dead                                   172\n\n    Bones of the Dead and Place of Burial                176\n\n    Spirits appearing in Dreams                          179\n\n    To get rid of the Second Sight                       180\n\n                        _CHAPTER V_\n\n                        Hobgoblins\n\n    Introductory                                         181\n\n    The Bodach, or Carle                                 187\n\n    Fuath                                                188\n\n    Cachlaidh Na Feusaig, Islay                          189\n\n    The Headless Body                                    191\n\n    The Grey Paw                                         194\n\n    Ewen and the Carlin Wife                             198\n\n    The Black Walker of the Ford                         201\n\n    Strowan, Athole                                      203\n\n    The Unearthly Whistle                                204\n\n    The Battle of Gaura                                  205\n\n    The Beast of Odal Pass                               207\n\n    Luideag, \u201cThe Rag\u201d                                   208\n\n    Lochan Doimeig                                       208\n\n    Return of the Dead                                   210\n\n    Donald Gorm\u2019s Ghost                                  211\n\n    Taibhse Choimhlig                                    213\n\n    Kingairloch, Argyleshire                             214\n\n    Fladdachuain                                         215\n\n    Haunted Houses                                       217\n\n    Bocain, Goblins                                      220\n\n                       _CHAPTER VI_\n\n                      The Celtic Year\n\n    Introductory                                         224\n\n    Nollaig                                              229\n\n    Calluinn                                             230\n\n    Christmas Rhymes                                     233\n\n    New-Year Night                                       236\n\n    New-Year\u2019s Day                                       238\n\n    The Twelve Days of Christmas                         243\n\n    Winter Season                                        244\n\n    February                                             245\n\n    Earrach beag nam Faochag                             247\n\n    St. Bride\u2019s Day                                      247\n\n    Spring                                               250\n\n    The Whistle                                          250\n\n    The Sharp-billed One                                 251\n\n    The Sweeper                                          251\n\n    Gearran, a Gelding, or perhaps Gearan, Complaint     251\n\n    The Old Wife                                         253\n\n    Three Hog Days                                       254\n\n    Seed-time                                            255\n\n    Shrovetide                                           256\n\n    Lent                                                 258\n\n    St. Kessock\u2019s Day                                    259\n\n    St. Patrick\u2019s Day                                    259\n\n    Lady Day                                             261\n\n    Shore or Maundy-Thursday                             261\n\n    Good Friday                                          262\n\n    Easter                                               263\n\n    All-Fools\u2019 Day                                       266\n\n    Bailc na Bealltainn                                  267\n\n    May-Day                                              267\n\n    Month of May                                         272\n\n    Whistling Week                                       273\n\n    May                                                  273\n\n    The Avoiding Day of the Year                         273\n\n    Whitsuntide, Pentecost                               274\n\n    St. John\u2019s or Midsummer\u2019s Eve                        276\n\n    Dog Days                                             276\n\n    Translation of Martin                                277\n\n    Lammas                                               277\n\n    The Hot Month (_i.e._ August)                        279\n\n    Assumption Day                                       279\n\n    Roodmas, September 14th-26th                         280\n\n    Michaelmas                                           281\n\n    Hallowmas                                            281\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nBLACK WITCHCRAFT.\n\n\nWitchcraft introduces us to a class of popular superstitions entirely\ndifferent from those connected with Fairies. Fairies, water-horses, and\nkindred supernatural beings were distinct from the Evil Spirits that\ngave to witches their unhallowed powers. They could not be compelled\nor conjured by mortals to appear when wanted, or enter into contracts\nof service. The Powers of Darkness, on the other hand, were always at\nthe service of their votaries, and, by means of charms and incantations\nknown to the initiated, were made to lend their aid in any scheme of\nmalevolence.\n\nA belief in magic widely, almost universally, prevails among the tribes\nof mankind, and the witchcraft of the Christian era, while it undoubtedly\ngained strength and character from mistaken interpretations of Scripture,\nowes many characteristics to the delusions of Pagan times.\n\nThe Highland witches have of course many points in common with their\nsisters of the south, but comparatively there is little repulsive or\nhorrible in their character. Tales regarding them make no mention of\nincubus and succubus, midnight meetings and dances with the devil, dead\nmen\u2019s fingers, and more of the horrible and awful, the ravings of poor\nwomen driven crazy by persecution and torture. Neither is there mention\nof their riding through the air on broomsticks, nor, like the witch\nof Endor, raising the dead. Their art was forbidden, and their powers\ncame from the devil; but it does not appear under what paction, or that\nthere was any paction, under which this power was to be got. It was in\nthe name of the devil, and against the name of the Trinity, they set\nabout their cantrips, but a knowledge of the necessary charms, and the\ncourage to use them, seem to have been all that was requisite. Those\nhaving the reputation of being witches were (and are, for a few still\nsurvive) usually old women, destitute of friends and means of support,\nand naturally ready to eke out a miserable livelihood by working on the\nfears or the simplicity of their more prosperous neighbours.\n\nThere are instances in which a farmer has bribed a witch by yearly\npresents not to do harm to his cattle; and we must remember that in\ndays of scarcity and famine, poverty with icy hand and slow-consuming\nage will make people resort to shifts of which they would never dream\nwhen food was abundant. In most cases, the reputed witch was merely\na superstitious and perhaps ill-favoured old woman, possessing a\nknowledge of rhymes and charms for the healing of disease in man and\nbeast, and taking pains to _sain_ her own cattle, if she had any,\nfrom harm. Sometimes she was also dishonest, desirous of being looked\nupon with awe, and taking advantage of nightfall to steal milk from\nher neighbours\u2019 byres and corn from their stackyards. Her powers of\nwitchcraft satisfactorily accounted to the popular mind for her butter\nand cheese\u2014even if she had no cows\u2014being abundant when the stores of\nothers failed. In dark uncultured times a claim to influence over the\nunseen powers of nature, and to intercourse with spirits, had only to\nbe made to be allowed, and the mere pretension too readily invests the\nclaimant with awe to make it safe for any one to denounce the imposture.\nMany believed in the efficacy of the arts they practised, and in their\nown possession of the power with which the credulity of mankind was\nwilling to accredit them. Unusual natural events and phenomena can easily\nbe turned into proofs of a witch\u2019s claim; imposture readily leads to\ndelusion, and hence among the poor and uneducated it is no wonder to find\nwitchcraft practised and believed in.\n\nThe power of witches was always at the disposal of those who were willing\nto pay for it, and the fact that the rewards of witchcraft did not\nsometimes exceed a pound of tobacco, alone shows how much the urgencies\nof want had to do with the pretence to supernatural powers. Unless\npayment was given the witch could do nothing; her spells were then of\nno avail. To explain the anomaly that witches possessed such tremendous\npowers and yet remained always in indigent circumstances, it was said\nthe poor wretches could not benefit themselves; their power, as might\nbe expected, considering the source from which it was derived, was only\none of mischief and doing harm to others. Much of the superstition is\nat variance with this popular explanation, as, for instance, the taking\nof milk from the neighbours\u2019 cows and the substance from their butter\nand cheese, but contradictions and absurdities never stand in the way of\ncredulity and superstitious fears.\n\nThe Gaelic name \u2018_Buidseach_\u2019 is identical in meaning with the\nEnglish \u2018_witch_,\u2019 a word it also somewhat resembles in form. The\nterm \u2018_Bao_\u2019 is sometimes translated wizard, but is properly only a\ncareless conversational form of _Baobh_, a wild furious woman, a wicked\nmischievous female, who scolds and storms and curses, caring neither what\nshe says nor what she does, praying the houses may be razed (_l\u00e0rach\nlom_) and the property destroyed (_sgrios an codach_) of those who have\noffended her. This is a word used in proverbs. \u201cA raging woman obtains\nher imprecation, but her soul obtains no mercy.\u201d[1] _Baoth_, weak,\nfoolish, is often confounded with it. M\u2019Intosh[2] makes the expression\n\u2018_maca bao_,\u2019 \u2018a wizard\u2019s son\u2019 instead of _macan baoth_, a weak or little\nchild. \u201cPity of her who is the mother of a helpless child, when May-day\nfalls on a Thursday,\u201d _i.e._[3] owing to the infant mortality of the\nseason.\n\nA common answer to the question, What could witches do? is What could\nthey not do? The classes of actions, however, ascribed to them are not\nnumerous. They could take the milk from their neighbours\u2019 cattle, bring\nfish to their own coasts, make fishermen successful, go to sea for fish\nthemselves and bring home creelfuls, raise storms, sink ships, drown\nthose who offended them; give strings to sailors with knots on them, the\nunloosening of which raised the wind; they could go to wine-cellars in\nLondon or Ireland, and drink wine till morning; fly through the air with\nmagic quickness, and cross the seas in the most unlikely vessels, sieves,\neggshells, or dry cowsherds; produce a wasting disease in an enemy,\nwaylay and endanger the belated traveller, and by their cursed tricks\nkeep a child in its mother\u2019s womb past its proper time; suck cows, and\nassume various shapes. They could benefit, or at least ward away evil\nfrom a favourite, but their power of doing so seems to have been much\nfeebler than their powers of mischief.\n\nIn carrying out their unhallowed cantrips, witches assumed various\nshapes. They became gulls, cormorants, ravens, rats, mice, black sheep,\nswelling waves, whales, and very frequently cats and hares. The shape\nwas not always well chosen for the object to be attained, a hare, for\ninstance, being but ill-formed for sucking cows, or a cat for drinking\nwine; neither was a sieve or an eggshell a likely vessel to go to sea\nin, nor a piece of tangle for carrying milk in, nor the chimney crook\na probable substitute for the cow\u2019s udder. This, however, is of no\nconsequence. It is only part of the witch\u2019s diabolical mode of going to\nwork. The truth is, that these harmless animals whose shapes witches\nwere said to assume, being seen in unusual places at unusual times,\nor conducting themselves in an unusual manner, were converted by the\nterrified imagination into witches pursuing their unlawful practices.\nMany tales seem to have their origin in vain attempts to stagger\ncredulity, and in that delight which people of lively imaginations\nsometimes take in \u2018cramming\u2019 their more stupid fellows.\n\nIn addition to change of shape, witches had a machinery of charms,\nincantations, red, black, and blue threads, magic caps, and particularly\na magic staff, called \u2018_an luirgean_\u2019 \u2018_an lorg ohn_.\u2019\n\nThere were certain nights of the year on which they were unusually busy.\nThese were particularly the last night of every quarter. On Beltane\nnight they were awake all night. Their object seems to have been to\n_sain_, _i.e._ keep evil away from, their own cattle or those of the\nfarmers who employed them for the purpose. Others were no doubt taking\nadvantage of any neglect in this respect to secure to themselves the\nbutter and cheese for the next three months. No one, however, knows what\nthey were after, as a woman who believed in their being awake on Beltane\nnight piously said, \u201cGod and themselves know what they are doing.\u201d[4]\n\nMany tales relating to witchcraft, as has been already remarked, must\nhave had their origin in attempts to ridicule people out of their belief\nand in an unbridled exercise of imagination. They only furnished a proof\nthat men will believe the incredible.\n\n\nWITCHES AND MILK.\n\nTo the poor a cow is invaluable, and its ailments are naturally a source\nof anxiety. Hence the poor man has been most frequently the victim of\nimposture, and his cow has the most frequently lost its milk through the\nmachinations of witches. The folds of the affluent were seldom attacked,\nor those byres in which regard was paid to cleanliness and tidiness.\n\nThe stories of witches assuming the shape of hares and sucking cows are\nnumberless. A boy who saw one described the hare as sitting on its hind\nlegs, with its fore paws resting on the cow\u2019s udder. Some people profess\nto have come upon the witch through the night while thus engaged, and\ncaught her. The hare then became a woman.\n\nWhen a witch assumes this shape it is dangerous to fire at her without\nputting silver, a sixpence or a button of that metal, in the gun. If\nthe hare fired at was, as indeed it often was, a witch in disguise,\nthe gun burst, and the shot came back and killed the party firing, or\nsome mischance followed. Old women used, therefore, to recommend that a\nsixpence be put in the gun when firing at a hare.\n\nParties who entered the house of a reputed witch in Cornaig, Tiree, found\ntwo churns full of water on the floor and a shallow milk-dish (_measair_)\nfull of butter on the table.\n\nIn olden times the master of a ship, dining with the Laird of Coll, was\nasked if the butter on the table was not very fine. He said it was for\npig\u2019s butter. The dairymaid was called up and questioned. She confessed\nthat seeing a whale (_muc-mhara_, lit. sea-pig) passing, and hearing its\nbellow (_geumraich_), she had taken the substance (_toradh_) of its milk\nfrom it. If the laird believed her, he was an honest, unsuspicious man,\nwho never dreamt of any collusion between her and his guest.\n\nA Tiree witch once took all their milk from the Laird of Coll\u2019s cows, and\nwas on her way home with it in a _duitheaman_, a black seaweed not unlike\na tangle, wrapped round her body. A man met her, cut the black tangle\nwith his knife, and all the milk flowed out on the ground. Witches also\ncarried away milk in needles, dung-forks, etc., and have been detected\ntaking it in a stream from the chimney crook. A sailor, whose ship was on\nher way through the Kyles of Bute (_na caoil Bh\u00f2dach_), hearing a bull\nroaring on the Cowal coast, took the milk from the herd of which it was\nlord by cutting the cable with an axe. The milk came streaming from the\ncable.\n\nIt is related of \u2018Mr. Lachlan,\u2019 a former minister of Kintail, that going\none day to the house of a reputed witch, without telling who he was, he\ninduced her, as a specimen of her power, to milk the chimney crook.[5]\nThe cow from which the milk was to be taken was the minister\u2019s own. The\nwitch went to work, till all the milk was extracted, and then asked the\nminister if he was satisfied. He told her to go on, and she milked the\niron till blood came. When the minister went home he found his cow dead.\n\nA witch in Lochaber had a little pet sheep, by milking which she gathered\nto herself the milk from the flocks of all the neighbouring farmers.\n\nHairy Donald (D\u00f2\u2019ull Molach), a Morven celebrity of last century,\nprofessing great skill in healing or hurting cattle by means of magic\ncharms, was laughed at for his pretensions by the parish minister, and\nhis powers were made game of. Donald, at his own request, was shut up\nin a room, and a particular cow was named by the minister for him to\nexercise his talents upon. Before he finished his incantations the cow\nfell over the rocks.\n\nA man bought at a market from a stranger a mart or winter cow. When\nkilling it, the blows of the axe made no impression. An old man who came\nthe way, when told of this, examined the cow\u2019s tail, and found a _red\nstring_ tied round it. On this being taken away, the cow fell at the\nfirst blow.\n\n\nCOUNTER-CHARMS.\n\nOf course the spells of witches could be counteracted. It would not\nbe right that such dangerous powers should be unchecked. Some of the\ncounter-charms were good disinfectants, but in general the efficacy of\nthe remedy was as imaginary as the enemy whose machinations were to be\ndefeated. It was to prevent the taking of milk from cows that nearly all\nthe counter-charms were used. Anything in which people believed would be\nsufficient, but the antidotes in ordinary use were these.\n\n_Juniper_ (_Iubhar-beinne_, _aiteal_), pulled in a particular manner, was\nburned before the cattle and put in cows\u2019 tails.\n\nA ball of hair (_gaoisid_), called a _Ronag_, was put in the milk-pail\non Lammas-day or on the Thursday after, to keep its substance in the\nmilk during the rest of the year. MacSymon (_Mac-Shiomoun_, a sept of\nMacArthurs), a native of Balemartin, Tiree, was much resorted to in\nformer times for these constitution balls. On Lammas-day (_L\u00f9nasdal_) he\ngave to all who came to him a little bag of plants, sewn up, to be placed\nin the cream jug (_croggan uachdair_) for the ensuing year, that the\ncattle and the milk might retain their virtue or substance (_toradh_).\n\nStale urine (_maistir_) should be sprinkled on the door-posts and about\nthe byre. It keeps away the evil eye. There was an old woman in Coll who\nwas taken notice of by her neighbours for sprinkling cows and door-posts\nevery night. Her intention no doubt was to make assurance doubly sure.\n\nThe mountain ash (_Caorrunn_) was the most powerful charm of any.\n\n    \u201cA Rowan-tree and a red thread\n    Gars a\u2019 the witches dance to dead.\u201d\n\nIts efficacy was known in England as well as in the Highlands. The peg\nof the cow-shackle (_Cnag chaorruinn sa bhuaraich_) should be made of\nit, as well as the handle and cross (_crois na loinid_) of the churn[6]\nstaff. In Islay, not twenty years ago, a man had a rowan-tree collar for\nsecuring his cow at night, and every time the animal visited the bull\nhe passed this collar thrice through the chimney crook. On Beltane-day\nannually he dressed all the houses with rowan. It was said of the man\nin Craignish who gathered potent herbs on St. Swithin\u2019s day and studied\nmagic with one foot in the chimney crook:\n\n    \u201cA tuft of rowan twigs\n      From the face of Ailsa Craig,\n    Put a red thread and a knot on it,\n      And place it on the end of the sprinkler,\n    And though the Witch of Endor came,\n      Allan could manage her.\u201d[7]\n\nA _horse-shoe_ was of great power for the protection of cattle against\nwitchcraft. As in England, it must be found by accident. It was put\nabove the byre door, and a nail from it driven into the lowest hoop\n(_cearcal_) of the milk-dish (_mias_) kept its substance in the milk. It\npreserved horses when put above the stable door, and ships when nailed\nto the mast. An entire horse could not be touched by evil spirits, and\nits rider was safe from the attacks of witchcraft. A person in the\nneighbourhood of Luing, Argyllshire, returning from a funeral, found\nhimself unable to make any progress on his road home, though he did his\nutmost all night to get on. He was retarded by some unseen influence. He\nrode an entire horse, and found himself safe at daybreak. His safety lay\nin the horse he rode. The famed _Red Book of Appin_, according to one\nversion of the tale, was got by one who rode an entire horse to a meeting\nof witches, and, having got hold of the book, made off with it in despite\nof the devil and all his servants. In a West Highland tale (ii., 87), the\nowner of the _Red Book_ advises the shoe of an entire horse to be nailed\non the byre door, to counteract the witches, who were taking the milk\nfrom the cows. The shoes of entire horses probably are the proper kind to\nuse, though others came into use from being found equally efficacious.\n\n_Tar_, put on the door, kept witches away, and put on the cow\u2019s ear, was\nbelieved to prevent _ceathramh gorm_, or quarter ill.\n\nIf, notwithstanding all these safeguards, or through neglect of them, a\ncow lost its milk, or the milk ceased to yield butter or cream, there\nwere several methods by which the witchcraft, which was undoubtedly the\ncause, might be counteracted. Some of these remedies appear more like the\ninventions of practical jokers than ceremonies from which any rational\nmeaning can be taken.\n\nWhen a cow ceases unaccountably to give milk, and witchcraft is\nsuspected, its owner is to take some of the animal\u2019s urine (_maistir_),\nput it in a bottle, and cork it well. The witch who has taken the milk\ncannot make a drop of water till the milk is allowed to come back. It\nis a common story that the owner of bewitched cows, under the advice of\n\u2018wise\u2019 people of his neighbourhood, put a potful of the cows\u2019 dung on the\nfire, and boiled it. He then put in half an ounce of pins and stirred\nthe compost, till at last the witch appeared at the hole which formed\nthe window, and entreated him to stop tormenting her, and all would be\nwell. He stopped, and next morning his cows had milk as usual. It was\nalso said that by putting pins in the cow\u2019s milk, and boiling till the\ndish is dry, the witch is made to appear and confess. A woman once did\nthis in Tiree, and found her own brother was the guilty party. Old people\nin the east side of Skye remember the bull being put on the top of a\nsuspected witch\u2019s house to bring back their milk to a farmer\u2019s cows. The\nmore brutal method of _scoring_, or drawing blood from, the witch above\nher breath\u2014the object of which could only be to make clowns strike poor\nold women on the face with their fists\u2014was unknown in the Highlands. The\nplant _m\u014dthan_, pearlwort, put in the milk-pail, was a more gentle but\nquite as sure a method of restoring its virtue to the milk. If a piece of\nit was in the bull\u2019s hoof at the time of pairing no witch could touch the\noffspring\u2019s milk.\n\nIn Tiree a person lost several stirks by the stakes falling and\nstrangling them in the byre. A \u2018wise\u2019 woman, reputed a witch, advised,\nthough her advice was not taken, that the _right hand part of a fore\nhorse-shoe, with three nails in it_, should be put below the threshold\n(_stairsneach_) of the byre, along with a silver coin, and that the hind\nquarter of one of the beasts should be taken _west_ and buried beyond the\nlimits of the farm. This was to prevent a similar calamity in future.\n\n\nGOING TO SEA.\n\nThe Lewis witches were accounted the best for raising wind. A large\nnumber of them were at one time destroyed in the following manner. A\ntailor, working in a farmer\u2019s house, where there happened at the time to\nbe a scarcity of seasoning for dinner (_gann-do-dh\u2019annlan_), was told\nby the farmer\u2019s wife, this would not be the case to-morrow, if he could\nget breakfast past without the goodman saying grace. The tailor managed\nthis, and his curiosity being roused, remained awake the following night,\nto see what the wife would do. He saw a number of women, among whom he\nrecognised his own wife, assembling in the farm-house and accompanied by\nthe farmer\u2019s wife, disappearing up the chimney, each in a wicker creel.\nIn the morning the farmer\u2019s wife came back with her creel full of fresh\nherring. The tailor, when he went home, strongly represented to his wife\nthe propriety of allowing him to accompany the witches in their future\nfishing expeditions. Two shares of the fish would then fall to them\ninstead of one. The proposal was laid before a meeting of the witches,\nand in the circumstances they consented. To the number of eighteen the\nwitches went to sea on a line of worsted thread, the tailor\u2019s wife being\nleft ashore to hold the ball, or end of the line, in her hand. The tailor\npersuaded her to go with the rest, and leave him in charge of the line.\nShe went and the tailor paid out more line, till he thought the witches\nfar enough out at sea. He then cut the thread and allowed the whole lot\nto drown.\n\nSimilarly, somewhere in the north (all marvels of this kind are said in\nthe south Highlands to have occurred in the north) a tailor was working\nin the house of an old woman, who knew the forbidden arts, but at the\ntime was short of _kitchen_ for dinner. She took a creel, sat in it, and\nhaving muttered some mystic words, disappeared through a hole in the roof\nthat formed the chimney. In a while she came back with the creel full of\nherring. The tailor kept the spell in remembrance, and the first day he\ngot the old woman out of the way, sat in the creel, and repeated it. He\ndoes not seem, however, to have learned the words quite correctly, for\nthe creel, instead of making for the hole in the roof, rose straight up\nand hit his head violently against the rafters. It then floated along\nagainst the roof, as if in search of an outlet. It bumped his head a\nsecond time against the rafters and he roared out, \u201cWhere, in the curse\nof God, are you going now?\u201d Instantly at the name of the Deity, the creel\nfell down, and the tailor dislocated his hips (_chaidh e as a ghobhal_).\nHe never again dabbled in the dark science.\n\nIn Skye, one of a party of women, assembled at an old woman\u2019s house to\nfull cloth, went by accident into the barn, and found it full of fish\nsuspended from the roof. \u201cThere are many herrings here,\u201d she said; and\nthere being no way by which the old woman could have got them but by\nwitchcraft, she taxed her with unholy practices. The old woman got very\nangry at the exposure.\n\nA Barra and a Uist witch one year tried each other\u2019s powers in drawing\nthe fish to their respective islands. The Barra witch proved the\nstronger, and took the fish to Castlebay (_B\u00e0gh Ch\u00ecosamuill_).\n\nAnother year the Uist and Tiree witches had a similar contest. The\nlatter prevailed, and the men of a bygone generation believed that every\nflounder caught that year on the Tiree shores had a hole in its tail,\nmade by the witches in the struggle.\n\nOn the shallows (_oitir_) between Tiree and Coll, the witches of the two\nislands were often seen fighting for the flounders that abound in the\nlocality. The appearance that suggested the fancy was no doubt the same\nas is still to be seen on these banks in stormy weather.\n\nA witch, who left home every night, was followed by her husband, who\nwondered what she could be about. She became a cat, and went in the\nname of the devil to sea in a sieve, with seven other cats. The husband\nupset the sieve by naming the Trinity, and the witches were drowned.\nSo the Skye story runs. In the Sound of Mull the witches went on board\nthe sieve, \u201cagainst the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy\nGhost\u201d; and the husband upset the concern by putting his foot on board\nin the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. In Tiree the\nunfortunate women were passing Kennavara hill in eggshells on their way\nto Ireland, when the husband of one of them, seeing the fleet, wished\nthem God-speed. Instantly the eggshells sank, and the women were drowned.\n\n\nRAISING STORMS AND DROWNING PEOPLE.\n\nThe belief that witches can trouble the sea and raise the wind is\nwidespread, reaching even to the native Africans. It is part of the\nregular traffic of Finland witches to sell wind to mariners,\u2014as in the\ncase of their Celtic sisters, tied in knots upon a thread. The following\nstory is common to many places.\n\nA boatman from one of the southern islands was long detained in Lewis\nby adverse winds. He was courting a witch\u2019s daughter, and applied to\nher mother for a favourable wind. He gave her a pound of tobacco, and,\nassisted by neighbouring witches, after three days\u2019 exertion, she\nproduced a string with three knots upon it. The first knot was called\n\u2018Come gently\u2019 (_Thig gu f\u00f2ill_), and when he loosened it, as he left\nthe shore, a gentle breeze sprang up. The second knot was called \u2018Come\nbetter\u2019 (_Teann na\u2019 s fh\u00e8arr_), and on its being untied the breeze came\nstiffer. As he neared the harbour, he out of curiosity loosened the last\nknot, the name of which was \u2018Hardship\u2019 (_Cruaidh-ch\u00e0s_). A wind came \u201cto\nblow the hillocks out of their places\u201d (_s\u00e9ideadh nan cnoc_), and sent\nthe thatch of the houses into the furrows of the plough-land, and the\nboatman was drowned. In Harris, they say the boat was drawn up on land\nand secured before the last knot was untied. She was capsized and smashed\nto pieces.\n\nThe following, known as \u201cBig Macmhuirich\u2019s Supplication\u201d (_Achanaich Mhic\nMhuirich Mh\u00f2ir_), is another form of the Celtic belief.\n\n\u2018Macpherson of power\u2019 (_Mac-Mhuirich nam buadh_), a noted wizard in South\nUist, was on a passage by sea on a calm day. The skipper said to him,\n\u201cAsk for a wind, Mac-Vuirich.\u201d He did so, saying:\n\n    \u201cAn east wind from the calm aether,\n    As the Lord of the elements has ordained,\n    A wind that needs not rowing nor reefing,\n    That will do nought deceitful to us.\u201d\n\n\u201cWeak and trifling you have asked it,\u201d said the skipper, \u201cwhen I myself\nam at the helm.\u201d Mac-Vuirich answered:\n\n    \u201cA north wind hard as a rod,\n    Struggling above our gunwale,\n    Like a red roe sore pressed,\n    Descending a hillock\u2019s narrow hard head.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt does not attain to praise yet,\u201d said the skipper, and Mac-Vuirich\nwent on:\n\n    \u201cIf there be a wind in cold hell,\n    Devil; send it after us,\n    In waves and surges;\n    And if one go ashore, let it be I,\n    And if two, I and my dog.\u201d\n\nA sea came, that rolled the boat\u2019s stern over her bows, and all were\ndrowned but Mac-Vuirich and his dog.\n\nThe power of this wizard over the elements was also shown on another\noccasion. The MacRanalds were coming to attack the MacNeills of Barra,\nto whom Mac-Vuirich was favourable. Their boat was seen coming along the\nwild and rocky coast on the west of Skye, and was sunk by the mighty\nwizard uttering the following words:\n\n    \u201cA south-west wind toward Eiste point,\n    Mist and rain,\n    Clan Ranald on a breaking board,\n    I reck it not;\n    A narrow unsteady vessel,\n    A lofty pointed sail,\n    A lading of empty barrels,\n    And bilge-water to the thwarts,\n    A weak irascible crew\n    Having no respect one for another.\u201d\n\nAs might be expected, such a boat did not go far before sinking.\n\nThe usual way witches took to shipwreck a vessel was to put a small round\ndish (_cuach_) floating in a milk-pan (_measair_) placed on the floor\nfull of water. They then began their incantations, and when the dish\nupset, the ship sank.\n\nOn one occasion three witches from Harris left home at night after\nplacing the milk-pan thus on the floor, in charge of a servant-maid,\nwho was straitly enjoined not to let anything come near it. The girl\u2019s\nattention was, however, called away for a short time, and a duck came in\nand took to squattering about in the water on the floor. The witches\non their return in the morning, asked if anything had come near the\nmilk-pan. The girl said no, and one of them said, \u201cWhat a heavy sea we\nhad last night coming round C\u00e0bag head!\u201d\n\nA few years ago a boat was lost coming from Raasa to Skye. The witches,\nwho caused the calamity, were seen at work in the Braes of Portree,\nbeside a stream. Three of them were engaged in the evil task, and a man\nwas present along with them. Jobs of the kind require the presence of a\nman. A cockle-shell (_slige coilleig_) was placed floating in a pool, and\na number of black stones were ranged round the edge of the pool. When the\nincantation was at its height, the black stones barked like dogs, and the\ncockle-shell disappeared.\n\nA farmer in Mull and his little daughter were walking along an eminence\nthat overlooked the Sound, through which a number of ships were passing\nat the time. The little girl asked, \u201cWhat will you give me, father, if\nI sink all these ships?\u201d Thinking she was in fun, he asked her how she\nwould do it. She stooped down, and looked backwards between her legs at\none of the vessels. The ship whirled round and sank. In this expeditious\nmanner all the ships in sight were sunk, but one. The man asked why this\none did not sink. The girl said it was because there was rowan-tree wood\non board, and she could not touch it. He then asked who had taught\nher all this? She said it was her mother. The man, who was a good man,\nand before ignorant of his wife\u2019s dabbling in witchcraft, gathered his\nneighbours and burned herself and daughter.\n\nA witch was engaged to destroy a boat coming to Tiree. Another witch,\nhowever, wished its safety. The former came in shape of a gull, that\nhovered about the boat, and kept it back (a head wind?). The other came\nas a cormorant (_sgarbh_), followed in the wake of the boat (_an uisge na\nsti\u00f9irceach_, lit. the waters of the rudder), and saved it. (Favourable\ntide?)\n\nA former Lord Macdonald (_M\u00e0-C\u00f2nuill_) was on his way by boat to Uist,\nand experienced very unfavourable weather. When near his destination,\na towering wave, or, as it is called in Gaelic, \u2018a drowning sea\u2019\n(_muir bh\u00e0ite_), nearly overwhelmed the boat, and two birds, a skua\n(_croma-ritheachar_) and an ordinary gull, were observed fighting in the\nair. The one was Yellow Claws, daughter of Donald, son of Cormac (_sp\u00f2ga\nBuidhe ni\u2019 a D\u00f2\u2019uill \u2019ic Cormaig_), the other Hump-backed Blue-eye from\nCr\u00e0caig (_Gorm-sh\u00f9il chrotach a Cr\u00e0caig_), both celebrated witches. The\nformer was for sinking the boat, the latter for saving it. Sometime\nafter Blue-eye met Lord Macdonald in Edinburgh, and reminded him of the\nincident, and her own services on the occasion. He just remarked, \u201cThere\nwas indeed such a circumstance.\u201d\n\nA ship, sailing from Greenock, was to be destroyed by the Captain\u2019s\nwife and two other witches. An apprentice overheard them planning this,\nand saying that they would come upon the ship on a certain day as three\nrolling waves, and the ship would be sunk, unless the waves were cut with\na sword. At the time said the apprentice was allowed the command of the\nvessel, and standing in the bow with a drawn sword, cleft the waves, and\ndefeated the witches.\n\nA boat from Hianish, Tiree, went out fishing on the day before the New\nYear. The morning was calm, but when the boat was returning the wind\nrose and the sea became very heavy. The best steersman in the boat took\nthe helm. Another, sitting on the hindmost thwart (_tota sh\u00edlidh_),\nafter looking for a while towards the stern, asked the helm from him,\nand being again and again refused, at last took it by force. When he got\nthe rudder below his arm, he said, \u201cNow, come on!\u201d and the boat reached\nshore in safety. He then explained that he had been seeing a gull, unseen\nby the first steersman, following the boat, and had recognised her as a\nwoman of the neighbourhood. This woman had an illegitimate child by the\nfirst steersman, and it was thought her object in raising the storm and\nfollowing so close in the wake of the boat, was to snatch her seducer\nwith her and drown him.\n\nIan Garve (stout John), laird of Raasa (_Iain Garbh Mac-ille-Challum\nRatharsa_), a man celebrated in Highland song and legend for his great\npersonal strength, was drowned by a witch who had this mysterious power\nof raising storms. The event occurred on Easter Monday (_Di-luain\nC\u00e0isge_), in the great \u2018storm of the Borrowing Days,\u2019 of which a\ncontemporary historian says \u201cthe like of this tempest was not seen in our\ntime, nor the like of it heard in this country in any age preceding,\u201d\nA.D. 1625; yet the traditions of the event are still fresh in popular\nmemory. The witch was Ian Garve\u2019s own foster-mother (_muime_), and\nresided on the islet of Trodda (_Trodaidh_), on the east of Skye. She\noverheard a friend of hers say he wished Ian Garve, who was known to\nhave gone to the Lewis, was drowned, and took up seriously words spoken\nonly in jest. Others say she was bribed by an enemy to effect the hero\u2019s\ndestruction. He left Loch Sealg in Lewis to proceed home on a calm day.\nThe witch was dairymaid (_banachag_) in Trodda, and, seeing the boat\ncoming, put milk in a large dish, and a small empty dish floating in it.\nA boy was placed standing in the doorway, where he could see both the\nmilk-pan and Ian Garve\u2019s boat. She herself stood with her foot in the\n\u2018swey\u2019 or chimney crook, and began her unholy incantations. Soon the\ndish in the milk-pail began to be violently agitated. The boy reported\nit first as going round sunwise (_deiseal_), then as going round\nagainst the sun and striking the sides of the basin, and finally as\nbeing capsized and floating bottom upwards (_air a bial foidhpe_). The\nstorm had been all this time increasing, till at last it blew a perfect\nhurricane. That night the heap of shingle on East-side (_Du-sear_),\ncalled _Moll-stabhan_, was washed ashore. Ian Garve\u2019s boat disappeared\nsimultaneously with the capsizing of the bowl, and all on board perished.\nThree ravens hovered about the boat as the storm was rising, and it\nbecame afterwards known that these three were Yellow Claws (_Sp\u00f2ga\nBuidhe_) from M\u00e0iligeir on East-side, Hump-backed Blue-eye (_Gorm-sh\u00f9il\nchrotach_) from Cr\u00e0caig near Portree, and Doideag from Mull. When the\nboat was between Bare Skerries (_Sgeire maola_) and Trodda twenty birds\nflew about, and some of them assumed the shape of frogs (_muileacha m\u00e0g_)\non the deck. All the witches in Scotland were there, but were unable to\nsink the boat till Ian Garve said to the frogs, \u201cWhat the brindled one\nhas brought you here?\u201d[8] After that he became distracted from the number\nof birds and frogs coming upon him. A raven lighted on the gunwale of the\nboat, and Ian Garve, striking at it with his sword, cleft the boat to the\nwater\u2019s edge. The first news of the drowning was heard on Minigeig Hill\n(_Monadh mhinigeig_) in Badenoch, and the particulars became known by the\ntelling of other witches. Another account says the hero appeared that\nnight to his wife in her dreams, and said:\n\n    \u201cOn Monday the wind arose,\n    And gathered its fury and rage;\n    Tell the mother of my body\n    \u2019Twas the evils made the hunt.\u201d[9]\n\nThe shade came thrice and repeated this. Next day the wife told the dream\nto her mother-in-law, who exclaimed, \u201cThen my beloved is lost\u201d (_tha mo\nlaogh-sa caillte_).\n\nBy far the most celebrated tale of this class is that of the destruction\nof Captain Forrest\u2019s ship by witches in the Sound of Mull.\n\nViola (_Bhe\u00f2la_), daughter of the King of Spain, dreamt of a remarkably\nhandsome man, and made a vow not to rest till she found him. She fitted\nout a boat, and in the course of her wanderings came to Tobermory Bay.\nHere she saw MacLean of Dowart, who proved to be the man she was in\nsearch of, and, though he was a married man, became too intimate with\nhim. MacLean\u2019s wife in her jealousy caused her servant Smollett, a south\ncountryman, to blow up the ship with all on board. After setting fire to\na fuse leading to the magazine, Smollett made his escape, and by the time\nthe explosion took place reached Pennygown, a distance of ten or twelve\nmiles. The cook was blown to Srongarve (_sr\u00f2n-garbh_, rough nose), near\nTobermory, where there is a cleft still bearing the name of the Cook\u2019s\nCave (_Uamh Ch\u00f2caire_). The Princess herself fell somewhere in the sound,\nand was buried at _Cill_, the Loch Aline burying-ground in Morven.[10]\nUpon the news of the dreadful event reaching Spain, Captain Forrest\n(whose name is not very Spanish) was sent with a ship to take vengeance\nupon the Mull people by taking off the right breast of every Mull woman.\nWhen the ship came the Lady of Dowart sent for _Doideag_, the Mull witch,\nand by her means, with assistance procured from neighbouring witches,\nCaptain Forrest\u2019s ship was sunk before next morning. Doideag shut herself\nup in a house alone at Guirman Point (_Rutha Ghuirmein_), near Dowart,\nand there made her incantations. A rope was put through a hole in a\nrafter, and all night long the handmill (_br\u00e0_) was hoisted up to the\nbeam, lowered, and hoisted again. A native of Tiree reported that, having\ncome that evening to Doideag\u2019s house, he was compelled by her to hoist\nand lower and hoist the mill-stone all night without rest or refreshment,\nwhile the witch herself went away to Tiree and elsewhere for help. On\nher return she said that when in Tiree she had been detained a little\nin extinguishing a fire, which had been caused by a spark falling among\nthe fodder in the stirk-house belonging to the man who was her unwilling\nassistant. As the quern was raised a gale sprang up, and increased\nin fury as the operation went on. At the same time gulls (others say\nhooded-crows, others black cats) appeared on the yard-arms of the devoted\nship. Captain Forrest knew the Black Art himself, and went below. As word\nwas brought him that another gull had appeared in the rigging, he said,\n\u201cI will suffice for this one yet\u201d (_F\u00f2ghnaidh mi fh\u00ecn dhi so fhathast_).\nHe could keep the ship against some say eight, others nine, witches,\nbut \u201cere a\u2019 the play was play\u2019d\u201d there were sixteen, some say eighteen,\non the yards. Their names depend on the fancy of the narrator. All the\nMull witches (_na doideagun Muileach_) were there, and the most powerful\nof the sisterhood from the surrounding districts. _Nic-ill\u2019-Domhnuich_\nfrom Tiree is commonly mentioned.[11] All accounts agree that when\nBig Blue-eye from Mey (_Gorm-sh\u00f9il Mh\u00f2r bha sa Mheigh_), the powerful\nLochaber witch, came, the ship sank. Shortly before this Captain Forrest\ntold a sailor to look up and see how many gulls were on the yards (_seall\nsuas co miad faoileann air an t-shlait_). On being told eighteen, he\nsaid, \u201cWe are lost.\u201d In the morning Doideag was told her house had been\nunroofed in the gale, but she was comforted by being told the dreaded\nship had gone down opposite Coire-na-theanchoir Bay. \u201cIf you are without\na house, Captain Forrest is without a ship\u201d (_ma tha thusa gun tigh, tha\nCaptain Forrest gun long_).\n\n\nWITCHES AS SHEEP.\n\nA native of Tiree was on his way home to the west end of the island in\nthe evening with a new gun in his hand. When above the beach called\nTravay, he observed a black sheep running towards him from across the\nplain of Reef. Alarmed by the animal\u2019s motions, he put a silver sixpence\nin the gun, and on its coming near enough, took aim. The black sheep\ninstantly became a woman, whom he recognised, with a drugget coat\nwrapped about her head. The same woman had often persecuted him before,\nparticularly in shape of a cat. She asked him to keep her secret, and he\npromised to do so, but one day, when drunk in the village to which the\nwoman belonged, he told his adventure and the name of the woman. In less\nthan a fortnight after he was drowned, and the witch (for such the woman\nwas universally reputed to be) was blamed as the cause.\n\nHector M\u2019Lean, in Coll, according to his own account, was coming in\nthe evening from Arinagour to Breacacha, a distance of four miles\nalong what was then throughout the greater part a mountain track. When\nhalfway, at Airidh-mhic-mharoich, a black sheep came about his feet,\nand several times threw him down. At last he took out a clasp-knife\n(_sgian-lughaidh_), and threatened the sheep, if it came near him again,\nto stick it with the knife. It, however, again and again came and threw\nhim down. In endeavouring to stab it, the knife closed upon his own hand\nbetween the finger and thumb, and cut him severely. On coming to the\nlarge open drain or stream below Breacacha Garden, he stood afraid to\njump across, in case the black sheep should come about his legs, and make\nhim fall in the drain. He was now, however, within hail of his own house,\nand whistled loudly for his dog. It came, and was fiercely hounded by him\nat the sheep. Every time the dog made a rush and came too near, the sheep\nbecame an old woman, whom Hector recognised as one of his acquaintances,\nand jumped in the air. She asked him to call off his dog, and he refused.\nShe asked him again, and promised, if he would do so, to befriend him in\nright and wrong (_an c\u00f2ir\u2019s an eucoir_). At last he did call the dog, but\nit would not obey. He caught it by the back of the neck, and it tried to\nturn upon himself. He promised to keep his hold till the woman made her\nescape. The witch became a hare, and Hector called out to her, as she\nseemed to have such wonderful power, to \u201cadd another leg to her stern,\nto make her escape the faster.\u201d When she was some distance away, he let\ngo the dog, and went home. The dog did not come home till the following\nafternoon; it followed the hare, compelled it to take refuge on a shelf\nof rock (_uirigh creige_), and lay below on the watch, till forced by\nhunger to go home. The woman upbraided Hector, the first time she met\nhim, for letting go the dog. Afterwards, when he went as servant-man to\nArileod farm (_a\u00ecridh-Leo\u00ecd_) in the neighbourhood, the same woman was\noften seen by him, in the shape of a hare, sucking the cows. His dog,\nwhenever it caught sight of her, gave chase, and compelled her to resume\nher proper shape. When he left the farm, she was not seen there for some\ndays. He went in search of her, and accused her to her face of having\nbeen the party that troubled the farm. She got into a rage, and said she\nwould punish him for raising such a story about her. He answered that the\nproprietor of the island had offered a reward for the discovery of the\nguilty person, and if all the women in Coll were gathered on one hillock\nhis speckled dog (_cu breac_) would pick her out as the offender. To this\nshe made no reply. He asked her to go to Arileod dairy that night, so\nthat people would not have it to say it was for him the evil had arisen.\nShe said this was _Wednesday_ night, and it was out of her power to do\nanything, but the following night she would go, and he would hear of it.\nOn Thursday night she loosened the cows in Arileod byre, let in the\ncalves, and did much mischief.\n\n\nWITCHES AS HARES.\n\nIn addition to the above tales, in which this transformation has been\nmentioned, the following may be given as further illustrations of the\nsuperstition.\n\nA young man, in the island of Lismore, was out shooting. When near\nBalnagown Loch, he started a hare, and fired at it. The animal gave\nan unearthly scream, and it then for the first time occurred to the\nyoung man that there were no hares in Lismore. He threw away his gun\nin terror, and fled home. Next day he came back for the gun, and heard\nthat a reputed witch of the neighbourhood was laid up with a broken leg.\nEver after the figure of this woman encountered him and gave him severe\nthrashings. This preyed on his mind, and he never came to any good. He\nproved brooding, idle, and useless.\n\nA Manxman, who was in Tiree a few years ago, told the following story. A\nparty of sportsmen, engaged in coursing, were at a loss for a hare. An\nold woman told her grandson to go to them, tell them they would get a\nhare at a certain spot, and get half-a-crown for himself. The boy went,\ngot his half-crown, and guided the sportsmen to the spot his grandmother\nhad indicated. When the hare started he cried, \u201cRun, granny, run!\u201d The\nhare made straight for the old woman\u2019s house, the dogs lost sight of\nit at the back of the house, and the old woman was found sitting at the\nfireside.\n\nIn Wigtonshire a hare ran up the chimney, and a suspected witch near hand\nwas found with burnt feet.\n\n\nWITCHES AS CATS.\n\nThe association of witches with cats is of great antiquity. In the\nlegends of Greece and Rome, we are told of a woman, who had been\nchanged into a cat, being chosen as priestess by Hecate, the goddess\nof sorcery and magic power, and of Hecate herself, when the gods were\nforced to hide themselves in animals, taking refuge in the shape of a\ncat. The association probably arose not so much from cats being the\nfrequent, almost invariable, companions of the poor old women accused\nof witchcraft, as from the savage character of the animal itself. Its\nnoiseless and stealthy motions, its persevering watchfulness, its\nextraordinary agility and tenacity of life, its diabolical caterwauling,\nprowling habits, deceitful spring, and the luminous appearance of\nits eyes in the dark, would alone suffice to procure it the name of\nunearthly; but when infuriated, glaring, bristling, and spitting, it\nforms a vivid representation of a perfect demon. In the Highlands, it was\nnot, as in the witchcraft of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries,\nlooked upon as the familiar or attendant imp of the witch, but merely as\nan animal, whose form witches frequently assumed.\n\nThere were other superstitions connected with the animal. Were it not\nthe fear of being swallowed by the ground, a cat would run much faster\nthan it does. When people have a cat along with them in a boat, they\ncannot, or will not, be drowned by witches. By burying a cat alive,\npeople waiting for a favourable wind get a breeze from the direction in\nwhich its head is put; and a witch, that is, a young one, who is courted\nby a sailor, can detain him with contrary winds as long as she likes by\nshutting up the cat in the cupboard. A cat scraping is a sign that some\nbeast, horse, cow, pig, or dog will be found dead on the farm before\nlong. A cat washing its face portends rain next day, and turning its\nback to the fire storm and rain. When removing from one house to another\n(_imrich_), it is unlucky to take a cat. The animal was disliked by the\nMacGregors, and the Camerons of Glenevis could not tolerate it at all.\n\nA shepherd in Kintail, living alone in a bothy, far from other houses,\nafter kindling in the evening a bright cheerful fire, threw himself on a\nheather bed on the opposite side of the house. About twenty cats entered\nand sat round the fire, holding up their paws and warming themselves.\nOne went to the window, put a black cap on its head, cried \u201cHurrah for\nLondon!\u201d and vanished. The other cats, one by one, did the same. The\ncap of the last fell off, and the shepherd caught it, put it on his own\nhead, cried \u201cHurrah for London!\u201d and followed. He reached London in a\ntwinkling, and with his companions went to drink wine in a cellar. He\ngot drunk and fell asleep. In the morning he was caught, taken before\na judge, and sentenced to be hanged. At the gallows he entreated to be\nallowed to wear the cap he had on in the cellar; it was a present from\nhis mother, and he would like to die with it on. When it came the rope\nwas round his neck. He clapped the cap on his head, and cried \u201cHurrah for\nKintail!\u201d He disappeared with the gallows about his neck, and his friends\nin Kintail, having by this time missed him, and being assembled in the\nbothy prior to searching the hills, were much surprised at his strange\nappearance.\n\nThis is a fair specimen of the popular tale. It forms the foundation\nof the Ettrick Shepherd\u2019s \u201cWitch of Fife.\u201d In Skye, the adventure was\nclaimed by a man nicknamed \u2018Topsy-turvy\u2019 (_But-ar-scionn_) as having\noccurred to himself. After coming home, he made the gallows into a\nweaver\u2019s loom. The hero in Argyllshire made it the stern and keel of a\nboat, which may be seen in Lorn to this day. In Harris the hero is a\ntailor: and the tale has been even found in the Monach isles, west of\nUist.\n\nCaptain Burt (1730) tells a story of a similar kind which he had heard\nfrom a minister. A laird, whose wine was disappearing mysteriously,\nsuspecting witches one night, when he thought the plunderers were at\nwork, entered the cellar, closed the door, and laid about him with a\nbroadsword. When light was brought, the cats, whose eyes he had seen\nglaring at him in the dark, disappeared, and only some blood was found on\nthe floor. An old woman in the neighbourhood, suspected of being a witch,\nwas found, on her house being entered, in bed, with her leg cut off and\nlying below the bed. The same story is told of the witches of Thurso\n(_Inbher-E\u00f2rsa_).\n\nA tailor, named Macilduinn, was left in a house alone on Hallowe\u2019en\nnight, while the rest of the household went to a neighbour\u2019s house to\nhold the festivities of the evening. As he sat on a bed, working at his\ntrade, a great many cats came in, and attacking a bag of flesh at the end\nof the bed soon tore it up and devoured it. They then gathered round the\ntailor. One said, \u201cThe back of my paw to Macilduinn!\u201d Another said, \u201cThe\nfront of my paw to Macilduinn!\u201d[12] These threats were repeated by all\nthe rest, while they held out their horrid claws, some derisively, some\nmenacingly, to the poor tailor. Frightened from his wits, he blew out the\nlight, sprung to the door, and took to his heels. The cats gave chase,\nand by the time he reached a neighbours house his back was scratched\ninto shreds and thongs (_na iallun_) by the claws of the infernal cats.\n\nCameron of Do\u00efni, or Glenevis, was out hunting, and killed a wild-cat.\nThe animal, when expiring, asked him to tell, when he went home, that\n\u2018the King of the Cats\u2019 (_Righ nan Cat_) was dead, or according to others\n\u2018the Key of Battle\u2019 (_an Iuchair Chath_), or \u2018the streaked Brindled one\u2019\n(_a Bhruchail Bhreac_). As he told his story, the little black kitten in\nthe ash-hole (_an toll na luath_) bristled up and swelled, till it was as\nlarge as a dog. Cameron said, \u201cYou are swelling, cat.\u201d The cat answered,\n\u201cMy feathers and my swellings are growing bigger with the heat,\u201d[13]\nand, springing at the chieftain\u2019s throat, killed him. The scions of this\nfamily (_Teaghlach Dhomhainnidh no Ghlinn-Ibheis_) till quite recent\ntimes, would not tolerate a cat in the house, from the memory of this\ntradition.\n\nThe same story is told in the following manner, without any locality\nbeing assigned for the incident. A hunter killed a wild-cat, and when he\ncame home told his adventure. He said,\n\n    \u201cTo-night has well prospered with us,\n    The big urchal-erchal has been slain.\u201d\n\nA kitten that was listening rose and said, \u201cHas Bald Entrails of the Cats\nbeen killed? If it were not the many nights I have got meat and milk in\nyour family, I would have your long brindled weasand in my claws. Tell\nStreaked Foul-Face, that Bladrum is dead,\u201d[14] and saying this the kitten\nwent away, and was never seen afterwards.\n\nNear Vaul in Tiree, a man riding home at night, with his son, a young\nboy, seated behind him, was met by a number of cats. The boy had his\nhands clasped round his father, and the man, pressing them to his sides,\nto make surer of the boy\u2019s hold, urged his horse to its speed. The cats\nsprang, and, fastening on the boy, literally devoured him. When the man\nreached home, with his horse at full gallop, he had only the boy\u2019s arms\nleft.\n\nA Wexford legend of the same kind (the two stories might have been\noriginally identical), said to be at least as old as 1584, will be found\nin the _Dublin University Magazine_ for September, 1869.\n\nA woman detected a strange cat drinking the milk in her kirn, caught it\nby the back of the neck, and rapped its nose against the floor. It went\nabout mewing in a melancholy manner, till the woman took pity on it, and\ncalled it, saying, \u201cPuss, puss, till you get a drop\u201d (_Puis, puis, gus am\nfaigheadh tu diar_). The cat answered, \u201cIt is not a drop I want, but the\nway my mouth is, Mary\u201d (_Cha-ne diar tha mi\u2019g iarraidh ach mar tha mo\nbhial a Mh\u00e0iri_). It then went away, but came back through the night with\ntwo other cats. One said they would take the back of their paws to the\nwoman, but the second said the front of their paws. This resolution was\ncarried by the casting vote of the injured cat, and the woman was torn in\nshreds.\n\nA man, going in the evening to see a girl he was courting, was met at a\nlonely part of the road (near the end of Balefetrish Hill in Tiree) by\nseven cats, and was so terrified that he turned back and thereby lost his\nsweetheart. She married an old man from the village of Hianish, where a\nnoted witch dwelt. The old man got the blame of bribing the witch to send\nthe cats.\n\nIn olden times a cat belonging to the tenant of Heynish in Tiree was much\naddicted, like the rest of its kind, to stealing cheese. It was caught in\nthe act, and, as a punishment for the past and a lesson for the future,\nits ears were taken off. The tenant had occasion to go from home, and on\nhis return found the cat lying dead, having been hung for theft in his\nabsence. He took it in his lap, and thus addressed it:\n\n    Did I not tell you, little Duncan,\n    You had needs of being wary;\n    When you went where the cheeses were,\n    The gallows would teach you how to dance.\n    Evil is it, earless cat,\n    They you have killed, because of cheese;\n    Your neck has paid for that refreshment,\n    At this time, after your death.\n\nOn hearing these expressions of sympathy, the cat began to revive, and\nthe man went on:\n\n    A hundred welcomes wait you, cat,\n    Since in my lap you\u2019ve chanced to be;\n    And, though I do not much liberty allow,\n    Many have you greatly loved.\n    Are you the untamed cat that Fionn had,\n    That hunted wild from glen to glen?\n    Had Oscar you at the battle of Bla-sguinn,\n    And left you heroes wounded there?\n    You drank the milk Catherine had,\n    For entertaining minstrel and meeting;\n    And why should I praise you?\n    You ought to be, like any kitten,\n    On the hillside seeking mice,\n    \u2019Neath greyish grassy stems and bramble bushes.\n\nOn hearing this the cat ran away and was never again seen.\n\nA Tiree boat was tacking out of a loch in the north. A man met it at a\npoint of land near which it came, and asked to be taken to the other\nside. One of the boatmen was willing, but the rest were not, as they\nwould thereby lose time. Next tack back, the man met the boat again, with\nthe same result. \u201cWell, then,\u201d he said, \u201cperhaps you will repent it.\u201d At\nthe mouth of the loch the boatmen heard a howling as of innumerable cats.\nA storm arose, and with difficulty they reached shelter at the island of\nEigg.\n\n\nWITCHES AS RATS.\n\nA Tiree boatman, bringing a load of peats from the Ross of Mull, was met\nat the Treshinish Isles by two rats sailing along on dry cowsherds. As\ngood luck did not direct him, he threw a piece of peat at the rats, and\nupset their frail barks. A storm sprang up, and with difficulty he got to\nland. The rats were witches, and he should not have meddled with them.\n\n\nWITCHES AS GULLS.\n\nA witch assumed the shape of a gull, delighting in storms, not only to\nbring danger or safety to a boat, as already told, but also for payment\nto bring back news of fishing boats driven away in a storm.\n\nA boat from Tiree, going for a cargo of wood, was caught in a violent\ngale and driven north past Ardnamurchan Point. With difficulty the\nboatmen, four in number, secured her in a creek. They remained in a\ncave for four days, till the storm abated. The suddenness and violence\nof the gale caused much anxiety to their friends, and two women, one\nof whom had two sons and a son-in-law in the boat, and the other, a\nwidow, her youngest and only surviving son, consulted a famous witch,\n_Nic-ill\u2019-D\u00f2mhnuich_, in Caolas, as to their fate. The witch told them\nto come next day, and she would tell them. Early next morning the\nwidow went. \u201cYea,\u201d said the witch, \u201cthey live, and they had no little\namusement last night fighting for the _Fallaid_ bannock, and your son had\nhis own share of it.\u201d When the young men came home, they were questioned\nas to their seeing anything the night the witch was sent for news. They\nsaid a grey gull was seen by them sitting on the edge of the rocks that\noverhang their place of shelter and peering down at them. One was for\nthrowing stones at it, but the rest dissuaded him. It was only seen that\nnight and next morning.\n\n\nWITCH AS CORMORANT.\n\nA man named Campbell, in the Long Island, as the outer Hebrides are\ncalled, had two sweethearts, for one of whom he did not very much care.\nThey were both to be present at a gathering of women for fulling cloth,\nand he resolved to go and see them. When he arrived he found only the\none he least liked. He left shortly, and set off to where the other was.\nOn the way he had to cross a ford on large stepping-stones. As he was\ndoing so a cormorant (_sgarbh_) came, and splashed him fiercely with\nwater. He had a cudgel in his hand, and gave the strange bird a whack\non the back. He then passed on, and the distance being considerable did\nnot return till next day. When returning he had to pass the house of the\nslighted damsel. Her mother met him at the door, and said, she could not\nunderstand what was wrong with her daughter; she had got suddenly ill\nlast night, and was very bad with a sore back. Campbell said he knew the\nreason, and would have nothing further to say to her daughter. The woman\nthen threatened him, but no evil ever came of her threat.\n\n\nWITCHES AS WHALES.\n\nA Skye fisherman gave the following narrative of witchcraft to which he\nhimself was a witness. He and his brother were at the herring fishing in\nPortree in his native isle, and during that season out of all the herring\nboats one only was successful. It had only a crew of two, and every night\ncaught from eight to ten crans of fish. The other boats were empty or\nnearly so. One night when the nets were set, the boat, in which he and\nhis brother were, sprang a leak, and was taken back to the harbour and\nbeached. The rest of the crew went away to the village, but he remained\ntill the boat was left dry by the receding tide. In a while he also left,\nand as he did so, saw a young girl coming out of a house and tapping at\na neighbour\u2019s window. Another girl came out of that house, and wondering\nwhat the two could be about at that hour of the night, he followed them\nfrom the village. On reaching the green, the two girls began to disport\nthemselves (_braise_), then of a sudden became hares, and chased each\nother round and round. After this they made their way to the shore, and\nat the edge of the water (_gob na tuinne_), leapt into the sea and became\nwhales. They went out from land spouting the water as high as a ship\u2019s\nmast. Next morning the boats came in empty. The fishermen said they had\nseen during the night two whales throwing up the sea in a dreadful manner\n(_sm\u00f9ideadh na fairge gu h-eagallach_), which made them think there was\nfish in the neighbourhood. The lucky boat was full as usual.\n\nThe meaning of this tale seems to be that the man had been listening the\nnight before to tales of witchcraft, had fallen asleep in the boat on the\nbeach, and had a troublous dream.\n\n\nDELAYING THE BIRTH OF A CHILD.\n\nThis infernal cantrip was played by means of a ball of black worsted\nthread in a black bag, kept at the foot of the witch\u2019s weaving loom,\nwhere it might not be detected. If the ball was taken away the plot fell\nthrough. In proof of this, there is a story told that a child was once\nkept twenty-two years in its mother\u2019s womb by means of witches, and when\nborn it had hair, beard, and teeth, like a person of that age.\n\nThe mother of a celebrated West Highland freebooter, \u2018Allan of the\nFaggots\u2019 (_Ailein nan sop_), was a servant maid who became pregnant by a\nmarried man. The man\u2019s wife, when she heard of the scandal, got a _bone_\nfrom a witch, which, she was assured, would, as long as it was kept,\ndelay the birth of the child. Allan of the Faggots was thus kept in his\nmother\u2019s womb for fifteen months beyond the usual time. The husband got\nword of his wife\u2019s doings, and took a plan to defeat her. He made his\nFool one day come home, pretending to be very drunk, staggering about,\nand smashing the furniture. On being called to task, the Fool said he had\nbeen in a house down yonder (that of the servant-maid), where a child\nhad at last been born, and had got a dram, which went into his head. The\nwife, on hearing this, thought the witch had deceived her, and threw the\nbone into the fire. It disappeared in blue smoke, and knocked down the\nchimney! Allan was then born, with large teeth.\n\nIn other tales to the same effect, the trick usually is played on a\nmarried woman, by the mother of a maid who had been slighted on her\naccount.\n\n\nCLAY CORPSE.\n\nThe greatest evil that witches can do is to make, for a person whose\ndeath they desire, a clay body or image (_corp creadha_), into which\npins are stuck, to produce a slow and painful disease, terminating in\ndissolution. Waxen figures for the same purpose, and melted by exposure\nto a slow fire, were known to Lowland superstition. In the Highlands wax\nwas not accessible to poor bodies, and they had to make clay serve the\nturn. It is said that when a person wants a limb he cannot be destroyed\nby witches in this manner.\n\nMacIain Ghiarr, the Ardnamurchan thief, stole so many cattle from MacLean\nof Dowart that he made that chief his deadly enemy. On one of his roving\nexpeditions he was passing at midnight the chapel or burying-ground of\nPennygown (_caibeal Peighinn-a-ghobhan_), on the Sound of Mull. Seeing\na light in the chapel, he entered, and found three witches sticking\npins in a clay body (_corp creadha_) intended to represent MacLean of\nDowart. As each pin was stuck in, MacLean was seized with a stitch in\nthe corresponding part of his body. Only the last pin remained to be\nstuck in. It was to be in the heart, and to cause death. MacIain Ghiarr\nscattered the witches, took with him the clay corpse, and made his way to\nMacLean, whom he found at death\u2019s door. He took out in his presence the\npins one by one, and when the last was taken out MacLean jumped up a hale\nman, and remained ever after the warm friend of MacIain Ghiarr.\n\nMacGilvray, a former minister of Strathfillan, in Perthshire, was seized\nwith burning pains all over his body, and was slowly wasting away by some\nmalady, of which the nature could not be understood. He lived at Clachan\nin that strath, and one morning early a woman from the opposite side of\nthe river, on her way to call and ask for him, saw another woman going\nalong before her, who had the reputation of being a witch. Wondering\nwhat her neighbour was about at that early hour, she kept well behind and\nwatched. The foremost woman, on coming to a hollow, stooped down, buried\nsomething in the ground, and then walked on towards the minister\u2019s house.\nThe other came and dug up what had been buried. It proved to be a piece\nof wood stuck all over with pins. She took it with her to the manse, and\nproduced it, to the confusion of the witch. On the pins being withdrawn\nthe minister was freed from his pains and got quite well again.\n\nRoss-shire witches could not destroy \u2018Donald of the Ear\u2019 (_Do\u2019uill na\nCluaise_), of whom they had made a clay figure, from being unable to put\non the ear. Donald had lost the ear in battle. Similarly a _corp creadha_\nmade for Lord Macdonald by _Raonaid a Chreagain_ failed, because the\nwitches never could put the arm on.\n\nWitches could also produce disease in other ways. Thus, a young man\nin Perthshire\u2014the tailor Cumming in Drimachastle, Rannoch\u2014fell into a\ndecline. He accounted himself for the loss of health, decay, and sweats\nat night by witches coming at night when he was in Badenoch (a district\nat the time celebrated for witchcraft), and converting him into a horse,\non which they rode through the air to Edinburgh and other places to spend\nthe night carousing in well-stored cellars. He now saw them often passing\nin different shapes and in eggshells, etc. The poor young man did not\nunderstand the sweats of consumption, and his imagination was disordered\nby the many tales of witchcraft he had heard.\n\nThe same tale, of converting men into horses, is with slight variations\ncommon. In Lorn, a woman came night after night and shook a bridle at the\nson of a neighbouring farmer. He immediately became a horse, on which she\nrode to London, etc. A younger brother exchanged beds with him, and when\nthe witches were carousing, secured the magic bridle, converted the witch\nherself into a horse, rode home, and before taking off the bridle took\nhis horse to a smithy, and put on four shoes. Next day an old woman of\nthe neighbourhood was found with her feet and hands horribly mangled.\n\n\nSILVER SIXPENCE.\n\nAs already said, silver fired from a gun will wound a witch, and force\nher to assume her proper shape. An English sportsman, according to a\nPerthshire version of an old story, was sitting surrounded by his dogs,\nin a mountain bothy at the dead hour of night. A cat came in, but the\ndogs did not move. It sat with its back to the fire, and swelled till\nit was as large as a yearling calf. The Englishman took a silver button\noff his clothes, and putting it in the gun, fired at the cat. The brute\nscampered out at the door. On going to the strath next day, the sportsman\nbeing a doctor, was sent for to see a farmer\u2019s wife, who had got\nsuddenly ill. He went, and extracted his own silver button from her right\nbreast.\n\n\nSAVING HORSES.\n\nIn Uist, a band of horses wandered on to a ledge in the face of a steep\nprecipice. It was impossible to take them from their dangerous position\nto the top of the cliff by ropes, and to force them from the ledge to\nthe sea, which washed the base of the precipice, seemed from the height\nof the fall, inevitable destruction. An old man, who was reputed to know\nmore than his paternoster, advised, however, they should be driven over,\nand himself began an incantation, beginning \u201c_Casa Gurra, Casa Gurra_,\u201d\nwhatever that may mean. The horses of their own accord went over the\nledge, and swam safely to land.\n\n\nTAILOR AND WITCHES.\n\nA Glen-Quoich tailor, detected among a company of witches, was asked what\nhad brought him into such society? He said it was \u201cfor the pleasure of\nthe company\u201d (_mar shodan ris a chuideachd_).\n\n\nCELEBRATED WITCHES.\n\nThe best-known names seem to have been merely nicknames, given perhaps to\nmore than one old woman. \u2018Blue-eye\u2019 (_Gorm-sh\u00f9il_) is said to originate\nfrom the witch having one eye black or brown and the other blue. It\nis, however, a corruption of _Gormla_, an ancient and pretty Gaelic\nname, usually rendered Dorothy. _Gormla Mh\u00f2r_ from Meigh, Lochaber, was\nstronger than all the witches of Mull, and gave the finishing stroke,\nas already detailed, to Capt. Forrest\u2019s ship. She met her death when\nastraddle on a mountain stream, to intercept a salmon that had made its\nway up to spawn. A large fish made a rush, knocked her backwards in the\nwater, and drowned her. There was a Gormshuil in the village of Hianish,\nTiree, a most notorious local witch, and one in Cr\u00e0caig in Skye, equally\nnotorious. \u2018Brindled-Headless-Stocking Foot\u2019 (_Cas a mhogain riabhaich_)\nand \u2018Rough Foot-gear, the Herdsman\u2019s daughter\u2019 (_Caiseart gharbh ni\u2019n an\nAodhair_) were anywhere but where the person who is telling about them\ncomes from himself. Shaw, the Lochnell bard, makes them sisters dwelling\nin Glenforsa in Mull, when Ossian was a little boy, and contemporaries of\nMac-R\u00f9sluin. \u2018Sallow Spot\u2019 (_Ball Odhar_) was from Kintra (_Ceann-tr\u00e0_)\nin Ardnamurchan; \u2018Yellow Claws\u2019 (_Sp\u00f2ga buidhe_) from Maligeir on the\neast side of Skye; _Doideag-un_ is the well-known name of the Mull\nwitches, and is given by children to the falling snowflakes, which they\nare informed are the Mull witches on their journey through the air. Big\nKate MacIntyre in Fort-William was extensively known some forty years ago\nas a person skilled in divinations and possessing mysterious powers.\n\n\nWIZARD RISING AFTER DEATH.\n\nPeople who practised forbidden arts, as may readily be supposed, did not\nrest after death. When buried they remained quiet like other people, but\ntill then might be troublesome.\n\nAmong the hills of Ross-shire, an old man, who in his time was not\n\u2018canny,\u2019 died in his son\u2019s house, a lonely hut in the hills remote from\nother houses. He was stretched and adjusted (_air a ruidheadh \u2019s air a\nch\u00e0radh_) on a board in a closet, and the shepherd, leaving his wife and\nchildren in the house, went to the strath for people to come to the wake\nand funeral. At midnight, one of the children, playing through the house,\npeeped in at the keyhole of the closet and cried out, \u201cMother, mother!\nmy grandfather is rising.\u201d[15] The door of the closet was fast locked,\nand the dead man, finding he could not open it, began to scrape and dig\nthe earth below it, to make a passage for himself. The children gathered\nround their mother, and in extremity of terror all listened to the\nscraping of the unhallowed corpse. At last the head appeared below the\ndoor, the corpse increased its exertions, and the terror of the mother\nand children became intense. The body was halfway through below the door\nwhen the cock crew and it fell powerless in the pit it had dug. That pit\ncould never afterwards be kept filled up to the level of the rest of the\nfloor.\n\nIn Tiree, a head-stone, placed at the grave of a man whom report accused\nof dabbling in the dark science, would not remain in its place till\nsecured by a chain. It fell every now and then out of its position, but\nafter the chain was fastened to it, it remained firm, and is so now\nwithout the chain.\n\n\nHOW TO DETECT WITCHES.\n\nEarly in the morning, on the first Monday of each of the four quarters of\nthe year, the smoke from a witch\u2019s house _goes against the wind_. This\nmay be seen by any one who takes the trouble of rising early and going to\nan eminence, whence the witch\u2019s house can be seen.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nWHITE WITCHCRAFT.\n\n\nIn English, a distinction is recognised between _black_ and _white_\nwitches. The former could hurt but not help; their power was only one of\nmischief. White witches were honest, harmless practitioners of sorcery,\n\u201cwhom our custom and country doth call wise men and wise women.\u201d[16] In\nGaelic, there are no names corresponding to Black and White Witches,\nbut the distinction indicated is well known. Those to whom the name\n_Buidseach_ (witch) properly applies could only do harm. They raised\nstorms, drowned people, took the milk from cows, etc., etc. There were\nothers who by magic charms cured disease in man and beast, bestowed luck,\nwarded off dangers, real and imaginary, and secured various benefits\nto those who resorted to them. One or more such wise people were to\nbe found in every district, and any accusation of _witchcraft_, of\ndabbling in forbidden arts, or of being in league with the devil, would\nbe indignantly resented by them. On the contrary, as in the case of a\nshepherd in upper Argyllshire, who was much resorted to for the magic\ncure of cattle, they claimed that their powers were given for a good\npurpose, and to counteract the Powers of Evil.\n\nThe machinery by which they secured these blessings to humanity,\nconsisted of rhymes or incantations, rites and ceremonies, plants and\nstones of virtue, observance of propitious seasons, etc. The use of these\ncould only lead indirectly to harm by fostering a spirit of credulity,\nand preventing inquiry into natural causes. Of themselves, the charms\nwere like the Sunday plant, according to a common Gaelic saying, \u201cwithout\nbenefit or harm.\u201d Any other rhyme or ceremony, plant or stone, would\ndo equally well, if its use commanded the same amount of belief. The\nwords or rhymes were praiseworthy commendations addressed to various\nsaints, and the rites were harmless and merely trifling. This kind of\nsuperstition still prevails among the lower ranks of society to an almost\nincredible extent in the south as well as in the Highlands, and \u2018wise\npeople\u2019 are resorted to for the cure of obscure ailments by many of whom\nsuch folly might be little suspected. Not above five years ago[17] the\ndaughter of a dairy farmer in Cowal came to Ardnamurchan, a distance\nof above 100 miles, to obtain from a man of reputed skill a charm to\nturn aside the misfortunes and maladies by which her father\u2019s dairy was\nafflicted. She went home happy in the possession of a bottle of water,\nover which some magic words had been muttered. Occasional newspaper\nparagraphs show the practice is not extinct in England or the south of\nScotland.\n\nIn the case of sick beasts, when, _e.g._, a horse lies down and refuses\nto rise, or a cow ceases to give milk, or gives only milk mingled with\nblood, the usual mode of procedure to effect a magic cure is to go to a\nperson of skill (_i.e._ a white witch), get a bottle of water prepared by\nwhispering certain words over it, and sprinkle this on the sick beast, or\nperhaps put a few drops in its ear. Immediately the beast rises without\nanything being the matter with it. Other rhymes and ceremonies are ready\nfor other occasions, and it would be possible to fill a book with a\ncollection of incantations in use for various diseases or in different\nlocalities.\n\nThe general name for trifling superstitious observances of the kind\nis _Gisreag, Eapag, Upag_. The different kinds are known as _E\u00f2las_\n(Knowledge) for the cure of disease; _Oradh_ (Gilding) for securing gifts\nand graces; _S\u00efan_ or _Seun_ for protection from danger, and _Soisgeul_\n(_Gospel_) for weak minds. The rhymes contain internal evidence of having\ncome from Roman Catholic times. The invocation of the Trinity and the\nSaints, particularly St. Bride and St. Columba, St. Michael and St.\nPeter, is common to them all, and whatever be their merit as expressions\nof piety, they certainly convey no idea of traffic with the Powers of\nEvil. The utmost that truth can urge against those who use them is,\nthat they are ignorant, facile, and credulous. The opprobrious name\nof _buidseachas_ is in every case sincerely and piously repudiated by\nthemselves, and in reality is unjust.\n\nThese charms are not readily accessible. The following have been\ncollected from many different persons, and are of interest, some as\nillustrative of the antiquities of the Scottish Highlands, and some for\ntheir poetical merits. Much of the chosen poetry consists in felicity\nof expression, and this is a merit next to impossible to infuse into\na translation. No attempt is here made to do more than give the exact\nmeaning of the original.\n\n\nEOLAS.\n\nThe _E\u00f2las_ (Knowledge), called also _Teagasg_ (Teaching), was a charm\nfor the cure of sickness in man or beast. It consisted of a rhyme,\nmuttered over the sick person, and over water to be drunk by, or\nsprinkled over, the sick animal. To render it more impressive, its use\nwas accompanied by trifling little ceremonies, such as making the sign of\nthe cross, yawning, making up mysterious parti-coloured strings, getting\nparticular kinds of water on particular days, dipping stones of virtue in\nwater, and similar mummeries. Its object was a good one, and this much\ncan be said in its favour, that if it did not cure, it did not kill.\n\nThe ills, for which the _E\u00f2las_ was used, are generally transitory in\ntheir nature, as toothache, bruises, sprains, etc., and improvement\nor cure, following soon after its performance, kept alive a belief in\nthe efficacy of the incantation. The rhymes are usually found in the\npossession of old women of the humblest class, to whom a meal or small\npresent from a more affluent neighbour, for a bottle of water and a\nharmless rhyme, is a welcome gift. These old women, it may be said in\nevery case, believe in the efficacy of the charm as much as those who\nresort to them; but, while the whole company and its proceedings afford\ngood grounds for ridicule, indignation or reprobation fairly attach\nthemselves only to those who go to seek such foolish cures for sickness.\nThe excuse of the poor white witch is to be found in the pressure of\nwant, and the relief, which the Gaelic saying truthfully but coarsely\nembodies, \u201cIt is good fun that fills the belly\u201d (_\u2019s math an sp\u014drs a\nl\u012bonas br\u016b_).\n\nNot a word of any kind was to be spoken by the person going for an\n_E\u00f2las_, till he came home again, to any one but the \u2018wise\u2019 person.\nThis was because Elisha, when he sent his servant before him to the\nShunammite woman (2 Kings iv. 29), commanded him not to speak on the way.\n\u201cIf thou meet any man, salute him not; and if any salute thee, answer him\nnot again.\u201d\n\nOn the way, the messenger must take up his quarters for the night before\nthe sun goes down; and no spinning or reading is allowed. There is more\nprobability of the charm becoming efficacious if he enter no house and\ntake no meat.\n\n\nCURE FOR THE EVIL EYE.\n\n(_E\u00f2las a chronachaidh._)\n\nAn evil eye, according to the Highland belief, is one animated by a\ndiscontented and unhappy mind, full of envy (_farmad_), covetousness\n(_sanntachadh_), and such like mean feelings, and looking repiningly on\nthe good of others, and it may be too earnestly and anxiously on what\nbelongs to oneself. It injures the object on which it falls, and animals\nor persons struck by it are seized with mysterious ailments, dwindle, and\nperhaps die.\n\nThe believers in the gift assert that the evil eye may exist in man or\nwoman, in friend or foe, and that it is prudent not to give causes for\nthe feelings which give rise to it. Thus, for instance, it is advisable\nnot to allow a cow to go without a full udder. An evil eye may rest upon\nit, and the animal be lost. The practice is commendable, though the\nreason assigned may not be the correct one. From a similar fear, a pedlar\nhas been known to go about with his goods only at night. A mother can\nhurt her own child, and some have been said to hurt their own cattle. The\ntraditions of various localities, in the islands and on the mainland,\ntell of a man who was not allowed to see his own cattle, from his\npossession of the unhappy gift. If he did see them, one of the best cows\nwas found dead next day.\n\nWhen a healthy and thriving child is seized with unaccountable illness,\nand becomes uneasy and sickly, it is suspected of being struck with the\nevil eye, and a \u2018wise\u2019 woman of the neighbourhood is sent for. She fills\na bowl with clean water, into which she puts a silver sixpence. The bowl\nis then quickly, and dexterously turned upside down. If the sixpence\nstick to its bottom, the child is the victim of an evil eye (_air a\nchronachadh_), and the usual remedy is adopted.\n\nAn elder of the church, who was witness to the ceremony some fifty years\nago, thus describes it (and he is a person very likely to have been\nobservant even in his boyhood). \u201cWhen a little boy, I wandered into a\nneighbour\u2019s house, very likely with a piece of seaweed in my hand, and\nchewing away at it, as the manner of boys is. There was a child in the\nhouse very ill, but I did not think or know of this when I entered. I\nsuppose the little thing had not sucked its mother\u2019s breast, or taken\nany nourishment, for some days previously. An old woman, who came to\ninquire for it, on learning its condition, took a bowl half-full of water\nfrom a large tub (_farmail_) that was in the house, and putting it on her\nknees began to mutter over it. I was too young at the time to be heeded,\nand was not put out of the house. After muttering for a while, the old\nwoman began to yawn, and such yawning I have never seen in all my days.\nShe yawned, and yawned, and yawned again, till I thought she was going\nto die. The cat\u2019s paws were dipped in the bowl on her knee, and a red\nthread, brought by a girl belonging to the house, on being also dipped in\nthe water, was put round the child\u2019s neck.\u201d\n\nThe water used must be that in which the \u201chunter\u2019s feet\u201d have been dipped\n(_uisge casan an t-sealgair_), and the cat is the hunter most readily\navailable. The muttered words are the charm, which gives the whole\nceremony its efficacy, and the yawning commences when the child\u2019s illness\nis being transferred to the person who performs the ceremony.\n\nThe Evil Eye is deadly to all animals to which the person having it takes\na fancy. In the present day it is said of a man in Tiree, who is accused\nby common report of having the gift, that when he comes to buy a beast it\nis better to give it to him at his own price than keep it. If he does not\nget it, the beast is taken ill and perhaps dies soon after. This is said,\nbut the maligned man never gets better bargains than his neighbours.\n\nWhen a stranger having an evil eye meets a rider or person leading a\nhorse, and praises the animal\u2019s points, the effects of his looks are\nsoon evident. Before he is out of sight the horse is suddenly taken ill\nand falls down. The rider should immediately return after the evil-eyed\nstranger, and boldly accuse him of having done the mischief. The more\n\u201cbitterly and abusively\u201d (_gu searbh salach_) he does so the better. On\ncoming back he will find the horse all right. If on his guard at the\nfirst meeting, when the stranger praises the horse, he will praise it a\ngreat deal more. When the stranger says, \u201cThat is a good animal,\u201d the\nprudent owner will say, \u201cIt is better than that,\u201d and however high the\nstranger\u2019s praises are, the owner\u2019s should be higher. This will lessen,\nperhaps prevent, the power of the evil eye to do mischief.\n\nIn the prose part of a Gaelic poem published in M\u2019Kenzie\u2019s _Beauties_,\nGilbride Macintyre, from Ruaig, in Tiree, is said to have killed eighty\nhens with one glance of his evil eye, and to have wrecked a big ship of\nfive cross-trees, notwithstanding her cables and anchors. A man in Rocky\nMound (_Cnoc Creagach_), in Coll, killed a mare and foal with it. It is\nsaid the wife of a former tenant of Heynish, in Tiree (and the story is\nlocalised in several other places), would not allow her husband to look\nat his own fold of cattle. As sure as he did so, one of his best cows\nwas found dead next day. The fear of this calamity made her put a very\npretty cow, to which she herself took a great fancy, in an out-of-the-way\nplace, near which her husband had never been observed to go. On returning\none day from a stroll in the hill, he asked who put the cow where he had\nseen it. The wife\u2019s worst fears were realised. The cow was dead in a few\ndays.\n\nThe credulous (of whom there is a large number everywhere) were assured\nthat, when any beast belonging to them was praised, all evil consequences\nwere averted by their saying:\n\n    \u201cGod bless your eye,\n      A drop of wine about your heart,\n    The mouse is in the bush,\n      And the bush is on fire.\u201d[18]\n\nThere is a Gaelic saying that \u201cEnvy splits the rocks\u201d (_sgoiltidh farmad\nna creagan_), and in proof of this the following story is told. An\nindustrious, careful man sold more cheese than his neighbours, and was\nmuch envied when seen, as he frequently was, on his way to market with a\ncheese in a bag on his back. One day, instead of a cheese, he put a small\nmill-stone in the bag. His neighbours, filled with envy, saw him jogging\nalong as usual to market, and stood in their doors looking after him and\nmaking remarks. On reaching the market and opening the bag he found the\nmill-stone broken in two, a certain proof of the power of envy and of the\ntruth embodied in the proverb.\n\nThe charm for curing the Evil Eye, like many other similar mummeries,\nmust be made on Thursday or Sunday. The rhyme used varies with different\nlocalities. The following, with slight variations on the part of\ndifferent individuals, is the one used in Tiree. The words within\nbrackets are omitted when the charm is for a sick beast:\n\n    \u201cI will put salve on eye,\n    The best salve beneath the sun,\n    [The Son of God made for an angel of heaven]\n    Throughout the world,\n    For small eye,\n    For big eye,\n    For my own eye,\n    For the grey man\u2019s eye,\n    For the eye of the nine slim fairy women,\n    Who never ate\n    Or digested aught,\n    In yonder hill,\n    Whoever has thee under lock\n    Of eye, or malice, or envy,\n    On themselves may it fall,\n    On their goods, and on their children,\n    On their juice, and on their fatness,\n    On their long white ground,\n    On their choicest herd,\n    Their white-backed cows,\n    Their sheep and pointed goats,\n    Each eye and each envy\n    That lies on thee, A. B.\n    In the very centre of the east.\n    Talkative are folk over thee,\n    Christ has taken away their likeness,\n    Twelve eyes before every eye,\n    Strong is the eye of the Son of God,\n    Weak is the eye of the unjust.\u201d\n\nThe five last lines probably mean, that the fairies or elves, whom God\nhas rendered invisible, are speaking among themselves over the sick\nperson, and the succour of the twelve apostles and of Christ is more\npowerful than the injustice of man. Others for these lines substitute the\nfollowing:\n\n    \u201cThe eye that went over,\n    And came back,\n    That reached the bone,\n    And reached the marrow,\n    I will lift from off thee\n    And the King of the Elements will aid me.\u201d\n\nA woman in Islay worked wonderful cures with the following. It is a\nwretched specimen of superstition, but is given to show how ancient\ncreeds accommodate themselves to modern modes of thought. The ancient\ncharm, instead of being entirely abandoned, became a sort of prayer:\n\n    \u201cIf eye has blighted,\n    Three have blessed,\n    Stronger are the Three that blessed,\n    Than the eye that blighted;\n    The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost;\n    If aught elfin or worldly has harmed it,\n    On earth above,\n    Or in hell beneath,\n    Do Thou, God of Grace, turn it aside.\u201d\n\nThis was to be said thrice.\n\n\nCHARM FOR SPRAINS.\n\n(_E\u00f2las an t-s\u00ecochaidh._)\n\nThis charm also to be efficacious must be thrice repeated. The variations\nin the versions met with, have been almost entirely in the omission of\nlines in some that are found in others:\n\n    \u201cA charm in sooth.\n    The charm that Colum-Kil applied\n    To a young man\u2019s knee\n    In the hill\n    For pang, for swelling,\n    For hurt, for wound,\n    For abrasion, for sprain,\n    For portions, for divisions,\n    For varicose vein, for dislocated bone;\n    Christ went out\n    At early morn,\n    He found the legs of horses,\n    Broken by turns;\n    When he alighted on the ground,\n    He healed a horse\u2019s leg;\n    He put marrow to marrow,\n    And bone to bone,\n    He put blood to blood\n    And flesh to flesh,\n    Juice to juice, and vein to vein\n    As he healed that,\n    May he heal this,\n    Because of Christ and His Powers together.\n    One-third to-day,\n    Two-thirds to-morrow,\n    And the whole the day after.\u201d\n\nPart of the charm consisted of a handful of earth from a grey mound (_l\u00e0n\nan d\u00f9irn an \u00f9ir a cnoc glas_) applied to the foot. The sufferer must go\nthree times _deiseal_ (southwardly) round the mound on Sunday. In the\nextreme west of Tiree there is a hillock called _Cnocan an t-s\u00ecachaidh_\n(the hillock of the sprain), but the practice of using it for cures of\nthis kind has become obsolete.\n\n\nCHARM FOR BRUISES.\n\n(_E\u00f2las Bruthaidh._)\n\n    \u201cPatera Mary one, Patera Mary two, etc., down to Patera Mary nine,\n    Thou wilt flow like woman,\n    Thou wilt flow like man,\n    Thou wilt flow like royal fish;\n    And the nine veins of thy body,\n    In one stream together.\u201d\n\n\nCHARM FOR RHEUMATIC PAINS.\n\n_E\u00f2las Galar Tholl_ (lit. perforating disease).\n\n    \u201cClose God about thee,\n    Look people over thee,\n    To Christ, or else\u2014\n    Lift from us the gallows,\n    Away, away,\n    Thy poison in the ground,\n    And thy pain in the stone.\u201d\n\nOtherwise:\n\n    \u201cAn arrow thrown with sudden terror,\n    Salt to cure the wound,\n    Jesus Christ to keep the Elfin arrow quiet,\n    The charm of God about thee,\n    Blind are people over thee,\n    Thy covering about Colum-Kil,\n    And the covering of Colum-Kil about thee,\n    To protect thee and watch over thee\n    Against the people of this world\n    And of the next.\u201d\n\n\nCHARM FOR CONSUMPTION.\n\n(_E\u00f2las na Caitheamh._)\n\nThis was to be said on a Thursday and on two Sundays. As in the case of\nother charms, some days of the year were more favourable than others, and\nthe top of the ninth wave should be used in sprinkling the patient:\n\n    \u201cLet me tread on thee, tightness,\n    As the swan treads on the shore,\n    Tightness of the back, tightness of the chest,\n    Tightness of the throat,\n    To strip from thee the foul disease,\n    From the top of thy head to thy sole,\n    To thy two thighs beyond,\n    By the might of God and His powers together.\u201d\n\n\nFOR AFFECTIONS OF THE CHEST.\n\n(_\u2019Air Son Iomairt Cl\u00e9ibh._)\n\n    \u201cI will trample on thee, tightness,\n    As on mountain dust to-night;\n    On thyself be thy blackening, dwarfing power,\n    Evil and painful is that.\n    The charm which Patrick put\n    On the mother of the son of the King of Iver,\n    To kill the worms\n    Round the veins of her heart,\n    For the four and twenty afflictions\n    In her constitution;\n    For the water of the running stream of her boundary,\n    For the stones of the earth\u2019s waves,\n    For the weakness of her heart,\n    For jaundice and distemper,\n    For withering and for asthma.\u201d\n\n\nCHARM FOR TOOTHACHE.\n\n(_E\u00f2las an D\u00e9ide._)\n\nIt is not difficult to persuade a man distracted with toothache to try\nany remedy in reason that offers any hope of relief. It would be curious\nif a charm were not forthcoming. The writer has recovered only a portion\nof the Gaelic version. The following English charm was obtained ten years\nago in Tiree, and probably came originally from the Isle of Man. It was\nto be sewn up in the clothes and worn about the person, and was given to\nthose who applied for it for a small consideration. This was to be on\nSunday, and payment was not to be asked for. If that had to be done, the\ncharm was useless. The copy is word for word:\n\n\u201cIn the name of lord petter sat on a marble stone aweeping Christ came by\nand said what else you petter petter said o lord my god my dok toockage\nchrist said o lord petter be whole and not thou only but all that carry\nthese lines in my name shall never have the toock Christ cure the\ntoockaig.\u201d\n\n\nMADE FOR MERRION MACFADYN.\n\nIn a small tract called Peacock\u2019s _Guide to the Isle of Man_ (p. 66), the\nfollowing version is given as in use in that island:\n\n    \u201cPeter was ordained a saint\n    Standing on a marble stone,\n    Jesus came to him alone,\n    And said to him, \u2018Peter!\n    What is it that makes thee shake?\u2019\n    Peter replied, \u2018My Lord and Master,\n    It is the toothache\u2019;\n    Jesus said to him,\n    \u2018Rise up and be healed!\n    Keep these words for my sake,\n    And thou shalt nevermore be troubled with toothache\u2019.\u201d\n\nThe Gaelic is to the same effect:\n\n    \u201cThe charm Colum-Kil applied\n    To Mal-ii\u2019s right knee,\n    For gnawing and lancinating pain and toothache,\n    Toothache and disease of the head.\n    ...\n    Then said Peter to James,\n    \u2018I can get no peace or rest with the toothache.\u2019\n    ...\n    Christ said, \u2018Answer the question,\n    And the toothache and the verse\n    Will never be in the same head together\u2019.\u201d\n\n\nCHARMS FOR CATTLE.\n\nThese were even more numerous than those for the distempers of men.\nCattle are nowadays better housed, fed, and attended to, and hence are\nnot so liable to ill-understood ailments that gave persons of \u2018skill\u2019\nemployment.\n\nIn the case of any beast being seized with distemper, this short charm\nmight prove of use:\n\n    \u201cWhoever has done you this deed of malice,\n    A brown man or white woman,\n    I send these Three to check them,\n    The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.\u201d\n\nA more obstinate case demanded the charm for the Evil Eye, water in which\nstones of virtue were dipped etc.\n\nWhen a newly purchased animal is brought home, its return to its former\nhome is prevented, and its allurement to its new haunts is secured by\nblowing into its ear, and saying:\n\n    \u201cA blowing into your right ear,\n    For your benefit and not your hurt,\n    Love of the land under your foot,\n    And dislike to the land you left,\n    Your fastening in my hand,\n    And an iron lock is on thee, etc.\u201d\n\nWhen a cow loses its milk, as is sometimes the case, whatever be the\ncause (perhaps the eating of a noxious weed), it is necessary to procure\nthe pearlwort and two other plants known to people of skill, to bring\nback the milk. The following words are to be said when pulling the\nplants:\n\n      \u201cI will pull the pearlwort,\n    The plant that Fionn had;\n    The son of the angels came,\n    When it was bending above it;\n    Bridget came home to thee\n    With thy curds and thy butter;\n    Smooth Mary that hoarded it\n    Under her nine round locks,\n    A plant of milk it is, a plant of fat,\n    And a plant of pairing;\n    A plant of happiness and joy\n    Wherever it is.\n\n      I will pull the joyful clump,\n    Sitting by the top of an eminence,\n    I would give it to no man,\n    Without more than my blessing.\n    I will pull the loving charity,\n    \u2019Tis a loving delicacy, (?)\n    It is a crowding together, (?)\n    It is a good object of travel and journey,\n    And God asked it as one\n    And pulled it as two;\n    It will give happiness and joy\n    Wherever it is.\n\n      I will pull the milk-producing plant,\n    As smooth St. Mary pulled it,\n    For produce, for fruit,\n    For pairing,\n    For milking plentifully, for thick cream;\n    The benefit of your herd may you have,\n    Each for his eye, or malice, or envy,\n    May his eye be in the bush of whins\n    And the bush be on fire.\u201d\n\n\nCHARM AGAINST DANGER (_Sian_).\n\nThe _seun_ or _sian_, Scot. _sain_, was used for the protection of both\nman and beast from particular dangers, such as being taken away by an\nenemy, being drowned, or struck by sword, or arrow, or bullet in battle.\nIt consisted of rhymes, or parti-coloured strings, or plants, and in many\ncases its nature remained a mystery. It was said over cows and sheep when\nleaving them for the night; it was put round the necks of infants; given\nby the fairy mistress (_leannan s\u00ecth_) to her earthly lover; sewn by the\nfoster-mother (_muime_) in the clothes of a beloved foster-son (_dalta_)\nabout to leave her, etc. After it was once given or said, the two, the\ngiver and the recipient, must not see each other again. If they did the\ncharm lost its power. Usually there was some unforeseen danger of the\nclass which the charm was intended to provide against that proved fatal.\nThus, it is said, a young woman gave a _sian_ to her soldier lover, who\nwas leaving for foreign wars, telling him the only thing he had to guard\nagainst was his own arms. He went scatheless through a protracted war,\nbut after his return scratched his forehead with a pin which he carried\nin his clothes, and died from the effects.\n\n\nTHE OLD WIFE\u2019S CHARM FOR HER COW.\n\n(_Sian na Caillich mu B\u00f2._)\n\n    \u201cI set the watch to-night\n    Against horns of he-goat\n    And voice of bull,\n    The voice of the dead,\n    And each horned, fierce,\n    Large-eared, large-buttocked cow;\n    The Evil One\u2019s mill-stone\n    Be trailing at thy rump\n    Till to-morrow morning.\u201d\n\nWhen a stone was tied to the cow\u2019s tail, and these mystic words were\nuttered, the animal was safe to be found in the same spot in the morning.\nThis was believed to be as much owing to the words as to the anchor\nastern.\n\n\nCHARM FOR A SHEEP IN ITS COT.\n\n(_Sian na Caora mu\u2019n chr\u00f2._)\n\n    \u201cThe charm that Mary set\n      About a sheep cot,\n    Against knives, against dogs,\n      And against men;\n    Against hound, and wild-dog,\n      And thief;\n    On the hillock, where they lie down,\n      May they safely rise.\u201d\n\n\nAGAINST DROWNING AND IN WAR.\n\n(_Sian roi\u2019 bh\u00e0thadh \u2019s an Cogadh._)\n\nA native of the Island of Coll, who served in the British army from the\ntaking of Copenhagen, throughout the Peninsular and continental wars,\nand only died this year (1874), a most kind-hearted and powerfully built\nman, attributed his safe return from the wars in some measure to having\nlearned this charm in his youth:\n\n    \u201cThe charm Mary put round her Son,\n    And Bridget put in her banners,\n    And Michael put in his shield,\n    And the Son of God before His throne of clouds;\n    A charm art thou against arrow,\n    A charm art thou against sword,\n    A charm against the red-tracked bullet;\n    An island art thou in the sea,\n    A rock art thou on land;\n    And greater be the fear these have\n    Of the body, round which the charm goes,\n    In presence of Colum-Kil\n    With his mantle round thee.\u201d\n\n\nCHARM AGAINST DANGERS IN WAR.\n\nThe following is taken from the Gaelic periodical, _Cuairtear nam Beann_,\nfor January, 1842. It is said to have been got about the year 1800 from\nan old man in Glenforsa, in Mull.\n\n    \u201cFor himself and for his goods,\n    The charm Bridget put round Dorgill\u2019s daughter,\n    The charm Mary put round her Son,\n    Between her soles and her neck,\n    Between her breast and her knee,\n    Between her eye and her hair;\n    The sword of Michael be on thy side,\n    The shield of Michael on thy shoulder;\n    There is none between sky and earth\n    Can overcome the King of grace.\n    Edge will not cleave thee,\n    Sea will not drown thee,\n    Christ\u2019s banners round thee,\n    Christ\u2019s shadow over thee;\n    From thy crown to thy sole,\n    The charm of virtue covers thee.\n    You will go in the King\u2019s name,\n    And come in your Commander\u2019s name;\n    Thou belongest to God and all His powers.\n    I will make the charm on Monday,\n    In a narrow, sharp, thorny space;\n    Go, with the charm about thee,\n    And let no fear be on thee!\n    Thou wilt ascend the tops of cliffs,\n    And not be thrown backwards;\n    Thou art the calm Swan\u2019s son in battle,\n    Thou wilt stand amid the slaughter;\n    Thou wilt run through five hundred,\n    And thy oppressor will be caught;\n    God\u2019s charm be about thee!\n    People go with thee!\u201d\n\nA smith in Torosa, Mull, was said to have got a charm of this kind from\nhis father. He afterwards enlisted, and was in thirty battles. On coming\nhome without a wound, he said he had often wished he was dead, rather\nthan be bruised as he was by bullets. They struck him, but could not\npierce him because of the charm.\n\nRed Hector of the Battles (_Eachunn Ruadh nan Cath_), a celebrated chief\nof the M\u2019Leans of Dowart, had a _sian_, which made him invulnerable in\nthe many conflicts, from which he derived his designation. It failed\nhim at the battle of Inverkeithing, in 1652, when he fell with 1500 of\nhis clan. Surrounded by overwhelming numbers, and sorely wounded, he\nmaintained a hopeless struggle, his gallant clansmen defending him to the\nlast, \u201ceach stepping where his comrade stood the instant that he fell,\u201d\nand calling out, in an expression which has been since proverbial in his\nnative island, \u201cAnother for Hector!\u201d (_Fear eile air son Eachuinn_).\n\nThe charm, which his fairy mistress gave to Thinman (_Caoilte_), the\nfastest hero of the Fians, has been already referred to.\n\nWhen washing new-born babes wise women made use of these words:\n\n    \u201cHale fair washing to thee,\n    Hale washing of the Fians be thine;\n    Health to thee, health to him,\n    But not to thy female enemy.\u201d\n\n\nCHARM FOR CLOTH.\n\nAfter being fulled, new cloth was folded and placed on a table. The\nwomen, who had been engaged in the fulling, then gathered round it and\nsang the following charm seven times. During the singing they kept time\nto the music by raising their hands simultaneously and beating the cloth\nwith the tips of their fingers. After each repetition of the charm the\ncloth was turned over end:\n\n          \u201cWell do I say my verse,\n          As I descend the glen,\n    One verse, two verses, etc., down to seven and a half verses.\n          Let not the wearer of the cloth be wounded,\n            And may he never be torn,\n    And when he goes to battle or conflict,\n      The full succour of the Lord be his.\n    [The little sea-gull yonder swimming\n      And the white wave that she loves,\n    She swims pleasantly\n      And I swim cheerfully spinning;\n    When I sow my flax\n      And spin my lint\n    I will make linen from the awns\n      And get seven marks for the yard.]\n    Water-cress pulled through flag-stone,\n    And given to wife unawares,\n    Deer\u2019s shank in the herring\u2019s head,\n    And in the slender body of the speckled salmon.\u201d\n\nThen, striking the cloth faster, the singers say:\n\n    \u201cLet this be second cloth, and not enemy\u2019s spoil,\n    Nor property of clerk or priest.\n    But his own property, and may he enjoy and wear it.\u201d\n\nIt is said there is a bone in the herring\u2019s head that resembles a deer\u2019s\nfoot. Some say the word should not be \u201cdeer\u2019s shank\u201d (_Lurg an fh\u00e9idh_),\nbut \u201cdeer\u2019s antlers\u201d (_Cuibhn\u2019an fh\u00e9idh_). The part of the song within\nbrackets seems to belong to the music more than to the meaning. The final\nwish is that the cloth when turned, or made into a second suit, may prove\nas good as new, and not, like cloth found on dead bodies, a perquisite of\nthe priest\u2019s. In olden times the seventh yard (_slat_) of chequered cloth\n(_Cl\u00f2 Breac_) was given to the factor and priest, as well as the seventh\nlamb from the fold.\n\n\nCHARM FOR GENERAL USE.\n\n    \u201cThou wilt be the friend of God,\n    And God will be thy friend;\n    Iron will be your two soles,\n    And twelve hands shall clasp thy head;\n    Thy afflictions be in tree or holly,\n    Or rock at sea,\n    Or earth on land;\n    A protecting shield be about thee,\n    Michael\u2019s shield be about thee;\n    Colum-Kil\u2019s close-fitting coat of mail\n    Protect thee from Elfin bolts\n    And from the enclosures of pain, (?)\n    From the trouble of this world\n    And the other world.\n    The woman, on her knee\n    And on her eye,\n    On her choicest flesh,\n    And on the veins of her heart,\n    Till it reach the place whence it came.\n    Every jealous envious woman\n    That propagates her flesh and blood,\n    On herself be her desire, and envy, and malice.\u201d\n\n\n\u201cTHE GOSPEL OF CHRIST.\u201d\n\nOf the same class was the charm to which this name was given. It\nconsisted of a green string, which was kept in the mouth while the charm\nwas muttered, and then secured to the charmed person\u2019s right shoulder.\nThe ceremony must be performed on Thursday or Sunday.\n\n    \u201cMay God bless your cross\n    Before you go to any garden,\n    Any disease that is in it\n    May He take from it.\n    May God bless your crucifying cross,\n    On the top of a house, the house of Christ,\n    From drowning, from danger, and from fever.\n    When the King was stretched on high,\n    The King of the Three Hills\n    And a brown branch top\n    ... (unintelligible) ...\n    May God bless what is before thee.\n    When thou goest at their head\n    Success at meeting and in battle;\n    The grace of God and courteous look of all men be yours;\n    The banners of Christ be over thee\n    To protect thee from thy crown to thy sole.\n    Fire will not burn thee,\n    Seas will not drown thee;\n    A rock at sea art thou,\n    A man on land art thou,\n    Fairer than the swan on Loch Lathaich,\n    And the sea-gull on the white stream;\n    You will rise above them\n    As the wave rises,\n    On the side of God and His powers.\n    Thou art the red rowan tree\n    To cause the wrath of men to ebb\n    Like a wave from the sea to flood-tide,\n    And a wave from flood-tide to ebb.\u201d\n\n\nCHARM FOR CONFERRING GRACES.\n\n(_Oradh nam Buadh._)\n\n    \u201cI will wash thy palms\n    In showers of wine,\n    In the juice of rasps\n    And in honied milk.\n    I will put the nine graces\n    In thy white cheeks,\n    Grace of form and grace of good fortune,\n    Grace at meetings and of manners,\n    And of goodly speech.\n    Black is yonder house,\n    And black are its inmates,\n    Thou art the brown swan\n    Going in among them;\n    Their heart is in thy chest,\n    Their tongue under thy foot,\n    And they will not say to thee\n    Word to despite thee;\n    An island at sea art thou\n    And a castle on land;\n    The Lord\u2019s form is in thy face,\n    The loveliest form in the universe,\n    In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.\n    The best day in the week,\n    And the best week in the year,\n    Peter came, Paul came,\n    Michael came, John came,\n    The King of Virtues came as guide,\n    To give to thee his regard and love.\u201d\n\n\nCHARM FOR THE FACES OF YOUNG WOMEN.\n\n    \u201cBounty is in thy countenance,\n    The Son of God succour thee\n    From the evil men of the world,\n    The vigil of loving St. Mary keep thee,\n    A smooth modest tongue be in thy head,\n    Fair hair in thy two eyebrows,\n    Fin, the son of Cu\u00e4l, between these;\n    Since it be Mary and her Son\n    That gave them that charm,\n    May the taste of honey be\n    On every word you say,\n    To commons and to nobles,\n    Upon this and each day\n    To the end of the year.\u201d\n\n\nLOVE CHARM.\n\nThe knowledge of this rhyme is very widespread. It is ascribed by some\nto Duncan Ban M\u2019Intyre, the greatest of the Gaelic lyrical poets, and is\nprinted in some editions of his poems as his composition, but others with\nmore probability ascribe it to Blind Allan, the Glengarry bard. Allan\neked out a livelihood by the practice of charms of the kind.\n\n    \u201cThat is not a love-charm\n      Which is a charm of wisps and straws,\n    But one to draw with warmth\n      The love of the man you like.\n    Rise early on Wednesday\n      And go to a broad level flag-stone,[19]\n    Take with you the people\u2019s blessing,\n      And the priest\u2019s cowl,\n    Lift then upon your shoulders\n      A wooden shovel,\n    Get nine stalks of fern,\n      Cut with an axe,\n    And three bones of an old man\n      Taken from a grave;\n    Burn that in a fire of brushwood\n      Till you reduce it all to ashes,\n    And shake it in your lover\u2019s fair bosom\n      Against a north-wind,\n    And I will go twice security\n      That man will not leave you.\u201d\n    \u201cYou have a hold of him now.\u201d\n\n\nCHARM TO KEEP AWAY HARM IN A LAWSUIT.\n\nWhen a person is pulled up at law for abusive language, let him when\nentering the court-house spit in his fist, grasp his staff firmly, and\nsay the following words. There is then no danger of being found guilty.\nThe charm was originally got from Big Allan of Woodend (_Ailein M\u00f2r\ncheannacoille_), in Kingairloch, who had been a soldier at the time of\nthe Irish Rebellion, and had himself learned it in his youth. The names\nof the saints show the charm to be very ancient.\n\n    \u201cI will close my fist,\n      Faithful to me is the wood;\n    It is to protect my abusive words\n      I enter in.\n    The three sons of Clooney will save me\n      And Manaman MacLeth,\n    And St. Columba, gentle cleric,\n      And Alexander in heaven.\u201d\n\nThe name \u201cManaman MacLeth\u201d is probably a corruption of \u201cManannan\nMacLeirr,\u201d the Manx magician, who is said to have covered that island\nwith a mist, which was dispelled by St. Patrick. _Ni-Mhanainnein_\n(_i.e._ the daughter of Manannain) is mentioned in a Gaelic tale as\nhaving remarkably beautiful music in her house, and \u201cthe Dairy-maid,\nthe daughter of Manannan\u201d (_Bhanachag ni Mhannainein_) is mentioned in\nanother tale as a midwife, whose residence was somewhere near the moon.\n\nIn addition to magic cures by means of rhymes, many were effected, and\nmuch security was obtained, by means of beads, stones, and plants. A\ncollection of these formed a considerable part of the armoury of witches,\nblack and white.\n\n\nSERPENT STONE.\n\nOf all the means of which superstition laid hold for the cure of disease\nin man or beast, the foremost place is to be assigned to the Serpent\nStone (_Clach Nathrach_), also called the Serpent Bead or Glass (_Glaine\nNathair_). It is an undoubted relique of Druidism, and as such worthy of\nparticular attention.\n\nPliny (29 c. 3) tells us that the Emperor Claudius put to death a knight\nof the Vocontian Gauls for carrying a serpent-egg (_ovum anguinum_) about\nhim while engaged in a lawsuit. He also gives a description of the manner\nin which the egg or bead is manufactured by the serpents. In summer\ninnumerable serpents enwrap one another, and generate the egg from the\nslaver of their jaws and bodies. They then, according to the Druids, cast\nit up into the air by their hissings, when it must be caught in a garment\nlest it touch the ground. The person who is bold enough to intercept it\nmust fly away on a horse, for the serpents follow till a river intercepts\nthem. The test of a true egg is, that it swims against the stream, even\nif bound in gold (_si contra aquas fluitet, vel auro vinctum_). The\nDruids further say it must be got at a particular season of the moon.\nThe one Pliny saw was about the size of a round apple. It procures\nvictory in lawsuits, and entrance to kings.\n\nThe tales told in modern times of the Serpent Stone, its manufacture and\nwonderful properties, are of a similar class, and leave no doubt that in\nthese beads and the use made of them we have the remains of an imposture,\nif not instituted, at least practised by the Druids.\n\nThe ordinary _Glaine Nathair_ (Serpent Glass) is of smaller size than is\nindicated by Pliny. The one which the writer saw was about the size of a\ngun bullet, and about 1\u00bc in. long. There was a hole through from end to\nend, and depressions on its sides, as if it had once been soft, and had\nbeen taken up gently between the finger and thumb. It is of transparent\nglass, but glass unlike that of the present day. There are extremely\nbrilliant and curious streaks of colour in it. It is now merely a family\nheir-loom, but in olden times was in great demand for dipping in water to\nbe given to bewitched persons or beasts. The sloughed skin (_cochull_)\nof the serpent itself was used for the same purpose. Water in which it\nwas dipped was given to sick beasts. The tale as to the manner in which\nit was originally got is the same as is told of other beads of the same\nkind. The serpents are assembled in a coiling mass, with their heads in\nthe air hissing horribly, slavering, and out of their slaver making the\nserpent stone. The spittle, in course of becoming solid, was known as\n_meall \u00e8ochd_. That the story was not implicitly believed is shown by the\naddition that, when the bead is finished, one of the serpents puts its\ntail through it. Thus the hole by which it is perforated is made.\n\nIn the case of the Bead which the writer saw, the person who came upon\nthe serpents at their work is said to have waited till the reptiles\nslept. He then worked the bead out of their circle with a straw or twig\nof heather. As he took it up between his finger and thumb, and made off\nwith it, he observed that the pressure of his fingers marked it, it\nbeing still soft, and this made him put a straw through it to carry it\nhome. This story fairly accounts for the shape of the bead and the marks\nupon it. The marks look as if they were so made when the stone was soft.\nAnother account says that the finder came on a rock above where the\nserpents were at work, and, rolling his plaid into a ball, threw it down\nthe rock near them. Instantly the serpents made a dash at the plaid, and\nwhile they were reducing it to shreds he made off with the Adder Stone.\nBy means of a sharp-pointed stick, prepared for the purpose, and thrust\nthrough the soft bead, he raised it to the top of the rock, and, taking\nit between his finger and thumb, ran home.\n\nSimilar legends of the Adder Stone were current in the Lowlands. Scott\nsays the name is applied \u201cto celts and other perforated stones.\u201d In\nthe Highlands the name is not applied to stones. In Wales and Ireland\nthe Bead is known as \u201cDruid\u2019s Glass.\u201d A more than historical interest\nattaches to it, from the means it gives of tracing, beyond the\npossibility of mistake, the use of amulets and superstitious charms to\nthe times and teaching of the much-lauded Druids, and raises, if it does\nnot throw light upon, questions as to the early intercourse of nations.\n\nThe manufacture of serpent beads is involved in obscurity. There\nis nothing known to create a probability that they are of Celtic\nworkmanship. The Ph\u0153nicians from a very early date knew the art of\nglass-making, and their commerce extended far and wide, and as far as the\nshores of the British Isles, then the remotest part of the known world.\nIt is, therefore, possible these beads came from Ph\u0153nician sources. They\nare, it is said, found on the coasts of the Baltic and Mediterranean,\nin England and France, as well as in Ireland and Scotland, and it is\npossible enough their diffusion was owing to traders from Ph\u0153nicia and\nher colonies in Gaul and at Massilia. Similarly, idols are exported, at\nthe present day from England to India. Fully as much, however, can be\nurged in behalf of a supposition that the beads are of Egyptian origin,\nand were obtained by the Celtic priests from the ancient Egyptian\nenchanters. The Egyptians from the earliest times used glass extensively,\nand could cut, grind, and engrave it, inlay it with gold, imitate\nprecious stones in it, and colour it with great brilliancy. A bead found\nat Thebes is ascribed to B.C. 1500, and relics of a similar class are not\nunfrequently found in the Egyptian catacombs. If they could be said to be\nof exactly the same manufacture with the Celtic beads, the question is\nnearly set at rest. Meyer gives it as his view that the first westward\nstream of Celtic immigration passed through Egypt, along the north coast\nof Africa, and entered Europe by the Straits of Gibraltar. Ancient\nIrish history, if there be any truth in its fables, points to a similar\nconclusion. The subject is one of which nothing certain is known, and its\ndecision is of value in showing whether the Celtic priests got their aids\nto superstition from their Egyptian brethren.\n\n\nSNAIL BEADS (_Cnaipein Seilcheig_).\n\nSnails also are said to form themselves into a mass and manufacture a\nstone of great virtue as a charm (_Clach shianaidh_). It protects its\nlucky possessor against all danger. Its name is \u201ca snail bead\u201d (_Cnaipein\nseilcheig_), or \u201ca snail stone\u201d (_Clach na seilcheig_). Four or five\nsnails are engaged in the manufacture of each stone. Water in which it is\ndipped is good for sore eyes and for mouths broken out with tetter.\n\n\nFROG STONE.\n\nThe King Frog has in its head a stone of immense value. \u201cThe Frog Stone\u201d\n(_Clach nan gilleadha cr\u00e0igein_) is said by Pennant to be merely a kind\nof fossil tooth, known as bufonite. It has been made the best known of\nthis class of physical charms, from Shakespeare\u2019s comparison of adversity\nto the toad, which, though \u201cugly and venomous,\u201d yet \u201cwears a precious\njewel in its head.\u201d\n\nThe swamp at Achagaval in Morvern was tenanted by a King Frog or Toad,\nthe reputation of which was widespread. It was called _Seid_, a word of\nwhich the usual meaning is \u201ca truss of hay or straw.\u201d One, who stayed\nin the neighbourhood of the fen, said, he heard, not once but scores\nof times, the cry of the animal from as great a distance as the top of\na neighbouring hill, _Beinn nam Bearrach_, and he could compare it to\nnothing so much as the yelping of \u201ca soft mastiff whelp\u201d (_bog chuilein\nt\u00f2dhlair_). The part of the fen which the King Frog most frequented was\ncalled _L\u00f2n na Seid_, and in winter, when it was frozen over, a tame\notter was let down through a hole in the ice in the hope of driving the\nfrog to the opening. Otters must come occasionally to the surface to\nbreathe, and the one in question having come for that purpose, its owner,\nin his eagerness to secure the jewel, mistook it for the King Frog, and\ngave it a rap on the head that killed it on the spot.\n\n\nSTONES.\n\nIn addition to jewels found in animals, superstition made use of stones\nof various forms, spherical and pointed, plain and ornamented, of unknown\norigin, but bearing evidence of having been reduced to form by human art.\nThese were carefully preserved in families as heirlooms, and are found\nin tumuli, graves, and road-cuttings, dredged from rivers, and turned up\nby the plough. They are undoubted relics of a remote past, and have been\nreferred by antiquaries to a prehistoric age and savages who lived before\niron was invented. The ingenuity of those who advocate this view of their\norigin is sufficiently tested in finding a practical use for the stones\nas weapons of war or the chase, as employed in games of chance, or as\narticles of domestic use, corn-crushers, hatchets, or personal ornaments.\nNo doubt many of them were originally intended for such purposes; but\nthe uselessness of others and the absence of fitness for any known or\nconceivable purpose of utility, indicate a different origin. It is not\neasy, for instance, to assign any ordinary use to such a stone-ball as\nthat pictured in Wilson\u2019s _Prehistoric Annals of Scotland_, i., 195, and\nto many others of still more curious appearance and with more elaborate\nornaments. The incised ornaments forbid the idea of their being of\nordinary service, and the prevalence of witchcraft, with its armoury of\ncuriously-shaped stones and mysterious natural productions, among all\nsavage tribes, makes it highly probable they were the implements of the\nprehistoric conjurer\u2019s craft, and were from the first associated with\nstrange virtues. As a lethal weapon the first stone picked up from the\nground was as serviceable. They have been associated with the popular\nsuperstitions of very modern times. It is not unlikely that from the\nbeginning they were so associated.\n\n\nFAIRY ARROW.\n\nThe most common of these primitive relics was the Fairy Arrow or Elf-bolt\n(_saighead shith_, pron. _sa\u00eft hee_), which was believed to be thrown by\nthe Fairies at cattle and men. It was said in the Highlands the elves\ncould not throw it themselves, but compelled some mortal, who was at\nthat time being carried in their company, to do so. When friendly, he\nmissed his aim, and so disappointed his instigators. A person struck\ninstantaneously lost the power of his limbs, and was taken to the Fairy\ndwelling. Only his semblance remained. He appeared to die, or an old Elf\nwas substituted for him, to animate the powerless frame and receive the\nkindness bestowed by mortals on what they thought was their afflicted\nfriend. Similarly elf-struck cattle devoured all the food and gave all\nthe trouble of healthy cattle, but yielded no return; they neither gave\nmilk nor grew fat.\n\nThe Elf-bolt is a flint flake reduced with patient ingenuity to the form\nof an arrow-head, and is in length from one to six inches. Arch\u00e6ologists\nsay these flints formed the arrow and the lance heads of a primitive\nstone race, but their unsuitableness for being firmly secured to a\nproper shaft alone makes this supposition not always likely. An arrow\nwith a flint for a head must have been too weighty at one end, and the\nAllophylian (if there was such a person) must have been very destitute of\ningenuity if he could not make a more serviceable arrow-head from bone\nsplinters or hardened wood. When men believed in Fairies these flint\nheads made their appearance as readily as images do under a system of\nidolatry.\n\nWhoever had one of these arrows in his possession was safe from Fairy\nattacks, and water in which it was dipped restored to health man or beast\nstruck with sudden illness.\n\nSimilar virtues were ascribed to the Fairy Spade (_Caibe s\u00ecth_), a\nsmooth, slippery, black stone (_m\u00ecn sleamhuinn du_), supposed to resemble\na spade. It was also put in water to be given to sick people and cattle.\n\n\nCRUBAN STONE.\n\nThe Cruban Stone (_Clach a Chr\u00f9bain_) cured diseases in the joints. It\nis said by Pennant to have been that species of fossil-shell called\ngryphite. Its name is from _cr\u00f9ban_, a sitting, or squatting, or\ncrouching attitude in man or beast, the result of a disease in the feet\nthat makes them unable to stand. A stone of this kind in Breadalbane was\nlent only under a pledge of two cows (_an geall c\u00e0raid cruidh_). If the\nstone was not returned the cows were to be forfeited.\n\n\nVARIOUS.\n\nA round stone, exactly resembling the one above referred to, as pictured\nby Wilson, with six regularly arranged circles carved upon it, was long\nin the possession of a family in Knapdale, and is now in Tiree. It was\nused for the relief of colic pains and other internal gripings, and was\nbelieved to cast a skin (_tilg rusg_) when put in the water to be used.\nIt was called _Clach a Ghreimich_, the Gripe Stone. There was a companion\nstone of the same size for the cure of the Evil-Eye. Mary Macintyre, the\nnoted Fort-William witch, a native of Barra, had a stone called _Clach na\nL\u00e9ig_, the pebble of healing virtues, with a hole in it, through which\nshe thrust her tongue previous to making divinations. It was of a blue\ncolour, and by means of it Mary could give young women accounts of their\nsweethearts, secure for seamen and others who came to Fort-William with\nflesh and other commodities a sale for their goods, etc.\n\nThere is a stone in Caolas, Tiree, called _Clach na stoirm_, the Storm\nStone, almost entirely buried in the ground. If taken out of the ground,\ncleaned, and set upright, it will cause a storm to arise.\n\nThe Ardvoirlich Stone (in Perthshire) was used for the cure of murrain in\ncattle. A person going for it must not speak, or sit, or enter a house,\nor be found outside a house after sunset. He must take up his quarters\nfor the night before the sun sets.\n\n\n_Soisgeul_, GOSPEL.\n\nA \u201cGospel\u201d consisted of a verse of Scripture, or a hymn, or some good\nwords, usually got from the priest, and sewn in the clothes to keep the\nwearer from weakness of mind, and as a protection from spite (_air son\ninntinn lag \u2019s droch r\u00f9n_). When going for it, a person must not speak to\nanyone on the way, and must take up his lodgings for the night before the\nsun goes down.\n\n\nMISCELLANEOUS CURES.\n\nBesides all these magic cures, there were others practised by boys and\nresorted to by the superstitious, without much thought as to there being\nmagic in them or not. The cure in many cases was supposed to be effected\nor the desired gift conferred by natural means.\n\n\nWARTS (_Foineachun_).\n\nThese were cured by putting in a bag as many knots or joints of straw or\ngrass (_gl\u00f9inean shop_) as there were warts to be banished, and leaving\nthem on the public road. The first person who lifted the bag was to have\nthe warts in future. Another equally efficacious plan was to take a\ngrain of barley (_spilgein e\u00f2rna_) for every wart and bury it in some\nretired spot, where it was never to be disturbed. Should both these\nsimple cures fail, pig\u2019s blood was applied to the warts and rubbed off\nwith a clout. This cloth was made up into a parcel and left on the road.\nThe warts were removed to the hands of the first person who opened it.\n\n\nSTYE (_Ne\u00f2nagan_).\n\nA stye on the eye (pron. _sle\u00f2nachan_) was cured by putting one end of\na stick in the fire, pointing the burning end towards the sore eye, and\nwhirling it round rapidly in a circle, saying, \u201cA stye one, a stye two, a\nstye three,\u201d etc., down to \u201ca stye nine,\u201d and then adding, \u201ctake yourself\noff, stye.\u201d The charm was also performed by repeating, while the stick\nwas being whirled, \u201cGo back, go back, go back, stye\u201d (_air ais, air ais_,\netc.). Others placed great faith in rubbing the eye with gold.\n\n\nTETTER (_Teine-d\u00e9_, HERPES LABIALIS).\n\nBoys troubled with eruptions on the mouth were infuriated by a rhyme:\n\n    \u201cA tetter on your mouth,\n    Your step-mother laid an egg,\n    And you hatched the brood.\u201d[20]\n\nThe first part of the name is _teine_, a fire, and a curious question\narises as to what _d\u00e9_ is. It occurs also in _dearbadan d\u00e9_, a butterfly.\nIt looks like the genitive of _dia_, god.\n\n\nHICCUP (_an aileag_)\n\nwas cured by accusing the person who had it of theft. This stands\nsomewhat to reason in the case of children. If they be ingenuous, such an\naccusation skilfully made rouses their nature to such an extent that the\nhiccup disappears.\n\n\nHOOPING-COUGH (_an trigh_, _an tr\u00eeugh_).\n\nIt was a saying: \u201cWhoever drinks mare\u2019s milk with an aspen spoon will\nhave hooping-cough but slightly\u201d (_Fear sam bi dh\u2019 \u00f2las bainne capuill le\nsp\u00e0in chrithionn, cha ghabh e\u2019n trigh ach aotrom_).\n\n\nSTIFF NECK,\n\nsuch as may be got from sleeping with too high a pillow or the head awry,\nwas cured by squeezing the neck between the legs of the tongs.\n\n\nTOOTHACHE (_D\u00e9ide_).\n\nThis excruciating disease was supposed to be capable of cure by putting\na dead man\u2019s finger or a coffin nail in the mouth, and people have been\nknown in their agony to try both expedients. The person resorting to\nthis cure must go for the nail or dead man\u2019s finger to the graveyard\n(_roluig_), though very likely this part of the experiment was rarely\ntried. As in the case of those who go to have a tooth pulled, the pain\ndisappeared on the way.\n\n\nFALLING SICKNESS (_an tuiteamas_).\n\nWhen a new-born child is being washed, a straw rope (_sioman_) twined\nround it, and then cut in pieces, is a safeguard during life against\nepilepsy, falling sickness (_tinneas tuiteamas_), or as it was\neuphemistically called, \u201cthe out sickness\u201d (_an tinneas a-muigh_). In\nSutherlandshire, a second attack was supposed to be prevented by burying\na cock alive when the first occurred.\n\n\nMADNESS.\n\nIn the Highlands, as elsewhere, rough usage (often amounting to\nbrutality) was believed to be the most suitable treatment for those\nsuffering under this the greatest of human misfortunes, mental aberration.\n\nOn a Thursday (it should be no other day), a person was to take the\nlunatic behind him on a _grey_ horse, and gallop at the horse\u2019s utmost\nspeed three times round a boundary mark (_comharra criche_), and then to\nan immovable stone. On making the madman speak to this stone the cure was\ncomplete.\n\nA plan (of which there are traditions in the Hebrides) was to put a rope\nround the madman\u2019s waist and drag him after a boat till he was nearly\ndead.\n\nIn Strathfillan (_Srath Fhaolain_), of which the common name is \u201cthe\nstraths\u201d (_sraithibh_), in Perthshire, is a pool in the river, which\nwinds through the strath, and the ruins of a chapel at Clachan, about\nhalf a mile distant, which at one time enjoyed a wide reputation for\nthe cure of this affliction. One who was alive a few years ago and used\nto assist at the ceremonies to be observed in the chapel, remembered as\nmany as twelve madmen being left tied there at a time. Tradition says St.\nFillan had in his possession a stone of marvellous virtue. Some people\nwere taking it from him by violence when he threw it in a deep pool in\nthe river, and from this the pool derived its miraculous virtue. Mad\npeople were made to go three times _deiseal_ (_i.e._ keeping the pool\non their right hand) round the linn, and then were plunged headlong in.\nOn being taken out, three stones were lifted from the pool and placed\nin a cairn, which may still be seen. A stone bowl was filled with water\nto be consecrated and poured on the patient\u2019s head. The madman was\ntaken to the chapel and placed on his back on the ground, stretched\nbetween two sticks, and laced round with ropes in a very simple manner.\nIf he succeeded in extricating himself before morning good hopes were\nentertained of his recovery. The ropes were so arranged that he could do\nso easily. He had only to push them from him towards his feet, but if he\nwas outrageous he was hopelessly entangled. The pool lost its virtue in\nconsequence of a mad bull having been thrown into it. It is now known as\n\u201cthe bull\u2019s pool\u201d (_linne \u2019n tairbh_).\n\n\n_M\u00e0m_, AXILLARY SWELLING.\n\nA swelling of the axillary glands (_f\u00e0ireagun na h-achlais_) is an\nailment that soon subsides or breaks into an ulcer. The \u2018skilful\u2019\nprofessed to cure it in the following manner, and no doubt when the\nswelling subsided, as in most cases it did, the whole credit was given\nto their magic ceremony. On Friday (on which day alone the ceremony was\nefficacious) certain magic words were muttered to the blade of a knife\nor axe (the more steel the better), which was held for the purpose close\nto the mouth, and then, the blade being applied to the sore place, the\nswelling was crossed and parted into nine, or other odd numbers or\nimaginary divisions. After each crossing, the axe was pointed towards\na hill, the name of which commences not with _ben_, a lofty hill, but\n_mam_, a round mountain. For instance, in Mull and neighbourhood, the\nmalady was transferred (_do chuids\u2019 air_, _tha sid air_, _do roinn-sa\nair_, etc.) to _M\u00e0m L\u00ecrein_, _M\u00e0m an t-sn\u00f2id_, _M\u00e0m Doire Dhubhaig_, _M\u00e0m\nChlachaig_, _M\u00e0m Bhrathadail_, etc., all hills in that island. When the\nswelling was \u2018counted\u2019 (_air \u00e0ireamh_) the axe was pointed to the ground,\nsaying, \u201cthe pain be in the ground and the affliction in the earth\u201d (_a\nghoimh san l\u00e0r, \u2019s a chr\u00e1dh san talamh_).\n\n\nLUMBAGO (_Leum droma_).\n\nWhen the back is strained and its nerves are affected so that motion is\npainful, the afflicted person is to lie down on his face, and one who was\nborn feet foremost is to step thrice across him, each time laying his\nfull weight on the foot that treads on the patient\u2019s back. There is no\ncure unless the person stepping across has been born feet foremost.\n\n\nCONSUMPTION (_Caitheamh_).\n\nOn the farm of Crossapol in Coll there is a stone called _Clach Thuill_,\n_i.e._ the Hole Stone, through which persons suffering from consumption\nwere made to pass three times in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy\nGhost. They took meat with them each time, and left some on the stone.\nThe bird that took the food away had the consumption laid upon it.\nSimilar stones, under which the patient can creep, were made use of in\nother islands.\n\n\nLEPROSY (_M\u00f9r_).\n\nThe waterfall at Scorrybreck, near Portree in Skye, called _Easa suc\nCon_, forms in the rock a natural trough or basin about the length and\nbreadth of a man. A daughter of Lochlin, suffering from an incurable\nskin disease (_m\u00f9r_, leprosy?), in the course of her journeys in search\nof a cure (there being a prophecy that her cure was to be found in a\nnorthern island), came to this waterfall. The trough was emptied, and she\nwas placed lying in it. She lay there till it again filled, and her cure\nwas effected.\n\n\n_Loch Ma N\u00e0r_,\n\nin Sutherlandshire, if entered on the first Monday of August, was\nbelieved to cure any and every disease or sickness.\n\n\nWELLS.\n\nThroughout the Highlands there are wells to which wonderful powers\nin the healing of disease were ascribed in olden times. They were\ngenerally, but not always, called after some saint, and their waters\nwere drunk on certain days or at a particular hour of the day and with\ncertain ceremonies and offerings. The importance of these wells and the\npilgrimages to them disappeared with the Roman Catholic religion, and\nhardly a trace now remains of their former honours beyond the name.\n\n\u201cThe well of the Fian flag-stone\u201d (_Tobar Leac nam Fiann_) in Jura cured\nevery disease. When the sick person went to it he had to leave in it a\npin, a needle, a button, or other article, and if this was afterwards\ntaken away there was no cure.\n\nIn a cave beyond Sanna in Ardnamurchan, and near the village of\n_Pl\u00f2caig_, there was about thirty years ago a hole, holding about a\nbowlful, made in the floor of the cave by water dripping from the roof.\nThe waters of this receptacle were decreed of great efficacy in making\nthose who drank it gay and strong. It was in request by young men of a\nlively disposition, women rising from childbed, etc. When entering, a\ncopper coin, a metal button, or a nail, was placed somewhere near the\ndoor, and unless this was done it was not safe to enter. At the time\nmentioned the shelves of the cave were full of these offerings.\n\nIn North Uist, between Loch Maddy and D\u00efusa in Merivale, there is a\nwell that cures the toothache. In the islet of St. Cormick, on the east\nof Cantyre, there was a well that cured the jaundice till an old wife\nfrom Breadalbane asked the saint in rude or uncivil terms to cure her\ndistemper (_vide_ Old Statistical Account).\n\nIn Coll, near the _tung_ or family burying-ground of the M\u2019Leans of Coll,\nthere is a well called \u201cthe well of stones\u201d (_tobar nan clach_), and not\nfar from it a sunken rock in the sea called _Cairgein_. It was a saying\nthat as long as a person got water from the one and dulse from the other\nhe need never die of want.\n\nAt the back of Hough Hill, in Tiree, there is a well called \u201cthe well\nof the nine living\u201d (_Tobar na naoi b\u00e8o_), which in a season of great\nscarcity supported a widow and her eight children without any nourishment\nbut itself and shellfish. Hence its name.\n\n\nPLANTS AND TREES. MOUNTAIN ASH.\n\nThe efficacy of the wicken tree against witches, already described, was a\nwidespread belief, found in England as well as in the Highlands, where it\nwas also said to make the best rod for a fisherman. If he takes with him\n\n    \u201cRagged tackle,\n    A stolen hook,\n    And a crooked wicken rod,\u201d[21]\n\nhe is most likely to be in luck. The reason is that no evil or envious\neye will rest upon himself or his equipments (_cha laidh s\u00f9il orra_).\n\n\nPEARLWORT (_M\u00f2than_).\n\nThe Trailing Pearlwort (_Sagina procumbens_), which grows in very dry\nplaces and on old walls, was one of the most efficacious plants against\nthe powers of darkness. This efficacy was attributed to its being the\nfirst plant trodden on by Christ when He came on earth. Placed on the\nlintel of the door (_san \u00e0rd dorus_), it kept the spirits of the dead,\nif they returned, from entering the house. If in the bull\u2019s hoof, at the\ntime of being with the cow, the offspring\u2019s milk could not be taken away\nby witches. When placed below the right knee of a woman in labour, it\ndefeated the machinations of the fairy women. It must be pulled with\ncertain words:\n\n    \u201cI will pull the pearlwort,\n        The plant that Christ ordained,\n    No fear has it of fire-burning\n        Or wars of Fairy women.\u201d[22]\n\n\nST. JOHN\u2019S WORT (_Achlasan Challum Chille_).\n\nThe Gaelic name of the Upright St. John\u2019s Wort (_hypericum pulchrum_)\nmeans literally St. Columba\u2019s axillary one. Why so called does not\nappear. To be of use it must be found when neither sought for nor wanted.\nIf sought for, it has no efficacy more than another plant, but if\naccidentally fallen in with, and preserved, it wards off fever and keeps\nits owner from being taken away in his sleep by the Fairies. One version\nof the rhyme to be said in pulling it is in these words:\n\n    \u201cThe axillary plant of Colum-Cill,\n      Unsought for, unwanted,\n    They will not take you from your sleep\n      Nor will you take fever.\n    I will pull the brown-leaved one,\n    A plant found beside a cleft,\n    No man will have it from me,\n    Without more than my blessing.\u201d[23]\n\nAnother version runs:\n\n    \u201cI will pull the axillary one,\n    \u2019Tis the plant of fair women,\n    \u2019Tis the graceful feast\n    And the luxurious court;\n    A male plant, a female plant,\n    A plant the birds of the streams had,\n    A plant the Good Being had in his need,\n    And Christ had among strangers,\n    So better be its reward to the right hand\n    That holds it.\u201d[24]\n\n\nJUNIPER (_Iubhar-beinne_, lit. Mountain Yew).\n\nThis plant is a protection by sea and land, and no house in which it is\nwill take fire. It must be pulled by the roots, with its branches made\ninto four bunches, and taken between the five fingers, saying:\n\n    \u201cI will pull the bounteous yew\n      Through the five bent ribs of Christ,\n    In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,\n      Against drowning, danger, and confusion.\u201d[25]\n\nThe plant is also called _aiteal_ in Gaelic.\n\n\nYARROW (_Chathair l\u00e0ir_).\n\nThis plant of power was also pulled with mystic words, of which but four\nlines have been recovered.\n\n    \u201cI will pull the yarrow,\n    As Mary pulled it with her two hands,\n    I will pull it with my strength,\n    I will pull it with the hollow of my hand,\u201d[26] etc.\n\nIn many parts of the Highlands the yarrow is called _Cathair-thalanda_,\nwhich means the same as _c. l\u00e0ir_, lit. the ground chair.\n\n\n\u201cTHE ENTICING PLANT\u201d (_Lus an t\u00e0laidh_).\n\nThis plant grows in soft places among heather, and has a purple flower.\nFrom the descriptions given of it, it seems to be the purple orchis or\nwild hyacinth. It has two roots, one larger than the other, and it is\nin these its magic power consists. The largest represents the man, the\nlesser a woman, whose affections are to be gained. The plant is to be\npulled by the roots before sunrise, with the face directed to the south.\nWhichever root is used is to be immediately placed in spring water,\ntaking care that no part of the sun\u2019s surface is above the horizon. If it\nsinks, the person whose love is sought will prove the future husband or\nwife. If the charm is made for no one in particular, the root reduced to\npowder and put below the pillow causes dreams of the person to be married.\n\n\nTHE DAUGHTER OF THE KING OF ENCHANTMENTS\n\n(_Neghinn Righ Sionnach_).\n\nThe daughter of _Righ Sionnach_ was found in the hunting hill by a party\nof hunters, as the writer heard the story, and they took her home with\nthem. The Chief married her, and she lived with his mother in the same\nhouse, and had three children before she was heard to utter a word.\nAfterwards, on the occasion of a feast being prepared, they gave her a\ncandle to hold when she said:\n\n    \u201cOn thine account candle\n    Put in my hand to hold\n    Standing in the smoke\n    That was not my customary wont\n    In my mother and father\u2019s house.\u201d\n\nHer mother-in-law answered:\n\n    \u201cAt your leisure, my good woman,\n    Well I knew the company,\n    One cow with three teats,\n    And nine people.\u201d\n\nShe replied:\n\n    \u201cThat was not the custom\n    In my father and mother\u2019s house\n    There was not one cow three teated\n    Nor a company of nine in number\n    But nine chains of pure gold\n    Hung in the house of the King of Enchantments.\u201d[27]\n\nBy her words it was found out whose daughter she was, and whence she had\ncome.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nDEATH WARNINGS.\n\n\nDeath has always been deemed the greatest evil that afflicts humanity,\nand the terrors and awe which its advent inspires have given superstition\nits amplest scope. The \u201cKing of Terrors\u201d no doubt throws its shadows\nbefore it, but that foreshadowing belongs to medical diagnosis. The\nsuperstition connected with it consists in making unusual appearances\nand natural phenomena, having no relation to it beyond an accidental\nproximity in time, forerunners of its dread approach. The mind loves\nto dwell on the circumstances connected with the death of a departed\nand dear friend, and amid a sparse population, death is not an event\nof that frequency and daily occurrence which make it to the townsman\nlittle heeded, till it affects himself and his friends. Besides, doubt\nand scepticism are not spontaneous in the human mind, and whenever any\none states positively that he saw supernatural indications connected\nwith the death or spirit of one departed, he naturally and readily\nfinds credence. By being frequently told the tale becomes more and more\ncertain, and traditions, once they have attained the rank of beliefs, are\nvery slow in dying out. That the excitable and imaginative mind of the\nCelt should, therefore, have a firm belief in supernatural fore-warnings\nof death is not at all surprising.\n\nCertain families and septs had death-warnings peculiar to themselves,\nand whenever any of them was on his death-bed, particularly when the\ndeath of a chief was at hand, some one about the house was sure to see\nor hear the warning. Before the death of any of the Breadalbane family,\nthe descendants of Black Duncan of the Cowl (_Donncha du a churraichd_),\na bull was heard at night roaring up the hillside. The bellowing grew\nfainter as it ascended the mountain, and died away as it reached the top.\nThe origin of this superstition probably is, that Black Duncan is accused\nof having once had a bull\u2019s head brought in at a feast as a signal for\nthe massacre of a number of the M\u2019Gregors, whom he had invited in a\nfriendly manner to the castle. The clan Maclachlan were warned of death\nby the appearance of a little bird; a sept of the M\u2019Gregors, known as the\nchildren or descendants of Black Duncan (_Clann Dhonncha dhui_), by a\nwhistle; another family of the same clan, \u201cthe children of little Duncan\u201d\n(_Clann Dhonncha bhig_), by a light like that of a candle. Other signals\nwere shouting (_sgairt_), cries of distress, screaming (_sgriachail_),\nsounds of weeping, etc. When any of them foreboded death, it was heard\nwhere no human being could be, and there was an unearthly tone about it\nthat struck a chill into the hearer\u2019s heart.\n\nBefore the death of a duine wassal (_duin uasal_, a gentleman), a\nlight or meteor called _Dreag_ or rather _Driug_, was seen in the sky\nproceeding from the house to the grave in the direction in which the\nfuneral procession was to go. It was only for \u2018big men,\u2019 people of\nstation and affluence, that these lights appeared, and an irreverent\ntailor once expressed a wish that the whole sky were full of them.\n\n\nHUGH OF THE LITTLE HEAD (_Eoghan a chinn bhig_).\n\nThis was the best known and most dreadful spectre in the West Highlands,\nthe phantom of a headless horseman, which made its appearance whenever\nany of the Maclaines of Lochbuy, in Mull, were near their dissolution.\nThe spectral horseman is mounted on a small black steed, having a white\nspot on its forehead, and the marks of the hoofs of which are not like\nthose of other horses, but round indentations as if it had wooden legs.\nWhenever any of the sept which he follows are on their death-bed Hugh\nis heard riding past the house, and sometimes even shows himself at\nthe door. He does not sit straight on his horse\u2019s back, but somewhat to\none side, and the appearance of the almost headless body is that of a\nwater-stoup tied on the horse\u2019s back. The history of the man who is thus\ndoomed to attend at the death of any of his clan is curious. Tradition is\nnot always uniform on the subject, but the following statement reconciles\nmost of the accounts and substantially agrees with them all.\n\nHugh was the only son of Hector the Stubborn (_Eachunn Reuganach_), first\nchief of Lochbuy, in the fourteenth century, and brother of Lachlan\nthe Wily (_Lachunn L\u00f9banach_), first chief of Dowart. He got the name\nof \u201cHugh of the Little Head\u201d in his lifetime, and from the actions\nascribed to him fully bears his own testimony to the truth of the adage,\n\u201cA big head on a wise man and a hen\u2019s head on a fool\u201d (_Ceann m\u014dr air\nduine glic \u2019s ceann circ avi amadan_). Sayings of his, which tradition\nhas preserved, illustrate the curious shrewdness sometimes found in\nconnection with limited intellect. Thus, when his mother was being\ncarried for burial, he thought the pall-bearers were carrying the body\ntoo high, and he told them not to raise her so high, \u201cin case she should\nseek to make a habit of it\u201d (_mu \u2019m bi i \u2019g iarraidh a chleachdaidh_),\nand the phrase has since continued, \u201cto seek to make a habit of anything,\nlike Hugh of the Little Head\u2019s mother.\u201d He was married to a daughter of\nthe house of Macdougall of Lorn; and she proved but a very indifferent\nwife. Tradition ascribes to her several nicknames, all of them extremely\nopprobrious, \u201cThe Black-bottomed Heron\u201d (_Chorra th\u00f2n du_), \u201cStingy,\nthe Bad Black Heron\u201d (_Gortag, an droch chorra dhu_), \u201cThe Macdougall\nHeron\u201d (_Curra Dh\u00f9ghaill_), and _Dubhag t\u00f2n ri teallaich_. He was a\nfearless soldier, and altogether a very likely person to have been made a\nwandering spectre of after his death.\n\nLochbuy first belonged to the Macfadyens. Maclaine (so the family spell\nthe name) having obtained a grant of the place from the Lord of the\nIsles, deceitfully asked Macfadyen for a site for a sheep-fold (_cr\u00f2\nchaoraich_), and, having obtained a hillock for the purpose, proceeded\nto build a castle. When the place was sufficiently fortified he shot\nan arrow from it at Macfadyen, who sat at some distance picking bones\n(_spioladh chn\u00e0mh_) at his dinner. In the end Macfadyen had to leave his\nown land and go to Garmony (_Gar\u2019moin\u2019 an fhraoich_), where he supported\nhimself by coining gold, gathered in _Beinn an Aoinidh_, Mull, whence his\ndescendants became known as \u201cthe Seed of the Goldsmith\u2019s\u201d (_Si\u00f2lachadh\nnan \u00f2r-cheard_). After this Lochbuy and Dowart quarrelled. The properties\nof the two brothers adjoined, and between them lay a piece of ground, the\nownership of which they disputed. A ploughman belonging to Lochbuy was\nploughing on the debateable ground, when a friend of Dowart, who was out\nhunting, shot him. Sometime after this Dowart\u2019s two boys were on a visit\nto Lochbuy, whose wife, being a relative of the murdered ploughman, went\na piece of the way home with the children, and at a well, since called\n\u201cThe Well of the Heads\u201d (_Tobar nan ceann_), took off their heads and\nthrew them into the well, leaving the bodies on the bank. For this foul\ndeed a deadly feud sprang up between the two houses, and Hugh\u2019s wife,\nbeing a foster-sister (_co-dhalta_) of Dowart\u2019s wife, did not care though\nher husband and the house of Lochbuy should be worsted.\n\nThis feud, joined to the other grievances of the \u201cCrane,\u201d led to\nthere being so little peace at Lochbuy that the old chief gave Hugh a\nseparate establishment, and allotted to him the lands of Morinish. Hugh\nbuilt himself a castle on an islet in _Loch Sguabain_, a small lake\nbetween Lochbuy and Dowart. His wife urged him to go and get the rights\n(_c\u00f2iricheaa_), _i.e._ the title deeds, of the lands of Lochbuy, or\nperhaps to go and get more, from his father, and at last he went. It was\nexplained to him that on his father\u2019s death he would have a right to the\nwhole property, and he went away pacified. His wife, however, urged that\nit would be a small thing for Lachlan the Wily, his father\u2019s brother, to\ncome and take from him everything he had. He went again, an altercation\nensued, and he struck his aged father a violent blow on the side of\nthe head. This came to the ears of the old man\u2019s brother, the chief\nof Dowart. Glad of an excuse to cut off the heir presumptive and make\nhimself master of Lochbuy, and gratify his desire for revenge, Dowart\ncollected his men and marched to take Hugh to some place of confinement\nor kill him. Hugh collected his own men and prepared to give battle.\n\nEarly on the morning of the fight, others say the evening before, Hugh\nwas out walking, and at the boundary stream (_allt cr\u00ecche_) saw an Elfin\nwoman rinsing clothes, and singing the \u201cSong of the M\u2019Leans.\u201d[28] Her\nlong breasts, after the manner of her kind (according to the Mull belief\nregarding these weird women), hung down and interfered with her washing,\nand she now and then flung them over her shoulders to keep them out of\nthe way. Hugh crept up silently behind her, and catching one of the\nbreasts, as is recommended in such cases, put the nipple in his mouth,\nsaying, \u201cYourself and I be witness you are my first nursing mother.\u201d She\nanswered, \u201cThe hand of your father and grandfather be upon you! You had\nneed that it is so.\u201d He then asked her what she was doing. She said,\n\u201cWashing the shirts of your mortally-wounded men\u201d (_Nigheadh leintean\nnam fir ghointe agad-sa_), or (as others say) \u201cthe clothes of those who\nwill mount the horses to-morrow and will not return\u201d (_aodach nam fear\ntheid air na h-eich a m\u00e0ireach \u2019s nach till_). He asked her, \u201cWill I\nwin the fight?\u201d She answered that if he and his men got \u201cbutter without\nasking\u201d (_Im gun iarraidh_) to their breakfast, he would win; if not, he\nwould lose. He asked if he himself would return alive from the battle\n(_an d\u2019thig mise as be\u00f2?_), and she either answered ambiguously or not\nat all; and when going away left him as her parting gift (_f\u0101gail_) that\nhe should go about to give warning of approaching death to all his race.\nThe same morning he put on a new suit, and a servant woman coming in just\nas he had donned it, praised it, and said, \u201cMay you enjoy and wear it\u201d\n(_Meal is caith e_). It was deemed unlucky that a woman should be the\nfirst to say this, and Hugh replied to the evil omen by saying, \u201cMay you\nnot enjoy your health\u201d (_Na na meal thusa do shl\u00e0inte_).\n\nFor breakfast, \u201cStingy, the Black Heron,\u201d sent in curds and milk in broad\ndishes. She did not even give spoons, but told Hugh and his men to put\non hen\u2019s bills (_gobun cheare_) and take their food. Hugh waited long to\nsee if any butter would come, rubbing his shoes together impatiently,\nsaying now and then it was time to go, and giving every hint he could\nthat the butter might be sent in. At last he threw his shoe down the\nhouse, exclaiming, \u201cNeither shoes nor speech will move a bad housewife\u201d\n(_Cha ghluais br\u00f2g no bruidhinn droch bhean tighe_), and demanding the\nbutter. \u201cSend down the butter, and you may eat it yourself to-morrow\u201d\n(_cuir anuas an t-\u00ecm, \u2019s feudaidh tu fhein itheadh a m\u00e0ireach_). She\nretorted, \u201cThe kicker of old shoes will not leave skin upon palm\u201d (_Cha\u2019n\nfh\u00e0g breabadair na seana-bhr\u00f2ig craicionn air dearnaidh_). When the\nbutter came, Hugh said he did not want her curds or cheese to be coming\nin white masses through his men\u2019s sides (_tighinn na staoigean geala roi\u2019\nchliathach nam fear aige_), kicked open the milk-house door and let in\nthe dogs, and went away, leaving the breakfast untouched. The fight took\nplace at _Onoc nan Sgolb_, at the back of Innsri (_c\u00f9l na h-Innsribh_),\nnear _Ceann a Chnocain_, and not far from Torness in Glenmore. As might\nbe expected of fasting men, Hugh and his followers lost the fight. The\nsweep of a broadsword took off the upper part of his head (_copan a\nchinn_). Instead of falling dead, he jumped on the top of his horse, a\nsmall black steed with a white spot on its forehead, and ever since is\n\u201cdreeing his weird\u201d by going about to give warning when any of his race\nare about to die.[29]\n\nThe ghostly rider of the black horse (_marcaich an eich dhui_), crosses\nthe seas in discharging his task. When coming to Tiree (where there\nare now but two or three persons claiming to be of the sept of the\nLochbuy Maclaines), he takes his passage from _Port-nan-amhn\u2019_ near\n_Ru-an-t-sl\u00e9ibh_, in Treshinish, Mull. About fifty years ago a Mull\nwoman, living there, insisted that she had often, when a young woman,\nheard him galloping past the house in the evening and had seen the sparks\nfrom his horse\u2019s hoofs as he rode down to the shore on his way to Tiree.\n\nIt is told of an old man of the Lochbuy Macleans in Tiree, that on his\ndeath-bed the noise of a horse clanking a chain after it, was heard\ncoming to the house. Thinking it was Hugh of the Little Head, he said,\n\u201cThe rider of the Black Horse is clanking on his own errand\u201d (_straoilich\nair ceann a ghnothuich fhein_). On looking out the awe-struck company\nfound the noise was caused by a farm-horse dragging a chain tether\n(_langasaid_) after it.\n\nOn the high road between Calachyle and Salen in Mull, a strong man of\nthe name of Maclean was met at night by Hugh. The horseman spake never a\nword, but caught Maclean to take him away. Maclean resisted, and in the\nstruggle caught hold of a birch sapling and succeeded in holding it till\nthe cock crew. The birch tree was twisted in the struggle, and one after\nanother of its roots gave way. As the last was yielding the cock crew.\nThe twisted tree may still be seen. The same story is told of a twisted\ntree near Tobermory, and a similar one is localised between Lochaber and\nBadenoch.[30]\n\nOther premonitions of death were the howling of dogs, the appearance of\nlights, loud outcries and sounds of weeping, apparitions of the doomed\nperson\u2019s \u201cfetch,\u201d or coffin, or funeral procession, etc. These sounds and\nappearances were more apt to precede an accidental and premature death,\nsuch as drowning, and to understand them properly it will be necessary to\nenter into an examination of the doctrine of the Second Sight.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nSECOND SIGHT (_an da shealladh_).\n\n\nFreed from a good deal of mystery in which an imperfect understanding\nof its character has involved it, the gift of second sight may be\nbriefly explained to be the same as being \u201cspectre-haunted,\u201d or liable\nto \u201cspectre illusions,\u201d when that condition occurs, as it often does,\nin persons of sound mind. The phenomena in both cases are the same; the\ndifference is in the explanation given of them. In the one case the\nvision is looked on as unreal and imaginary, arising from some bodily\nor mental derangement, and having no foundation in fact, while the\nother proceeds on a belief that the object seen is really there and\nhas an existence independent of the seer, is a revelation, in fact,\nto certain gifted individuals of a world different from, and beyond,\nthe world of sense. Science has accepted the former as the true and\nrational explanation, and traces spectral illusions to an abnormal state\nof the nervous system, exhaustion of mind or body, strong emotions,\ntemperament, and others of the countless, and at times obscure, causes\nthat lead to hallucination and delusion. But before optical and nervous\ndelusions were recognised by science, while the spectres were believed to\nbe external realities having an existence of their own, the visions were\nnecessarily invested with an awe approaching to terror, and the gift or\nfaculty of seeing them could not but be referred to some such explanation\nas the doctrine of the second sight offers.\n\n\u201cThe shepherds of the Hebrid Isles\u201d are usually credited with the largest\npossession of the gift, but the doctrine was well known over the whole\nHighlands, and as firmly believed in Ross-shire and the highlands of\nPerthshire as in the remotest Hebrides. Waldron describes it as existing\nin his time in the Isle of Man. It is a Celtic belief, and the suggestion\nthat it is the remains of the magic of the Druids is not unreasonable.\nIn every age there are individuals who are spectre-haunted, and it is\nprobable enough that the sage Celtic priests, assuming the spectres to be\nexternal, reduced the gift of seeing them to a system, a belief in which\nformed part of their teaching. This accounts for the circumstance that\nthe second sight has flourished more among the Celts than any other race.\n\nThe Gaelic name _da-shealladh_ does not literally mean \u201cthe second\nsight,\u201d but \u201cthe two sights.\u201d The vision of the world of sense is _one_\nsight, ordinarily possessed by all, but the world of spirits is visible\nonly to certain persons, and the possession of this additional vision\ngives them \u201cthe two sights,\u201d or what comes to the same thing, \u201ca second\nsight.\u201d Through this faculty they see the ghosts of the dead revisiting\nthe earth, and the fetches, doubles, or apparitions of the living.\n\nThe world to which apparitions belong is called by writers on the\nsecond sight \u201cthe world of spirits,\u201d but the expression does not\nconvey correctly the idea attached to visions of the kind. The object\nseen, usually that of a friend or acquaintance, the phantasm, phantom,\napparition, or whatever else we choose to call it, was recognised to be\nas independent of the person whose semblance it bore as it was of the\nperson seeing it. He knew nothing of the phantom\u2019s appearance, it was\nnot his spirit, and played its part without his knowledge or his wish.\nThe seer, again, could not, or did not, trace it to anything in himself;\nit did not arise from any suggestion of his hopes or fears, and was not\na reproduction of any former state of his mind or thought. As to its\nowing its origin to anything abnormal in himself, he was (as far as\nhe could judge) as healthy in mind and body as other people. As long,\ntherefore, as men believed the phantasm to be an external reality, they\nwere compelled to believe in doubles, or semblances, that move in a world\nwhich is neither that of sense nor that of spirits. The actions and\nappearances of these doubles have no counterpart in any past or present\nevent, and naturally are referred to the future and the distant.\n\nThe object seen, or phantasm, is called _taibhs_ (pron. _ta\u00efsh_), the\nperson seeing it _taibhsear_ (pron. _ta\u00efsher_), and the gift of vision,\nin addition to its name of second sight, is known as _taibhsearachd_. It\nis noticeable that many words referring to spirits and ghosts begin with\nthis syllable _ta_. The following are worth noticing:\n\n_Tannas_, or _tannasg_, a spectre, generally of the dead, and in the\nidea attached to it more shadowy, unsubstantial, and spiritual than a\n_B\u00f2chdan_.\n\n_Tamhasg_ (pron. _ta\u00fcsg_), the shade or double of a living person, is\nthe common name for apparitions by which men are haunted, and with\nwhich, according to the doctrine of the second sight, they have to hold\nassignations.\n\n_T\u00e0char_, a rare and almost obsolete word, but the derivatives of which,\n_tacharan_ and _tachradh_, are still in common use. The only instances\nknown to the writer of its occurrence are in the names of places.\n_Sr\u00f2n an t\u00e0chair_, the Ghost-haunted Nose, is a rock between Kinloch\nRannoch and Druim-a-chastail, in Perthshire, where faint mysterious\nnoises were heard, and on passing which the wayfarer was left by the\nmysterious sprite which joined him in the hollow below. _Imire t\u00e0chair_,\nin the island of Iona, is a ridge leading from near the ecclesiastical\nbuildings to the hill, and, till the moor through which it runs was\ndrained in recent years, formed an elevation above a sheet of water,\u2014a\nvery likely place to have been haunted by goblins. The natives of the\nisland have no tradition or explanation of the name. The derivatives\n_tachradh_ and _tacharan_ are applied to a weak and helpless person: when\nthe first syllable is long, in pity; when short, contemptuously, as,\n_e.g._, _an t\u0103chradh gr\u00e0nda_, \u201cthe ugly wretch.\u201d\n\n_T\u00e0slaich_, a supernatural premonition, felt or heard, but not seen.\nAlso applied to the ghosts of the living. For instance, a native of Skye\nbeing asked the reason why dogs were barking at night near a churchyard,\nsaid it was because they saw _t\u00e0slaich nan daoine be\u00f2_, the ghosts of the\nliving, the premonition of a funeral.\n\n_T\u00e0radh_, noises (_straighlich_) heard at night through the house,\nindicating a change of tenants, a premonition by mysterious sounds of a\ncoming event.\n\n_Taran_, the ghost of an unbaptised child (Dr. Macpherson, p. 307), not\nnow a common word.\n\n_T\u00e0sg_, perhaps a contraction of _tamhasg_, used commonly in the\nexpression _eigheach t\u00e0isg_, the cry or wail of a fetch. Cf. _taghairm_,\nthe spirit-call.\n\nThe whole doctrine of these apparitions of the living, or, as they are\ncalled in Cumberland, _swarths_, and premonitions of coming events,\nproceeds on the supposition that people have a counterpart or other\nself, an _alter ego_, which goes about unknown to themselves, with\ntheir voices, features, form, and dress, even to their shoes, and is\nvisible to those who have the unhappy gift of the second sight. This\nphantasm, or other self, is not the life or the spirit of the person whom\nit represents. He has nothing to do with it; he may, at the time it is\nseen, be sunk in unconscious sleep, or his attention and wishes may be\notherwise taken up, and death may not be at all in his thoughts. At the\nsame time, it is not without some connection with him. Strongly wishing\nis apt to make one\u2019s _t\u00e0radh_ be heard at the place where he wishes to\nbe, and if the person whose spectre is seen be spoken to the apparition\ndisappears; but in general the _taibhs_ is independent of all thought,\nor action, or emotion of the person whom it represents. The doctrine\ndoes not assert that all men have got such a double, much less that\nthose who are most largely gifted with the second sight see it always,\nor even frequently. The spectres are visible to the seer only under\nexceptional circumstances, in certain situations, and at certain times.\nThe most usual of these are after dusk and across a fire, when a sudden\nor violent death has occurred, or is to occur, when a friend is ill, when\nstrangers are to come, or any event is impending calculated to make a\ndeep impression on the mind.\n\nSpectres are often seen with as much distinctness as external objects,\nand it would be a great injustice to the poor man, who claims to have\nvisions of things that are not there at all, to say he is telling an\nuntruth. To him the vision is really there, and it is but natural for\nhim to think it has an existence separate from himself, instead of\nreferring it to an abnormal state of his mind and nervous system. Some\nspectres \u201cmove with the moving eye,\u201d being what the poet calls \u201chard\nmechanic ghosts\u201d; others have their own proper motion, and probably arise\nin the brain. The former are the most common, and it was a test among\n_ta\u00efshers_, whether the figure seen was a wraith or not, to stoop down\nand raise themselves up again suddenly. If the figure did the same, it\nwas an apparition, a _tamhasg_.\n\nThe gift of second sight was not in any case looked upon as enviable or\ndesirable. Seers frequently expressed a wish that they had no such gift.\nIn some instances it ran in the family; in others, but rarer cases, the\nseer was the only one of his kindred who \u201csaw sights\u201d (_ch\u00ec sealladh_).\nSome had it early in life, upon others it did not come till they were\nadvanced in life. These characteristics alone show it to be in its\norigin the same as spectral illusions. It arose from hereditary disease,\nmalformation, or weakness of the visual organs, and derangements of mind\nor bodily health. It was not _voluntary_; the visions went and came\nwithout the option of the seer, and his being visited by them was deemed\nby himself and others a misfortune rather than a gift. A difference\nwas also recognised in the kinds of apparitions visible to different\nindividuals.\n\nWhen the figure of an acquaintance was seen, the manner in which the\n_taibhs_ was clothed afforded an indication to the skilful seer of the\nfate then befalling, or about to befall, the person whose _taibhs_ it\nwas. If the apparition was dressed in the dead-clothes, the person was\nto die soon; but if in every-day clothes, his death would not occur\nfor some time. If the clothes covered the entire face, his death would\nbe very soon; if the face was uncovered, or partly covered, death was\nproportionately more remote. Others saw the dead-clothes first about\nthe head, and lower down at each succeeding vision. When the feet were\ncovered death was imminent. There were, however, grave-clothes of good\nfortune (_lion-aodach \u00e0igh_) as well as grave-clothes indicative of death\n(_lion-aodach b\u00e0is_), and it was considered extremely difficult for the\nmost skilful seer to distinguish between them. He required, he said, a\nclose view of the spectre to tell which it had on.\n\nThe time of day at which the vision was seen was also an indication. The\nlater in the day, the sooner the death. If as late as 5 p.m., soon; but\nif as early as 2 a.m., the man might live for years.\n\nIf the person seen was to be drowned at sea, phosphorescent gleams\n(_teine-sionnachain_), such as are common in the Hebridean seas on summer\nnights, appeared round the figure, or its clothes seemed to drip, or\nthere was water in its shoes.\n\nThe _swarths_, or doubles, were believed to go through all the actions\nand occupy the places which the originals would afterwards perform or\noccupy. This was particularly the case with regard to funerals. They\nwent for the glasses to be used on the occasion, for the coffin, and\neven for the wood to make it, and marched in melancholy procession to\nthe churchyard. When the funeral procession was seen, the seer was\nunable to say, except by inference, whose funeral it was. For anything\nhe could directly tell, it might be, as it sometimes was, his own. He\ncould only tell the dress, position in the procession, and appearance\nof those performing the sad duty. It is dangerous to walk in the middle\nof the road at night, in case of meeting one of these processions, and\nbeing thrown down or forced to become one of the coffin-bearers to the\ngraveyard. Persons in the latter predicament have experienced great\ndifficulty in keeping on the road, the whole weight of the coffin seeming\nto be laid upon them, and pushing them off the path. If the seer goes\namong the swarths he will likely be knocked down, but in some districts,\nas Moidart, he is said to have one of the staves or bearers (_lunn_) of\nthe coffin thrust into his hand, and to be compelled to take his part in\nthe procession till relieved in due time. In Durness, in Sutherlandshire,\nthe cry of \u201cRelief!\u201d there used at every change of coffin-bearers, has\nbeen heard at night by persons whose houses were near the high-road\ncalled out by the phantasms in their ghostly procession. Persons have\nbeen caught hold of by those reputed to have the second sight, and pulled\nto a side to allow a spectral funeral to pass; and it was universally\nbelieved that when the seer saw a procession of the kind, or, indeed,\nany of his supernatural visions, he could make others see the same sight\nby putting his foot on theirs and a hand on their shoulder. He should,\ntherefore, never walk in the middle of the road at night. Ta\u00efshers never\ndid so. At any moment the traveller may fall in with a spectral funeral,\nand be thrown down or seized with the oppression of an unearthly weight.\n\nThe visions of the seer did not always relate to melancholy events,\nimpending death, funerals, and misfortunes. At times he had visions of\npleasant events, and saw his future wife, before he ever thought of\nher (at least so he said), sitting by the fireside in the seat she was\nafterwards to occupy. He could tell whether an absent friend was on his\nway home, and whether he was to have anything in his hands when coming.\nHe could not tell what the thing was to be, but merely the general\nappearance of the absent man when returning, and whether he was to come\nfull or empty handed.\n\nIt has been said that the phantasm (_taibhs_ or _tamhasg_) was\nindependent of all thought and volition on the part of those whom it\nrepresented, as well as on the part of the seer himself. At the same\ntime, it was part of the creed that if the person whose double was seen\nwas spoken to and told to cease his persecutions, the annoyance came to\nan end. The person spoken to, being utterly unconscious that his phantasm\nwas wandering about and annoying any one, got very angry, but somehow\nthe spectre ceased to appear. Before taking a final leave, however, it\ngave the person whom it had haunted (as an informant described it) \u201cone\nthundering lashing.\u201d After that it was no more seen.\n\nWhen a double is first met, if it be taken to be the man himself whose\nsemblance it bears, and be spoken to, it acquires the power of compelling\nthe person who has accosted it to hold nightly assignations with it in\nfuture. The man, in fact, from that hour becomes \u201cspectre-haunted.\u201d\nHence it was a tenet of the second sight never to be the first to speak,\non meeting an acquaintance at night, till satisfied that the figure\nseen was of this world. The seer did not like, indeed did not dare, to\ntell to others whose figure it was that haunted him. If he did so, the\nanger of the spectre was roused, and on the following evening it gave\nhim a dreadful thrashing. When he resisted, he grasped but a shadow,\nwas thrown down repeatedly in the struggle, and bruised severely. This\nform of the disease was well known in the Western Islands. The haunted\nperson, as in the case of those who had Fairy sweethearts, had to\nleave home at a certain hour in the evening to meet the spectre, and if\nhe dared for one night to neglect the assignation he received in due\ncourse a sound thrashing. Sometimes at these meetings the spectre spoke\nand gave items of information about the death of the seer and others.\nOrdinarily, however, it had merely an indistinct murmuring kind of speech\n(_tormanaich bruidhinn_).\n\nPeople noted for the second sight have been observed to have a peculiar\nlook about the eyes. One of them, for instance, in Harris was described\nas \u201calways looking up and never looking you straight in the face.\u201d\nThose who are of a brooding, melancholy disposition are most liable to\nspectral illusions, and it is only to be expected that the gloom of their\ncharacter should appear in their looks, and that many of their visions\nshould relate to deaths and funerals.\n\nAmong a superstitious and credulous people the second sight, or a\npretence to it, must have furnished a powerful weapon of annoyance, and\nthere is reason to believe that, in addition to cases of nervous delusion\nand of men being duped by their own fancies, there were many instances of\nimposture and design. So much, indeed, was this the case, that a person\nof undoubted good character, born and brought up among believers in the\nsecond sight, and himself not incredulous on the subject, said: \u201cI never\nknew a truthful, trustworthy man (_duine f\u00ecrinneach creideasach_) who\nwas a ta\u00efsher.\u201d While being spectre-haunted was honoured by the name of\na Second Sight, and was invested with mystery and awe, no doubt many laid\nclaim to it for the sake of the awe with which it invested them to annoy\nthose whom they disliked, or to make capital out of it with those anxious\nabout the future or the absent.\n\n\nSPECTRES OF THE LIVING (_Tamhasg_).\n\nSome thirty years ago a man in Tiree, nicknamed the Poult (_am Big-ein_),\nwas haunted for several months by the spectre of the person with whom he\nwas at the time at service. The phantom came regularly every evening for\nhim, and if its call was disregarded it gave him next evening a severe\nthrashing. According to the man\u2019s own account, the spectre sometimes\nspoke, and, when he understood what it said, gave good advice. Its speech\nwas generally indistinct and unintelligible. The person whose spectre it\nwas, on being spoken to on the subject, got very angry, but the visits of\nthe spectre ceased.\n\nOnly a few years ago a young man, also in Tiree, was on his way home\nabout midnight from the parish mill, where he had been kiln-drying corn.\nHe had to go against a strong gale of north-west wind, and, having his\nhead bent down and not looking well before him, ran up against a figure,\nwhich he took to be that of a young man of his acquaintance. He spoke to\nit, and the figure answered in broken, inarticulate speech (_tormanaich\nbruidhinn_). Every evening afterwards during that half-year he had to\nleave the house in which he was at service to meet, he himself said, the\nspectre that had thus met him. A person who doubted this followed one\nevening, and saw him, immediately on leaving the house, squaring out in\nboxing style to some invisible opponent, and falling at every round. The\nhaunted youth said the apparition gave him much information. It said\nthe person whose semblance it itself bore was to die of fever, that the\ncoffin was to be taken out of the house by certain individuals, whom it\nnamed, and was to be placed on two creels outside the door. On speaking\nto the lad whose apparition haunted him, the persecution ceased. The\ncommon opinion was that this was a case of imposture and design.\n\nNear Salen, in Mull, a workman, when going home from his employment in\nthe evening, forgot to take his coat with him. He returned for it, and\nthe apparition (_tamhasg_) of a woman met him, and gave him a squeezing\n(_pl\u00f9chadh_) that made him keep his bed for several days.\n\nIn the same island a man was said to have been knocked off his horse by\nan apparition.\n\nA crofter (or tenant of a small piece of land of which he has no lease)\nin Caolas, Tiree, went out at night to see that his neighbour\u2019s horses\nwere not trespassing on some clover he had in his croft. He was a man\nwho had confessedly the second sight. He observed on this occasion a\nman going in a parallel direction to himself, and but a short distance\noff. At first he thought it was only a neighbour, Black Allan, trying to\nfrighten him, but, struck by the motion and silence of the figure, he\nstooped down, and then raised himself suddenly. The figure did the same,\nproof of its being a _tamhasg_ or phantasm. The seer reached home, pale\nand ready to faint, but nothing further came of his vision.\n\nThree years ago a man, who claims to have the second sight, was on his\nway home at night to Barrapol, in the west end of Tiree, from the mill\n(which is in the centre of the island) with a sack of meal on his back.\nHe laid down the sack, and rested by the wayside. When swinging the\nburden again on his shoulder he observed a figure standing beside him,\nand then springing on the top of the sack on his back. It remained there,\nrendering the sack very oppressive, till he reached home, some miles\nfurther on.\n\nThe son of a seer in Coll was away in the south country. The seer\nwhen delving saw his son several times lending assistance, and on two\noccasions when coming home with a creelful of peats, after taking a rest\nby the way, saw him helping to lift the creel again on his back. Before\nlong word came of his son\u2019s death.\n\nAlexander Sinclair, from Erray, in Mull, was grieve at Funery in\nMorven. Two, if not three, of the servant women fell in love with him.\nHe had to cross one night a bridge in the neighbourhood, between Savory\nand Salachan, and was met by the apparitions of two women, whom he\nrecognised as his fellow-servants. One, he said, was the figure of a\ndark little woman, and lifted him over the parapet. The other was that\nof the dairymaid, in the house in which he was, and it rescued him. The\nadventure ended by his marrying the dairymaid.\n\nA man, going home at night to Ledmore (_Leudm\u00f2r_), near Loch Frisa,\nin Mull, saw the kitchen-maid of the house in which he was at service\nwaiting for him on the other side of a ford that lay in his way.\nSuspecting the appearance, he went further up the stream to avoid it,\nbut it was waiting for him at every ford. At last he crossed, and held\non his way, the apparition accompanying him. At the top of the first\nincline, the apparition threw him down. He rose, but was again thrown. He\nstruggled, but the figure, he said, had no weight, and he grasped nothing\nbut wind. On the highest part of the ascent, called _Guala Spinne_, the\napparition left him. After going home, the man spoke to the woman whose\nspectre had met him. \u201cThe next time,\u201d he said, \u201cyou meet me, I will stab\nyou.\u201d This made the woman cry, but he was never again troubled by her\napparition.\n\nA native of Glenbeg in Ardnamurchan, Henderson by name, was at service\nin Kilfinichen in Mull. One of the servant maids there made him a present\nof a pair of worsted gloves. After returning home from service, he\nhad, one evening towards dusk (_am bial an anmuich_, lit. in the mouth\nof lateness) to go from Glenbeg to Kilchoan, by a path across a steep\nincline on the side of the lofty Ben-shianta, towards the projection\nknown as \u201cThe Nose of the Macleans\u201d (_Sr\u00f2in Chloinn Illeathain_). Steep\nmountain paths of this kind are called _Catha_, and this particular catha\nis called _Catha na Muice_ (the pig\u2019s pass). Near the top of the ascent\n(_aonaich_), and where the difficult path ceases (_br\u00e0ighe na Catha_),\nthere is a narrow step (_aisre_), which only one person at a time can\ncross, leading towards another ascent (_aonaich_). When going up the\nfirst ascent, or cadha, Henderson was joined by the apparition of the\nwoman who had made him the gloves in Kilfinichen. She was on the up side\nof him, and he saw, when he came to the _aisre_, if she chose to give him\na push, he would be precipitated into the black shore (_du-chladach_),\nwhich the rocks there overhang, and become a shapeless bundle (_seirgein\ncuagach_). He blessed himself, and taking courage crossed in safety.\nWhen he got on more level ground, over towards Correi-Vulin, he took the\ngloves she had given him, and threw them at her, saying \u201cthat is all the\nbusiness you have with me.\u201d He stayed that night in _Laga Fliuch_, and\nnext day went to Kilchoan. On his return he looked for the gloves, and\nsaw them where he had thrown them. He had no return of the vision.\n\n\nAPPARITIONS OF THE DEAD.\n\nA ta\u00efsher in Tiree came upon a dead body washed ashore by the sea. The\ncorpse had nothing on in the way of clothing but a pair of sea-boots.\nOld people considered it a duty, when they fell in with a drowned\nbody, to turn it over or move it in some way. In this case, the seer\nwas so horrified that, instead of doing this, he ran away. Other\npeople, however, came, and the body was duly buried. Afterwards the\ndead man haunted the seer, and now and then appeared and terrified him\nexceedingly. One night on his way home he saw the corpse before him,\nwherever he turned, and on reaching the house it stood between him and\nthe door. He walked on till close to the house, and then called to his\nwife to take the broomstick and sprinkle the door-posts with urine. When\nthis was done, he boldly walked forward. The spectre, on his approach,\nleapt from the ground, and stood above the door with a foot resting on\neach side on the double walls. The seer entered between its legs, and\nnever saw the horrible apparition again.\n\nA ta\u00efsher in Coll had no second sight till some time after his marriage.\nWorking one day with a companion near the shore, he left for a short\ntime, but stayed away so long that, on his return, he was asked what\nkept him? He said he had been looking at the body of a drowned man, which\nthe waves were swaying backwards and forwards near the rocks. Others,\nhowever, were of opinion he had found the body on the shore, ransacked\nits clothes, and then thrown it again into the sea, and that the second\nsight was a curse sent upon him for the deed. Certain it is that from\nthat day he had the second sight. His friends at first doubted him, when\nhe said he saw visions, till he one day told his sister a certain rope in\nthe house would be sent for before morning, to be used about a body lying\non the \u201cstraight-board.\u201d This proved to be the case, and his reputation\nas a ta\u00efsher was established.\n\nA noted seer, named _Mac Dh\u00f2mhnuill Oig_, in Kilmoluag, Tiree, was\nsitting one day at home, when his brother entered, and opening a chest\nin the room, took out some money. In reply to the seer\u2019s inquiries, the\nbrother said he was going to pay such and such a shoemaker for a pair\nof shoes recently got from him. The brother died soon after, and the\nshoemaker claimed the price of the shoes. The seer warmly resisted the\nclaim, as he himself had seen his brother taking the money expressly to\npay them. That same night, however, he saw the shade of his deceased\nbrother crossing the room, and, as it were, fumbling in a particular\nplace on the top of the inner wall of the house. Next day the seer\nhimself searched in the same spot, and found there the money that had\nbeen taken out of the chest to pay the shoes. He could only think it had\nbeen placed there by his brother when alive, and had been forgotten.\n\nA ta\u00efsher, whose house was at Crossapol, where the burying-ground of\nthe island of Coll is, on his way home from the harbour of Arnagour,\nabout six miles away, experienced many mischances (_driod-fhortain_),\nsuch as falling, etc. He arrived at home to find his only child, a boy\nabout twelve years of age, dead in the burying-ground, where he had gone\nto play and fallen asleep. Its entrails (_m\u00e0thair a mhionaich_) were\nprotruding. The seer, in his distraction, belaboured the surrounding\ngraves with his stick, accusing their tenants, in his outcries, of\nindifference to him and his, and saying he had many of his kindred among\nthem, though they had allowed this evil to befall his child. That night a\nvoice came to him in his sleep, saying, he should not be angry with them\n(shades of the dead), seeing they were away that day in Islay keeping\n\u201cstrange blood\u201d from the grave of Lachlan Mor (_cumail na fuil choimhich\na uaigh Lachuinn Mh\u00f2ir_), and were not present to have rescued the child.\nThis Lachlan Mor was a man of great stature and bodily strength, chief of\nthe Macleans of Dowart, and therefore related to the Macleans of Coll,\nwho had been killed at the bloody clan battle of Gruinard Beach, in\nIslay, and was buried at Kilchoman Churchyard. On hearing of the seer\u2019s\nvision the Laird of Coll dispatched a boat to Islay, and it was found\nthat on the day the child was murdered an attempt had been made to lift\nthe chief\u2019s gravestone for the burial of a sailor, whose body had been\ncast ashore on a neighbouring beach. The attempt had failed, and the\nstone was left partly on its edge (_air a leth-bhile_). The shades had\nlaid their weight upon it, so that it could not be moved further.\n\nThis story the writer has heard more than once adduced as positive\nproof of the reality of the second sight (_tabhsearachd_), that is, of\nthe capacity of some men to see and hear spirits, or whatever else the\nspectres are. The power of the dead to lay a heavy weight upon persons as\nwell as things, and even to punish the living, is shown by the following\nstories.\n\nIn the same island of Coll the wife of Donald the Fair-haired (_D\u00f2mhnull\nB\u00e0n_) was lying ill. She had strange feelings of oppression and sickness\n(_tinneas \u2019us slachdadh_). Donald\u2019s father was a ta\u00efsher, and came to see\nher. After sitting and watching for some time he told her she had herself\nto blame for her sickness, that she must have done some act of unkindness\nor wrong to her mother, and that her feelings of oppression were caused\nby the spirit of her dead father coming and lying its weight upon her.\nThe seer professed to see the spirit of the dead leaning its weight upon\nthe sick person.\n\nA woman (the tale, which comes from Perthshire, does not say where),\nbeing ill-treated by her husband, wished, too strongly and unduly, her\nbrother, who had some time previously died in Edinburgh, were with her\nto take her part. Soon after, when she was alone, her brother\u2019s shade\nappeared, and in a tone of displeasure asked her what was wrong, and what\nshe wanted him for. She told. Her husband was at the time ploughing in a\nfield in front of the house. The woman saw the shade going towards him,\nand when it reached, her husband fell dead.\n\n\nSTRONG AND UNDUE WISHES.\n\nIt is in fact part of the creed in the Second Sight that a person should\nnever indulge in strong wishes, lest he overstep proper bounds, and\nwish what Providence has not designed to be. Such wishes affect others,\nespecially if these others have anything of the Second Sight.\n\nA woman in the island of Harris, known as _Fionnaghal a Mhoir_, was\ncelebrated for her gift of Second Sight. A young man related to her went\nto Appin, in Argyleshire, with a boat. One day, when taking a smoke, he\nexpressed a wish that _Fionnaghal a Mhoir_ had a draw of his pipe. Next\nday, and long before it could be known in Harris the youth had expressed\nsuch a wish, Flora, daughter of the Big Man (for that is the meaning of\nher name), told her friends that a pipe was being offered her all night\nby the young man, and that she was anxious enough to have a smoke from\nit, but could not.\n\nA young girl in Kennovay, Tiree, holding a bowl of milk in her hands,\nexpressed a wish a certain woman (naming one, who was a _taibhsear_) had\nthe bowl to drink. Next day the woman indicated in the wish told the girl\nshe had a sore time of it all night keeping the bowl away from her lips.\n\nIn very recent times, not above four years ago, as the driver of\nthe mail-gig was going through the Wood of Nant (_Coill an Eannd_),\nbetween Bonawe and Loch Awe, at night, he was met by the figure of his\nsweetheart, and received from it such a severe thrashing that he had to\nturn back. On telling this to herself, afterwards, she acknowledged,\nthat on the night referred to she was very anxious about him, and wished\nshe could intercept him in case, at his journey\u2019s end, he should go to a\nhouse where fever had broken out.\n\nA woman in Lismore, making a bowl of gruel (_brochan bl\u00e0th_) in the\nevening, expressed a wish her husband, who was then away at the fishing\nat Corpach, near the entrance to the Caledonian Canal, had the drink she\nwas making. When her husband came home, he said to her, \u201cI tell you what\nit is, you are not to come again with porridge to me at Corpach.\u201d He said\nhe had seen her all night at his bedside offering him his gruel.\n\nThe power ascribed to strong wishes, or rather the evil consequences by\nwhich they may be followed, is still more forcibly illustrated by the\nfollowing tale.\n\nA young woman at Barr, Morvern, beautiful and much esteemed in her own\nneighbourhood, was about to be married. Other maidens were in the house\nwith her, sewing the dresses for the marriage. As they sat at work, she\nsighed and said, she wished her intended was come. At that moment, he\nwas on his way coming over the shoulder of Ben Iadain, a lofty mountain\nnear hand, of weird appearance and having the reputation of being much\nfrequented by the Fairies. He observed his sweetheart walking beside him,\nand as the shadowy presence threw him down, he struck at it repeatedly\nwith his dirk. The bride got unwell, and, before the bridegroom reached\nthe house, died. The \u2018fetch\u2019 left him shortly before his arrival, and her\ndeath was simultaneous with its disappearance.\n\nIt has been said that the appearance of the spectre was considered\nentirely independent of the thoughts or volition of the person whose\nimage it bears. Yet the tales of the Second Sight indicate some\nmysterious connection between men and their doubles. Strongly wishing, as\nin the above instances, causes at times a person\u2019s likeness to be seen or\nheard at the place where he wishes to be, and the original (so to call\nhim) may be affected through his double.\n\nA man in Islay encountered a ghost, and threw his open penknife at it.\nThe weapon struck the phantom in the eye, and at that moment, a woman,\nwhose likeness it bore, though several miles away, was struck blind of an\neye.\n\nA young woman, residing in Skye, had a lover, a sailor, who was away\nin the East Indies. On Hallowe\u2019en night she went, as is customary in\ncountry frolics, to pull a kail plant, that she might know, from its\nbeing crooked or straight or laden with earth, what the character or\nappearance or wealth of her future husband might be. As she grasped a\nstock to pull it, a knife dropped from the sky and stuck in the plant.\nWhen her lover came home, she learned from him, that on that very night\nand about the same hour, he was standing near the ship\u2019s bulwark, looking\nover the side, with a knife in his hand. He was thinking of her, and in\nhis reverie the knife fell out of his hand and over the side. The young\nwoman produced the knife she found in the kail-stock, and it proved to be\nthe very knife her sailor lover had lost.\n\n\nT\u00c0RADH.\n\nWhen a person strongly wishes to be anywhere, as for instance when a\nperson on a journey at night wishes to be at home, his footsteps coming\nto the house, or the sounds of his lifting the door latch are heard, or\na glimpse of his appearance is seen, at the time of his conceiving or\nexpressing the wish, and even without any wish being present to the\nabsent person\u2019s mind, sights or sounds indicative of his coming may be\nseen or heard. This previous intimation is called his _t\u00e0radh_, and\nhis double or shade, which is the cause of it, his _t\u00e0slach_. These\nmysterious intelligences are also called _manadh nan daoine b\u00e8o_, \u201cthe\nomens of living men.\u201d The family, sitting round the evening fire, hear\na footstep approaching the house, and even a tapping at the door. The\nsounds are so life-like that some one goes to open the door, but there\nis no one there. The sound is only the _t\u00e0radh_ of an absent friend,\nstorm-tossed or wayworn, and wishing he were at home.\n\nThe _t\u00e0radh_ may be that of a complete stranger, who is not thinking of,\nand perhaps does not even know the place to which his _t\u00e0radh_ has come.\nWhen there is to be a change of tenants the advent of the stranger is\nheralded, it may be years beforehand, by his double. It is said \u201c_th\u00e0inig\na th\u00e0radh_,\u201d _i.e._ his wraith or forewarning has come. When a shepherd,\nfor instance, from another part of the country, is to come to a place,\nhis likeness, phantom, or _t\u00e0radh_, is seen perhaps years beforehand on\nthe hills he is afterwards so frequently to traverse. It is not every\nkind of men who have this phantom or double, neither does it appear\nwherein those who have it differ from other men. At all events if all men\nhave it, it is not always to be seen.\n\nA feeling of oppression at night, and the sound of footsteps through the\nhouse and the noise of furniture being moved about, is the omen of a\nchange of tenants, and the _t\u00e0radh_ of the incoming tenant.\n\nIn the island of Coll, the chiefs of which in former times were among the\nmost celebrated in the West Highlands, and where the return of the former\nlairds is talked about, and believed in, and prayed for among the few of\nthe native population left, the figure of the Laird who is to come is\nsaid to have been seen by the castle servants, sitting in an empty chair,\nwith a long beard flowing down to his breast.\n\nA young man, sleeping alone in a house, in which a shop was kept by his\nfather at Scarinish, Tiree, one night felt such an oppression on his\nchest that he could not sleep, and heard noises as if there were people\nin the house. He got up and made a thorough search, but found no one.\nBefore long there was a change in the occupancy of the house.\n\nOn the uninhabited and lonely islet of _Fladdachuain_, to the east of\nSkye, some storm-stayed fishermen were boiling potatoes in a deserted\nbothy, and heard the noise of voices outside. On going out they could\nfind no one. This occurred thrice. Some days after, and before the\nfishermen got away, a boat passing to the outer Hebrides was forced by\nstress of weather to take refuge in the same islet. The voices of its\ncrew were exactly those previously heard. Nothing further occurred in\nconnection with the sounds.\n\nThe spirit, thus coming in a visible or audible form about a treasure,\nby which the thoughts are too much occupied, or where a person wishes\ntoo much to be, is also denominated \u201c_falbh air f\u00e0rsaing_,\u201d _i.e._ going\nuncontrolled (?)\n\n\nMARRIAGE.\n\nThose gifted with the second sight were sometimes able to tell the\nappearance of a person\u2019s future wife. They saw her ta\u00efsh, or appearance,\nsitting beside her husband, and this long before the event occurred, or\nwas spoken of. For instance, a seer has been known to remark to a young\nman, who did not dream of marrying at the time, \u201cI think your wife must\nbelong to a big house, for she has a white apron on,\u201d etc.\n\nThe event has proved the vision to be real. The woman was housemaid in\na gentleman\u2019s house. Seers also said they saw their own future wives\nsitting opposite to them at the fireside.\n\nA native of Coll, Hugh, son of Donald the Red (_Eoghan MacDh\u00f2mhnuill\nRuaidh_), while serving with his regiment in Africa, said he saw, almost\nevery evening, for a period of five years, glimpses of the woman whom\nhe afterwards married, and whom he never saw in reality till his return\nfrom the wars. Wherever he sat, after the day\u2019s march, the figure of a\nwoman came beside him, and sometimes seemed to him to touch him lightly\non the shoulders. On each occasion he merely caught a glimpse of her.\nWhen he left the army, and was on his way home, he came to the village\nat Dervaig, in Mull, from the neighbourhood of which the ferry across to\nColl lay. He entered by chance a house in the village, and his attention\nwas unexpectedly attracted by the sound of a weaver\u2019s loom at work in the\nhouse. On looking up he saw sitting at the loom the identical woman whose\nfigure had for five years haunted him in Africa. He married her.\n\n\nCOMING MISFORTUNE.\n\nA ta\u00efsher in Caolas, Tiree, was observed to have great objections to\ngoing home to take his meals. Being questioned on the subject, he said\nthat at home he saw a horrible-looking black woman, with her head\n\u201cas black as a pot,\u201d and if he chanced to catch a glimpse of her at\nmeal-times, her hideous appearance made him rise from his food. He said\nhe did not recognise the woman, and was unable to say who or what she\nwas. This was continued for three months, when the place was visited with\nsmallpox, and the seer\u2019s own sister took the disease very badly. Her\nhead became hideous, and literally \u201cas black as a pot,\u201d and the people\nunderstood the meaning of the vision.\n\nA celebrated seer in the same village, Donald Black (_Domhnull Mac an\ndui_), was married for the fourth time. In his day lucifer matches\nwere unknown, and when corn was kiln-dried a person had to sit up all\nnight to keep the fire alive. As Donald sat at this work in a solitary\nhut\u2014such as small kilns are still kept in\u2014the figure of his first wife\nappeared, and told him to beware, for \u201cthe terror\u201d (_an t-eagal_) was\ncoming, it was at the Horse-shoe (_crudh an eich_), a spot on the public\nroad leading to Caolis, about a mile and a half distant, deriving its\nname from the plain likeness of a horse-shoe indented in the rock. He,\nhowever, was dozing over into sleep again when his second wife, in more\ndistressed tones, warned him the \u201cterror\u201d was nearer hand\u2014at the Gateway\nof the Fuel enclosure (_Cachlaidh na Cuil Connaidh_). He neglected this\nwarning also, and was dozing again when his third wife warned him the\n\u201cterror\u201d was at the upper village (_Bail\u2019 uachdrach_). He immediately\nwent home, and had hardly got into bed when a sound like the rushing of\na violent blast of wind passed, and the whole house was shaken, so that\nthe walls were like to fall. If this was not \u201cthe terror\u201d of which he had\nbeen so strangely warned, Donald could give no other explanation.\n\n\nEVENTS AT A DISTANCE.\n\nSome sixty years ago a seer in Ruaig, Tiree, the neighbouring village to\nthe preceding, was one day employed in the harvest-field, tying sheaves\nafter the reapers, a work assigned to old people. One of his sons was\naway in the Ross of Mull for a cargo of peats. All of a sudden the old\nman cried out \u201cAlas! alas! my loss!\u201d (_och! och! mo chreach!_) His\nchildren gathered round him in great anxiety as to the cause of his\ndistress. He told them to wait a minute and in a short time said it was\nall right, his son was safe. It turned out that at the very time of his\nexclamation, the boat in which his son was on its way from the Ross of\nMull, was run into by another boat at the Dutchman\u2019s Cap (_Am Bac M\u00f2r_),\na peculiarly shaped island on the way, and his son was thrown overboard,\nbut was rescued in time. The view of this incident which his mystic gift\ngave the seer was the cause of his exclamation.\n\n\nDEATH.\n\nVisionary delusions are so frequently to be traced to a brooding, gloomy\ndisposition, that it is no wonder sorrowful sights were those usually\nseen by persons having the Second Sight, or that death was an event of\nwhich ta\u00efshers had particular cognisance. The doctrine is, that the\nwhole ceremony connected with a funeral is gone through in rehearsal by\nspectres which are the shades, phantoms, appearances, ta\u00efshs, doubles,\nswarths, or whatever else we choose to call them, of living men, not\nmerely by the shade of the person who is to die, but by the shades of all\nwho are to be concerned in the ceremony. The phantoms go for the wood\nthat is to make the coffin, the nails, the dead clothes, and whatever\nelse may be required on the occasion; the sounds of the coffin being\nmade are heard, of presses being opened, of glasses rattling; and the\nmelancholy procession has been met in the dead of night wending its way\nto the churchyard. These weird sights and sounds have been seen and heard\nby others as well as ta\u00efshers. The only difference is, that he who has\nthe Second Sight is more apt to see them.\n\n\nCOFFIN.\n\nThe shades that go for a coffin are called _tathaich air ciste_, _i.e._\nfrequenters for a chest. They are heard at night long after the joiner\nhas ceased his day\u2019s labour. The workshop is closed, and the wright has\nretired to rest, when the sound of a hammer, a shuffling for nails, and\nthe working of a plane, are heard as if someone were at work. If anyone\nhas the courage to enter the workshop, nothing is to be seen, and no\nanswer is given though he speak.\n\nSome fifty years ago there was a wright in Kinloch Rannoch, in\nPerthshire, who complained of having the Second Sight, and who, in\nemigrating to Australia, assigned as his chief reason for leaving his\nnative land, the frequency with which he saw or heard people coming\nbeforehand for coffins. The tools of his trade, plane, hammers, saw,\netc., were heard by him at work as distinctly as though he himself were\nworking, and the frequency of the omen preyed so much on his mind that\nhe left the country in the hope of relief. The shades were not those\nof the people whose death was imminent, but those of their friends and\nacquaintances, who afterwards proved actually to be the parties who came\nfor the coffin.\n\nA few years ago a medical student, in the west of Inverness-shire, sat\nup late on a summer night \u201cgrinding\u201d for his examination. A joiner\u2019s\nworkshop adjoined the house in which he was. About two o\u2019clock in the\nmorning he heard the sound of hammers, plane, etc., as though some one\nwere at work in the shop. The sounds continued till about three. The\nevening was calm. Next day when he told what he had heard his friends\nlaughed at him. Next night again, however, the noises were resumed and\ncontinued till he fell asleep. They were this night heard also by the\nother inmates; and as they were repeated every night for a week, every\nperson in the house, including the joiner himself, who was brought in\nfor the purpose, heard them. Shortly after a woman in the neighbourhood\ndied in childbed, and the joiner, in whose workshop the noises were\nheard, made her coffin. The mysterious hammering only discontinued when\nthe coffin was finished. The person who heard the noises were neither\nta\u00efshers nor sons of ta\u00efshers.\n\nA Tiree man assured the writer that he and a brother of his heard most\ndistinctly (_ga farumach_) the sound of a hammer all night till morning\non a chest in an empty room, near which they slept. A woman next door\ndied suddenly on the following day, and it was on that chest another\nbrother of his made her coffin. The truthfulness of the persons who told\nthis can be assured, whatever be the explanation given of the noise.\n\nA very intelligent informant says that the only thing of the kind he\nhimself was personally witness to occurred above fifty years ago, when he\nwas a young lad. An old woman of the neighbourhood lay on her death-bed,\nand while the rest of the household, of which he was a member, sat up, he\nwas on account of his youth packed off to bed. Through the night he heard\nwhat he took to be the trampling of dogs on a loft above his sleeping\nplace, and this he heard so distinctly that he asked his father next day\nwhat made him put the dogs there. He also heard a plank sliding down\nfrom the loft and striking on end in the passage between the doors. The\nfollowing night the old woman died, and the lad himself was sent up to\nthe loft to bring down planks to make her coffin. A plank slipped from\nhis hands, and, falling on end in the passage, made exactly the same\nnoise as he had before heard.\n\nSome forty or fifty years ago the trampling of horses and the rattling\nof a conveyance (_stararaich agus gliongarsaich_) were heard after dark,\ncoming to the farm-house of Liaran in Rannoch. Every person in the house\nthought a conveyance was really there. The horses were distinctly heard\nturning round in the courtyard. On looking out nothing was to be seen\nor heard. In four or five days after, a hearse (a kind of conveyance\ntill then unknown in the country) came from Appin of Menzies (_Apuinn na\nMeinearach_) with the remains of a cousin of the family, who had been\nsuddenly killed by a kick from a horse.\n\nAs late as 1867 a coach was seen proceeding silently through the streets\nof a village in Ayrshire to the burying-ground, and was believed by the\ncommon people to be that of a rich lady in the neighbourhood, known as\nBrimstone Betty, who died shortly after, not in the odour of sanctity.\n\n\nNOISE OF GLASSES TO BE USED AT FUNERALS.\n\nSome thirty years ago in Appin, Argyleshire, noises were heard in a\ncupboard upstairs, above a room which formed part of a neighbour\u2019s house,\nas if some one were fumbling among bottles. The noises were heard by the\ninmates of both houses for several nights previous to a somewhat sudden\ndeath occurring in the house below. It turned out that bottles from that\ncupboard were used at the funeral.\n\nIt was also a belief in Tiree that glasses, to be used before long for\nrefreshments at a funeral, were heard rattling, as if being moved. Not\nmany years ago there was an instance of this in the village of Kilmoluag.\nSkilful women professed to be able to tell by the baking board and the\n\u201cgriddle\u201d whether the bread of that baking would be used at a funeral.\n\n\nFUNERAL PROCESSION.\n\nA boy in Rannoch was playing with his companions in sight of the public\nroad, when all of a sudden he exclaimed, \u201cLord! will you not look at my\ngrandmother\u2019s funeral?\u201d (_Dhia! nach fhaic sibh t\u00f2rradh mo sheanamhair._)\nHis grandmother was ill at the time, but was not thought near her\ndissolution. In a few days after her funeral took place, as the boy\ndescribed it, with a red-haired character of the neighbourhood dancing at\nits head.\n\nThe following incident is told by a person whose truthfulness is beyond\nquestion. He is a person of talents and education, and a clergyman of the\nChurch of Scotland.\n\n\u201cA young lad, herd-boy in the village in the Western Islands to which I\nbelong, was one day with me on the moors (_sliabh_), above the cultivated\nland, when he said he saw two men carrying a coffin between them from\na wright\u2019s workshop then in sight to the door of a house, which he\nmentioned. He called my attention to the vision, but I could see nothing\nof the kind. He described the dress the two men had on, particularly grey\ntrousers, such as seafaring people of the place then wore. In about ten\ndays after an event exactly corresponding occurred.\u201d\n\nA Tiree ta\u00efsher told how he had seen a funeral procession leave a certain\nhouse, and persons whom he named acting as coffin-bearers when leaving\nthe house. This was at Beltane, the first day of summer. Next Christmas\na death occurred in that house, and one of those to whom the seer had\ntold his vision, took a good look at the funeral, to see if matters would\nprove as the seer had said. They did so exactly.\n\n\u201cOn one occasion,\u201d said a native of Harris, \u201cI was out fishing till\ntwelve or one o\u2019clock in the morning, with several others, of whom one,\na man about 35, was reputed to have the Second Sight. As we were coming\nhome, I kept the middle of the road, thinking it was the safest place,\nand that no evil could come near me there. Suddenly the man, who had the\nSecond Sight, caught me by the shoulder and pulled me to the side of the\nroad. As he laid his hand on my shoulder I saw a funeral procession\u2014a\ncoffin and men carrying it. I was afterwards at that funeral myself, and\nat the place where I met the ta\u00efsh, the men were in the same order in\nwhich I had seen them.\u201d\n\nA young man going home at night, along the south side of Loch Rannoch,\nwas joined by a funeral procession. One of the poles of the bier was\nthrust into his hands, and he had to march in the procession above a\nmile. He was on the lochside of the coffin, and had great difficulty in\nkeeping on the road. The other bearers of the ghostly coffin were laying\nthe weight to push him off the road.\n\nA woman, near Loch Scavaig (_Scathabhaig_), in Skye, saw a funeral\nprocession, with the coffins, passing along a hillside, where no road\nlay, and no one was ever observed to pass. After the woman\u2019s death, and\ntwo years after her vision, a boat was lost in Loch Scavaig, and the\nbodies of three persons lost in her were buried near the shepherd\u2019s house\nat the loch side. They were afterwards raised and carried along in the\ndirection the woman had pointed out as that taken by her vision.\n\nOne of these mystic processions was seen in Strathaird, in the same\nneighbourhood, carrying something in a grey plaid. A man was drowned in\na river there, and his body was not recovered for a week. It was then\ncarried in a grey plaid in the same direction the spectral procession had\ntaken.\n\nA man in Skye met at night a funeral procession, and some occult\ninfluence made him walk along with it till he came to Portree churchyard.\nHe then for the first time asked whose funeral it was. He received for\nanswer, \u201cYour own.\u201d\n\nA man living in the Braes of Portree went daily to Portree, four miles\naway, to work. A neighbour, whose house was a little further away, was\nengaged in the same work, and was in the habit of calling him as he\npassed in the morning. The two then walked together to the scene of\ntheir labour. One clear moonlight night he was awakened by what he took\nto be his companion\u2019s call. He hastily threw on his clothes and followed.\nEvery now and then he heard a call before him on the road telling him\nto make haste. He followed, without thought, till he came to Portree\nchurchyard. It did not strike him till then that the call was from no\nearthly voice.\n\n\nWRAITHS SEEN BEFORE DEATH.\n\nWhen a person was about to die, especially if his death was to be by\nviolence or drowning, his wraith or phantom was seen by those who had the\nSecond Sight, or it might be by those who had no such gift.\n\nIn the island of Lismore, in the beginning of the nineteenth century, the\nminister was said to have seen the fetch of the man at whose funeral the\ncustom was introduced of having the refreshments (_cosdas_) after the\nfuneral. In former times it was the practice in the Highlands to have\nthe refreshments before starting, and consequently the funeral party\nwere sometimes far advanced in drink before starting on their melancholy\njourney. There are even stories of their having forgot the coffin.\n\nOn the farm of Kirkapol, in Tiree, where the burying-place of the east\nend of the island is, the figure of a man in a dress not belonging to the\nisland\u2014light trousers and blue jacket with white buttons\u2014was seen about\nforty years ago by several people in the evenings going in the direction\nof the kirkyard. A celebrated seer in the neighbouring village saw it,\nand said it was not the ta\u00efsh of any man or any man\u2019s son in Tiree. Some\ntime after a ship was wrecked in the east end of Tiree, and one of the\nsailors, whose dress when his body was found corresponded to that of the\nta\u00efsh, was taken and buried in Kirkapol. After that the apparition was no\nmore seen.\n\nThe body of a young man drowned in the same neighbourhood, before being\ncoffined, was laid first on a rock and then on the green sward. A person\nwho came to the scene after the body was laid on the grass asked if\nthe body had been laid on the rock mentioned. He was told it had, and\nwas asked why he enquired. He said his uncle had told him that his\ngrandfather, who was a ta\u00efsher, had said a dead body would yet be laid on\nthat rock. This shows that the fulfilment of the seer\u2019s vision does not\nnecessarily take place soon after, or even within a number of years.\n\nThe ta\u00efsher in Caolas, Tiree, already mentioned as having seen the fetch\nof his sister in the smallpox, on a New-Year night accompanied his\nbrother-in-law, who had spent the evening with him (and from whom the\nstory has been got), a piece of the way home. When his brother-in-law\nurged him to return, as he had come far enough, he asked to be allowed,\nas this was the last New Year he would be with his friends. He was asked\nwhat made him think so gloomily of the future. He said the matter was\nto be so, and there was no chance of its being otherwise, for he had\nseen his own phantom three or four times. In March following the man was\ndrowned.\n\nA Tiree ta\u00efsher was going out to Tobermory, and taking his passage along\nwith him was a neighbour going to consult the doctor. There was no\nmedical officer in those days resident in Tiree. The seer said to one\nof the boatmen, he wished he had not the sight he had, for he saw his\nfellow-passenger with the dead clothes up to his eyes. \u201cYou may,\u201d he\nsaid, \u201ctake off my ear if the man\u2019s death is not near hand.\u201d The event\nproved the correctness of his vision, and the right to take off his ear\ndid not arise.\n\n\nDROWNING.\n\nIt is a common story that a ta\u00efsher saw the figure of an acquaintance\npassing with dripping clothes and water in its shoes (_aodach fliuch agus\nbogan na bhr\u00f2ig_). Soon after word was received of the drowning of the\nperson, whose resemblance it was, at the time the figure was seen.\n\nThe seeing of spectres about boats in which people are to be drowned,\nis also common. When the superstition was in full force, a sure way of\nmaking a boat useless was to say that voices had been heard about it\nwhen it was drawn upon the beach, or that figures had been seen, which\ndisappeared mysteriously, \u201cwhether the earth swallowed them, or the sky\nlifted them.\u201d After that no one having a regard for his own life would\nput his foot in that boat.\n\nA person from Tiree went for wood to Loch Creran, and at Tobermory\nforgot the parcel in which he had a change of clothes. One day he got\nwet, soaked through to the skin, and had to sit all evening in his wet\nclothes. On his return home to Tiree a woman, who was reputed to have\nthe gift of second sight, asked him if, on a certain day of the week\n(mentioning the one on which this accident occurred), he had got himself\nwetted, that she had seen him, and thought he had been drowned. The man\nhimself tells the story, and says he cannot conceive of any ordinary\nchannel of information by which the woman could have become aware of his\ncondition.\n\nA man named Conn was drowned at Sorisdal, in Coll. A seer, who had been\nat daily work with him, had long seen his boots full of water (_bogan\nuisge_), when there was no water in them in reality; and for twelve\nmonths after the event, was haunted wherever he went by the vision of\nConn\u2019s drowning.\n\nA seer in Skye saw, when in reality there was no such object, a woman\nsitting in the stern of a boat, which afterwards drowned people in\nPortree Bay.\n\nA fishing boat or skiff belonging to the people of Gortendonald, in the\nwest end of Tiree, was sold, because \u201cthings\u201d were said to have been\nseen about it, till no one belonging to the village would venture to sea\nin it. It was bought by some persons in Scarinish, in the east end of\nthe island, who professed not to believe in _taibhsearachd_, or second\nsight. They gave the loan of it to people in Vaul, on the north side of\nthe island. Here sights began again to be seen about it, and it was even\nsaid that at a time when it was hauled up on dry land, six men were seen\nrowing in it and one steering. At last no one at all would venture to sea\nin the boat, and it was sent back to Scarinish. So strong was the feeling\nthat the Vaul men would not venture with it through the Black Water (_am\nBun dubh_), as the sound between Coll and Tiree is called, but drew it\nacross the land to Gott Loch, whence the Scarinish people took it home.\nAfter this, its odour in the east end of Tiree became so bad that it\nwas sold again to villagers in the west end, at some distance from the\nplace it originally came from. Here it terminated its career in Tiree by\ndrowning six men.\n\nSights were similarly seen about a boat in Iona, and it had to be sold.\nIt went to Islay, and the visions were believed to have received their\nfulfilment from the boat being employed to convey dead bodies from a ship\nwrecked on the Rhinns of Islay (_an Roinn Ileach_, lit. the sharp edge of\nIslay).\n\nNot many years ago, a man told about a boat on the south side of Tiree,\nthat he had heard voices about it, like those of people talking, but on\ngoing near found no person there. He did not know, he said, whether the\nair had lifted the people whom he thought were there, or the earth had\nswallowed them, but he had heard voices, and no person was there. The\nboat became worthless, it would drown some one some day, and no one would\ngo out to fish in it. The owner, therefore, summoned the seer before the\nSheriff and got him fined.\n\n\nHORSES AND DOGS.\n\nThese animals were deemed to have the gift of seeing spectres in a larger\nmeasure than the best seers. They are observed to be frightened, or to\nhave their fury raised, without any visible or intelligible cause; they\nshow signs of terror and distress when human eyes can see no cause,\nand it is part of the Celtic belief in the second sight that this\nexcitement is caused by seeing the ta\u00efsh, or shades of the living, in\nthose circumstances, and engaged in those services in which the persons,\nwhose similitude they are, will afterwards be. Dogs bark at night, and\nwhen this occurs on clear moonlight nights, they are said in English to\n\u201cbay the moon.\u201d The Celtic belief does not deny that they often bark\nat the moon, but it asserts further their clamour arises, as the event\nafterwards proves, from their seeing the forms of that world, in which\nfetches and doubles move, the omens of an impending death. Horses are\nbetter spectre-seers than even dogs. At places where a violent or sudden\ndeath is to occur, they take fright, and no effort of the rider can get\nthem to pass the spot, till at last he has to dismount and lead them\npast. This is caused by their seeing the \u201cfetch\u201d of the subsequent event,\nbut ordinary people pass it over merely as an \u201cunaccountable fright.\u201d\n\n\u201cI have heard,\u201d said a Skyeman, \u201cscores of times the dogs howling before\na funeral was to take place in Kilmuir churchyard. It was because they\nsaw the wraiths of the living\u201d (_t\u00e0slaich nan daoine be\u00f2_). It is a\nuniversal Highland belief that certain dogs cry at night when any one in\nthe house is to die.\n\nIn Lorn, a woman, going with leather to a neighbouring shoemaker, had on\nher way to cross a wooden bridge thrown over a mountain stream. She was\naccompanied by a young child, whom she left, while she herself crossed\nthe bridge to leave the parcel of leather on the other side. As she was\ncrossing a second time, leading the child, the stream came down in flood,\nas mountain streams do, and carried away the bridge. The woman and child\nwere drowned, and their bodies were found further down the stream, at a\nplace where, for fourteen days previously, a grey tailless bitch (_galla\nchutach ghlas_), belonging to a neighbour, used to go and howl piteously.\n\nThe fierce growling of a dog at night, when nothing is known to be in\nthe house to excite its fury, is also supposed to arise from its seeing\nspirits, or the spectres, it is not known which, of the living or of the\ndead. Stories of this class usually run in the same groove. A shepherd\nor servant-man has a very good dog, which is in the habit of sleeping in\nthe same room with himself. One night it suddenly gets up growling, and\nis heard making its way to the other end of the room. It returns howling\nfaintly, springs into bed, and, lying with its forepaws resting on its\nmaster, snarls fiercely at something invisible. The occupant of the bed,\nnot seeing anything to account for the dog\u2019s fury, puts his head below\nthe bedclothes and quakes with fear till daylight.\n\nA horse in Vaul, Tiree, ordinarily a quiet beast used, when carting, to\nbe most unaccountably startled especially when passing a certain boat,\ndrawn up on the beach. This same boat has been mentioned already as\nhaving, in consequence of being spectre-haunted, been sold by people in\nthe west end of Tiree to some villagers in the east end, who gave the\nloan of it to Vaul people. Lights began also to be seen about it, and it\nwas ultimately sent back to the lenders, who again sold it to people in\nthe west end. Here a melancholy loss of life occurred in it. A gale off\nthe land suddenly sprang up, when the boat, with its six of a crew, was\nwithin a few hundred yards of the shore. The men were seen rowing hard\nto bring the boat to land, but they had at last to give up the attempt.\nSome days after, the boat came ashore in Coll, with only one of the crew\nin it. He was reclining on one of the thwarts dead. It was the horse and\ncart mentioned that took home his body. After that day the horse was\nnever known to be unaccountably startled or frightened. Its former fits\nentirely forsook it.\n\n\nCRYING HEARD BEFORE DEATH.\n\nA wailing or unusual cry heard at night, where no one is known to be,\nor can be, is an indication that at that place some one will break into\nlamentation for the death of a friend, of which he will there first\nreceive intimation, or will have otherwise cause to cry. The voice heard\nis not that of the \u201cfetch\u201d of the man, who is to be killed or drowned,\nbut that of some mourner\u2014a wife, or sister, or near relation. In these\ncries before a sudden death, the voices of women are the most frequently\nrecognised.\n\nA cry or scream, indicative of death, and believed to be uttered by a\nwraith, was called _t\u00e0sg_, and _\u00e9igheach t\u00e0isg_ or _\u00e9igheach t\u00e0sg_,\n_i.e._ the cry of a wraith.\n\nIn the case of a man accidentally drowned on Trabay Beach in Tiree, a cry\ndescribed as \u201ca healthy cry\u201d (_glaodh fallain_) was heard at night in the\nwest end of the island several days previous to the disaster, and four\nmiles from the scene of the accident, at the spot where the man\u2019s brother\nfirst received the melancholy intelligence. The cry consisted of \u201c\u00f2h\u201d\nsaid thrice, and each time at the full length of a man\u2019s breath (_fad\nanalach_).\n\nAt the old quay in Port Appin, Argyleshire, the wailing of a woman was\nheard at night. Some days after, the mother of a young man who had been\naccidentally killed in Glasgow, there met the remains, which came by\nsteamer, and she broke into loud lamentation.\n\nAt the Big Bridge (_an Drochaid Mhor_) above Portree Manse, on the\nroad to Braes, in the Isle of Skye, strange sounds are heard by people\npassing there at night, such as the moaning of a dying person, sounds of\nthrottling, etc. Mysterious objects, dogs, and indistinct moving objects\nare also seen at the haunted spot. These are supposed to denote that a\nmurder will some time be committed here.\n\nWeeping and crying were heard at midnight near the mill-dam in Tiree,\non a dark and rainy night, by a young man going for a midwife for his\nbrother\u2019s wife. He heard the same sounds on his return. The woman died in\nthat childbed, and it was observed that at the very spot where the young\nman said he heard the sounds of lamentation, her two sisters first met\nafter her death, and burst into tears and outcries. The person to whom\nthis incident occurred is now past forty years of age, is intelligent,\nand to be relied on as a person who would not tell a lie. There can be no\ndoubt he heard the lamentation, whatever may have been the cause of his\nimpression. Strange noises, of which the natural cause is not known, are\nreadily associated with the first incident that offers any explanation.\n\nIn the island of Mull, lamentation (_tuireadh_) was recollected to have\nbeen heard where a young man was accidentally killed ten years after.\n\nThirty years ago horrible screaming and shouting (_sgiamhail oillteil\nagus glaodhaich_) were heard about eight o\u2019clock on a summer evening\nacross Loch Corry in Kingairloch. In a line with the shouting lay a ship\nat anchor, and the burying-ground on the other side of the loch. The cry\nwas like that of a goat or buck being killed, a bleating which bears a\nhorrible resemblance to the human voice. Next night the master of the\nship was drowned, no one knew how. The man on the watch said that when\nsitting in the stern of the ship he saw the skipper go below, and then a\nclanking as if the chain were being paid out. He heard and saw nothing\nfurther. The night was fine.\n\nIn July, 1870, a ship struck on a sunken rock in the passages between\nthe Skerryvore lighthouse and Tiree, and sprang a leak. The shore was\nmade for at once, but when within 150 yards of it the ship sank. The crew\nbetook themselves to the rigging, and were ultimately rescued; but the\nskipper, in trying to swim ashore, was caught by the current that sweeps\nround Kennavara Hill, and drowned. The crying heard in Kennavara Hill\nfour years previous was deemed to have portended this event.\n\nCrying was heard several times on the reefs to the east end of Coll, and\nto the best of the hearer\u2019s belief, it was in English. In the same year\n(1870), a boat or skiff with two East Coast fishermen, following their\ncalling in that neighbourhood, went amissing, and was never heard of.\nMany were of opinion it must have been lost on the reefs, where the cries\nhad long previously been heard.\n\n\nLIGHTS.\n\nIt was deemed a good sign when lights were seen previous to a person\u2019s\ndeath. The _dreag_ was a light seen in the sky, leaving a tail\n(_dreallsach_) behind it, and, according to some, stopping above the\nhouse where the death was to occur; according to others, proceeding from\nabove the house to the churchyard, along the line the funeral was to\ntake. The _dreag_ was seen only when a person of consequence was near\nhis dissolution. Hence an irreverent tailor in East-side, Skye, said he\nwished the sky was full of dreags.\n\nIt was also a belief that the death-light went along the road a funeral\nwas to take.\n\nAn old man in Druim-a-chaoin, in Lower Rannoch, being sceptical on this\npoint, was one night called to the door to believe his own eyes. His\nhouse overlooked the public road, and stepping boldly down he stood in\nthe middle of the road awaiting the approach of the death-light. When it\nreached him, it also stood, right before him. The old man gazed fixedly\nat the unearthly light, and at last an indistinct and shadowy form\nbecame visible in the middle of it. The form slowly placed the palms of\nits two hands together, and extended them towards him. With a startling\nsuddenness it said \u201cWhish!\u201d and passed over his head. That old man never\nafterwards said a word against death-lights.\n\nIn another instance of the death-light proceeding along the highway in\nthe same district, a hare-brained young man went to meet it, and stood\nwaiting it behind his dirk, which he stuck in the middle of the road.\nWhen the light came to the dirk it stopped, and the young man gazing at\nit, at last saw a child\u2019s face in its feeble glare. He then stooped down\nand drew his dirk from the ground. As he did so the light passed over his\nhead.\n\nLights were also seen where a violent or accidental death was to occur,\nand might be seen by the person whose death they fore-tokened. Thus, at\nBrae-Glen (_Br\u00e0ighe Ghlinne_) in Glen-Iuchar, where a river falls into\nLoch Sgamadail, in Lorn, lights were seen two years previous to the\ndrowning of a man of the name of Maclachlan, in the stream when drunk.\nMaclachlan had seen these lights himself.\n\nLights, to which these mysterious meanings are attached, are generally\nmere _ignes fatui_. They have of late years become prevalent in the\nHebrides, and various explanations are given of them. In Tiree they are\ncalled \u201cFairy light\u201d (_Teine s\u00ecth_), and are said to be produced by a\nbird. In Skye and the northern islands they are called the \u201cUist light\u201d\n(_Solus Uithist_), and the following extraordinary account is given of\ntheir origin:\n\nA young girl one Sunday night insisted, in spite of her mother\u2019s\nremonstrances, on starting with a hook and creel to gather plants in the\nfield for some species of dye before the Sabbath was expired. Finding her\ncounsels of no avail, the mother in a rage told her to go then and never\nreturn: the young girl never returned, but her hook and creel were found\nin the fields, and marks of fighting at the spot. When encountered, the\nlight jumps three times, and its appearance is that of human ribs with a\nlight inside of them. It is only an odd number that can see this light.\nTwo will not see it, but three can. Like other supernatural appearances\nit could only speak when spoken to. A young lad once had the courage\nto speak to it. The light answered that it was the young girl whom the\nabove fate befell: that she had done wrong in disobeying her mother, and\nbreaking the Sabbath day; that it was her mother\u2019s prayer that was the\ncause of her unrest; and that she was now doomed to wander about in the\nshape of this light till the end of the world.\n\n\nSPIRITS SEEN BEFORE DEATH.\n\nShortly before death greenish bright lights were seen moving from one\nplace to another, when no other light was in the room. These were said\nto be spirits awaiting the soul of the dying person. When the body\nlay stretched out, previous to being coffined, these lights were seen\nhovering near, and perhaps seven or eight butterflies (_dealan-d\u00e9_)\nfluttered through the room. They moved about the chest, in which were the\nbannocks to be used at the funeral, or the winding-sheet (_bl\u00e0-l\u00ecn_),\nand about the cupboard in which the glasses were. The belief in these\nappearances was not commonly entertained.\n\nA belief in the occurrence of something supernatural at the moment of\ndeath seems to have been not altogether uncommon. On an occasion already\nmentioned of a sudden death at Port Appin, Argyleshire, which was\npreceded by the noise of bottles rattling, a girl opened the door of a\nside room at the moment of the sick man\u2019s dissolution. She returned in\na state bordering on hysteria, cursing and swearing, that she would not\ntake the world and go in. She said every article in the room seemed to\nmeet her at the door.\n\n\nRETURN OF THE DEAD.\n\nThe plant _m\u00f2than_ (_sagina procumbens_), or Trailing Pearlwort, was\nplaced by old women in Tiree above the door, on the lintel (_san\n\u00e0rd-dorus_), to prevent the spirits of the dead, when they revisited\ntheir former haunts, from entering the house, and it was customary in\nmany places to place a drink of water beside the corpse previous to the\nfuneral, in case the dead should return.\n\nThere is a sept of Macdonalds called MacCannel, of whom it is said in\nTiree, that when one dies and the body is laid out to be waked, all the\ndead of the race enter the room, go round the body, upon which each lays\nhis hand, and then in solemn procession march out again. This is the case\nat every death of one of the sept, but only those who have the second\nsight can see the shades. A man married to one of the MacCannels, whose\nfather had been long dead, enraged her beyond measure, on the occasion\nof the death of one of the sept, by asking her why she had not gone to\nBallevullen (where the death had occurred), last night to see her father.\n\nThe spirits of the dead came back to reveal secrets and give good advice.\nThose who hid iron during their lifetime, and died without telling\nwhere, could not rest till they had told their secret. Notoriously bad\nmen, misers, oppressors of the poor, and all whose affections were set\ntoo much on the things of this world, were believed after death to\nwander about their former haunts. They seek to be where they left their\ntreasure. They do not speak till they are spoken to, and it requires\ngreat courage in a living person to address the spirits of the dead. The\nlast buried had to watch the churchyard till the next funeral; and if the\nstrings of the winding-sheet were not untied, it was also a belief that\nthe spirit could not rest.\n\nIt is very imprudent to enter into a compact with another, that whoever\ndies first will come back to tell his fate to the survivor. The agreement\nis unholy, and will entail sorrow, whether the dead man\u2019s position is in\nweal or woe.\n\nTwo herdsmen at the summer pastures for the cattle (_bothan \u00e0iridh_) in\n\u201cthe wilds of far Kintail\u201d entered into a compact of this kind. One of\nthem died, and a substitute came in his place. The newcomer observed that\nhis companion was anxious not to be alone for any time, however short,\nbut one day he had to go to the strath for yeast (_deasgainn_), the two\nbeing engaged in brewing spirits, and did not return till far on in the\nnight. The survivor of the two who had made the paction, being thus left\nalone, when night came on took to mending his shoes and singing at his\nwork to keep his courage up. His thoughts constantly reverted to his dead\ncompanion, and the bargain made with him, and the more he thought the\nmore uneasy he became. At midnight a scraping noise began on the top of\nthe house, as if some one were trying to make an entrance. The scraping\nbecame louder and louder, and the shoemaker, in the agony of terror, but\npretending to think the noise was made by his comrade who had gone to\nthe strath, called out, \u201cI know it is you trying to frighten me\u201d (_cuir\neagal orm_). As soon as he spoke, a man, whom he recognised as his dead\ncompanion, entered the hut, wrapped in the grave clothes, but after\nsaying it was a good thing for him where he (the dead man) had gone, went\naway and left him unharmed.\n\nIn another case of a similar agreement between two youths in the same\ndistrict, the survivor forgot all about the paction, till one night he\nwas met on the public road by the figure of his departed friend, which\ntold him to meet it alone at a certain place (which it named) at a\ncertain hour, otherwise it would be worse for himself. The man, terrified\nbeyond measure, consulted the parish minister as to what he ought to do,\nbut the minister merely advised him to pray that no evil would come of\nhis rash and unguarded compact. He consulted an old man, who told him to\ngo to the place appointed and take a ball of iron in his hand, and hold\nit out to the ghost when shaking hands. The man went, the ghost crushed\nthe ball of iron and the man escaped, otherwise the spirit, which could\nonly have come from a bad place, would have crushed his hand into atoms.\n\nA woman in Flodigarry, in Skye, whose husband had been killed by\nwitchcraft (_buidseachd_), saw him after his death sitting by the\nfireside. On being spoken to, the ghost asked, why they had not shaved\nhim before putting his body in a coffin?[31]\n\n\nBONES OF THE DEAD AND PLACE OF BURIAL.\n\nIt was part of the lesson impressed on the young Highlander, to treat\nthat which belonged to the dead with reverence. The unnecessary or\ncontemptuous disturbing of graves, bones, or other relics of humanity\nwas reprobated, and sometimes warmly resented. This praiseworthy feeling\ntowards the dead was strengthened by the pride of race and ancestry,\nwhich formed so prominent a feature of the Highland character, and by\nsundry tales of wide circulation.\n\nThe story has been already told of the tailor who irreverently gave a\nkick to a skull, and was ever after haunted by the man to whom it had\nbelonged. It is told of one who disturbed a grave at night, that, on his\ntaking up a skull in his hand, a feeble voice, that of the disturbed\nspirit, said, \u201cThat\u2019s mine.\u201d He dropped that skull and took up another,\nwhen a like voice said, \u201cThat\u2019s mine.\u201d The man cried out, \u201cHad you two\nskulls?\u201d\n\nTradition says the island of Islay derives its name from Ile, a\nScandinavian princess, who went to bathe in a loch there, and sticking\nin the soft mud, was drowned. The head and footstones of her grave are\nsome distance from each other, and of three persons, who successively\nattempted to open the grave to see what the bones were like, each died\nmad! Very likely this was the fate awaiting them at any rate. Their\naction in opening a grave, to satisfy an idle curiosity, was in keeping\nwith a morbid character, and they only died as they lived.\n\nStones from a disused burying-ground, called \u201cThe Burial-place of the Big\nWomen,\u201d on the farm of Heynish, in Tiree, were used for building one of\nthe farm out-houses. In this house, a servant man from Mull was sent to\nsleep. Through the night he was disturbed by his dog jumping into bed,\nbetween him and the wall, and with its fore feet resting upon his body,\nsnarling fiercely at something he could not see. He heard feeble voices\nthrough the house, saying, \u201cThis is the stone that was at my head.\u201d\nNothing more came of this visit of the spirits, than that the Mull man\n(who was likely the victim of a hoax) positively refused to sleep in that\nhouse again.\n\nThe manner in which shades haunt the places where their bodies are, is\nvery clearly shown in the following tale.\n\nThe body of a woman was cast ashore by the sea on the North Beach,\ncalled the Beach of Fell (_Tr\u00e0igh Feall_), in the island of Coll, and\nwas buried in the neighbouring sandbanks. After this, the semblance of a\nwoman was seen in the evenings on the beach, close to the tide. Maclean,\nthe then tenant of Caolas, a farm near hand, ridiculed the belief. One\nevening, however, when going home across the North Beach, at the White\nStream (_Sruth B\u00e0n_), he thought of the numerous stories he had heard of\nthe apparition, and, looking seaward, saw a woman sitting by the tide,\nrocking herself (_ga turruman fhein_), and apparently in the utmost\ndistress. He went where she was, and asked her what she was doing? \u201cHand\nof cleverness\u201d (_l\u00e0mh thapaidh_), she answered, \u201cI have been long here;\nI try to go home, but I cannot. I was a poor woman belonging to Uist; I\nwas lost on a rock; my body came ashore here, and I try to go home, but\ncannot; my body keeps me.\u201d Maclean asked what reward she would give, if\nhe took her body home. She promised to be with him in every quarrel or\nfight, in which he might be involved. This offer he declined, saying his\nown hand was strong enough to extricate him in any difficulty of that\nkind. She then offered him the gift of knowing the thief, if anything\nshould be stolen in Coll. This gift he accepted, and the stones that\nmarked the grave being told him, he sent for the woman\u2019s brothers, the\nbody was taken home, and the spectre was no more seen on the North Beach.\n\n\nSPIRITS APPEARING IN DREAMS.\n\nA deceased sister\u2019s ghost appeared to a woman in a dream, and told her,\ntheir brother had been buried the day before in Ireland. She also told\nthe signs, by which next day the truth of the dream was to be proved. The\nwords of the ghost form in Gaelic a singularly beautiful and plaintive\nsong. Each line is repeated twice in singing, first with one and then\nanother of those meaningless choruses to be found in Gaelic melody, and\nsuiting well with the genius of the language.\n\n        E ha na hoo-roo\n    Loving sister, are you sleeping?\n        Ho lo va, hoo-roo,\n        E ha na hao-lo-ro hee.\n    Loving sister, are you sleeping?\n    The brother, whom we had in Erin,\n    Went yesterday away on bearers.\n    I was there, but no one saw me.\n    A while on foot, a while on horseback,\n    Another while my hands wringing.\n    I will give proofs of thy vision,\n    The big byre, where the kine are,\n    Will be wrapped in flames to-morrow,\n    And the infant in your bosom,\n    You\u2019ll find dead on your bedside.\n\nIt is told of a widower, who was unkind to his children, that the ghost\nof his deceased wife in a similar manner appeared to him, and said:\n\n    \u201cMan, who hast shut the door upon me,\n      And left me lying here!\n    Before the Christmas comes\n      A greater loss will befall you.\n    Man, who hast the children,\n      Rearing them unpeaceably,\n    If oft your hand be raised,\n      I will not be long at peace with you.\u201d\n\n\nTO GET RID OF THE SECOND SIGHT.\n\nIt was a belief in the island of Coll that a person afflicted with the\nsecond sight might get rid of his unhappy gift, and, as it were, bind\nit away (_nasg_) from himself, by giving alms (_d\u00e9irc_) and praying the\ngift may depart. A seer living near Arinagour in that island had two sons\nin the army, then engaged in foreign wars, and in his visions saw what\nwas happening to them. The visions preyed so much on his mind that, to\nrid himself of them, he gave half-a-crown to an old woman, and prayed\nhis second sight might be taken away. After this he saw nothing of his\nsons, and, anxious to know their fate, he went to Tiree for a celebrated\nta\u00efsher, and brought him to Coll with him. He placed him beside the fire,\nwhich was on the middle of the floor. It was held by the best seers that\nvisions are best seen through the fire (_roi\u2019 n teine_). Before long the\nTiree seer began to sweat, and the other, who knew that this was caused\nby a painful vision, begged him to tell what he saw, and hide nothing.\nHe told that both the sons were killed\u2014the one by a bullet through the\nhead, the other shot through the heart and through the neck. Soon after a\nletter came to the Laird of Coll corroborating the seer\u2019s vision.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\nHOBGOBLINS.\n\n\nThe term _B\u00f2chdan_ (pron. Baucan) is a general name for terrifying\nobjects seen at night, and taken to be supernatural, bugbears, ghosts,\napparitions, goblins, etc., in all their variety. The word conveys as\nmuch the idea of fright in the observer as of anything hurtful or violent\nin the object itself. It is derived from _b\u00f2chd_, to come in a swelling\nand resistless flood, not an unapt description of the manner in which\nfear takes possession of its victims. Any object, indistinctly seen, may\nprove a hobgoblin of this kind. It may be merely a neighbour playing\npranks by going about in a white sheet, a stray dog, a bush waving and\nsighing in the night wind, or even a peat-stack looming large in the\nimperfect light. There is a story of a man on Loch Rannoch-side who\nfought a bush, in mistake for a ghost, in a hollow, which had an evil\nname for being haunted. The conflict continued till dawn, when he was\nfound exhausted, scratched, and bleeding.\n\nSometimes the Baucan, or terrifying object, causes fright by its mere\nappearance, sometimes by the noises it makes, and sometimes by its\nsilence. In appearance it is commonly a man or woman moving silently\npast, and not speaking till spoken to, if even then; but it has also\nbeen encountered as a black dog, that accompanies the traveller part of\nhis way, as a headless body (a particularly dangerous form of ghost),\nas a he-goat, or simply a dark moving object. At other times it is\nterrific from having a chain clanking after it, from its whistling with\nunearthly loudness, by horrible and blood-freezing cries and sounds of\nthrottling, and sometimes it makes its presence known only by faint and\nhardly audible sounds. In fact, the number and variety of things by which\nsuperstitious terror may be awakened at night are countless.\n\nIn most cases the Baucan is deemed the precursor of a sudden or violent\ndeath to occur at the place where it is seen or heard. It is remembered\nafter the event that an unaccountable light was seen there at night, or a\nhorse had become uneasy and could not be induced by its rider to pass, or\nsomething extraordinary had been observed, which the popular imagination\nconnects with the subsequent event. At other times the Baucan is the\nspirit of the dead revisiting the earth, that it may be spoken to, and\nunburden itself of some secret that disturbs its rest. Sometimes it is an\nevil spirit on some message of darkness and sometimes merely a sound or\nindistinct object by which the wayfarer is frightened, but of which he is\nunable to give any lucid description. Fright is destructive of curiosity,\nand a person ready to faint with terror cannot be expected to be critical\nin his observations, nor afterwards coherent in his statements. Besides,\nvagueness or indistinctness as to the cause\u2014an element to which the\nobscurity of night lends a ready aid\u2014tends to render fear more frantic.\nIf the observer had a distinct view of the object of his alarm, and\nknew exactly what it was, even though it were a spirit of darkness, his\nterror would be less. _Omne ignotum pro magnifico_ is an axiom that holds\nespecially true in such cases, and it is ignorance of its own cause that\ngives terror its wildest forms. A ghost or apparition seen in the day\ntime, if that were possible, would not be at all so dreadful.\n\nIt may be said, that every Highland village has near it a locality\nwhere a ghost or _baucan_ is, or was, to be seen. A favourite haunt\nfor these unearthly visitants is by the fords of rivers (_beul \u00e0th na\nh-aimhne_), where generally bridges have been built in modern times,\nnear churchyards, on dark moors, and in hollows, or rather at the top of\nthe ascent from hollows, traversed by the public road. Not unfrequently\nthere is a projecting rock (_sr\u00f2in creige_) near the spot, and this may\nhave its own share in producing that sense of loneliness and awe, which\nmakes the belated peasant prone to convert stray animals and unusual\nappearances into ghosts and spirits. It is a noticeable feature in\nghost stories, that it is principally to those travelling alone, and not\naccustomed to walk the night, that ghosts are visible. They have been\nseen in houses, and even in towns, but ordinarily they affect lonely\nplaces, where naturally men are more apt to be timorous.\n\nThe \u201cBlack Shore\u201d (_du-chladach_) as it is called, _i.e._ the shore below\nthe line or roll of seaweed thrown up by the tide (_r\u00f2lag r\u00f2id_), is,\naccording to Highland belief, an asylum from all kinds of supernatural\nbeings that haunt the night, fairies, ghosts, or evil spirits. No being\n\u201cat all, at all\u201d of the kind (_se\u00f2rsa sam bith, sam bith_) can go below\nthe tide mark. The confidence of the timorous in this place of refuge is\nconfirmed by the assurance that they are not exposed to a similar danger\nfrom the sea. It is a saying, \u201cEvil comes not from the sea\u201d (_Cha d\u2019thig\nolc sam bith o\u2019n fhairge_).\n\nGhosts and evil spirits cannot cross a running stream, a belief which had\nits origin before the days of bridges. The shock given to the nerves by\nthe cold water, when it was of any depth, served to dispel the optical\ndelusion caused by unfounded terror.\n\nWhen about to encounter a Baucan the dirk should be partly drawn from its\nsheath, otherwise it will prove impossible during the encounter to draw\nthe weapon. In the event of the evil spirit asking its name it should\nnot be called by its proper name, \u201ca dirk\u201d (_biodag_), but \u201cmy father\u2019s\nsister\u201d (_piuthar m\u2019athar_), \u201cmy grandmother\u2019s sister\u201d (_piuthar mo\nsheanamhair_) or by some similar title. This prevents enchantments being\nlaid upon it to render it useless. The effect of these is, that instead\nof giving the ghost its _quietus_, the weapon merely makes a tinkling\nnoise (_gliong_) against it. Evil spirits cannot bear the touch of cold\nsteel. Iron, or preferably steel, in any form is a protection, though it\nis not obvious how or why, against the fairies,\u2014an iron ring on the point\nof a staff is as good as a sword, but evil spirits are subdued by it only\nwhen made into a lethal weapon.\n\nIn the struggle the ghost is in the hands of its opponent, soft as a bag\nof wool or impalpable as air. At every tussle, therefore, the unfortunate\nman is thrown down and injured.\n\nIn the presence of an evil spirit, a dog defends its master, or crouches\nin terror about his feet, but a bitch jumps at his throat, and if it\ncan will tear him. It is, however, rendered harmless, by taking blood\nfrom its ear, or tying a collar (_conghal_ i.e. _ceangal_), usually its\nmaster\u2019s garter, about its neck. Similarly an entire horse was said to\ndefend its master, but a mare attacked him. It was also a belief, that an\nentire horse could not be injured by witches or evil spirits.\n\nThe best protection is a circle drawn round one\u2019s self on the ground with\nthe point of a sapling or dirk, saying \u201cThe Cross of Christ be upon us\u201d\n(_Crois Chriosd oirnn!_) All the spirits that infest the night may dash\nin fury against this circle, but they can no more pass it, than the most\nthreatening waves of the sea the rocks that form their appointed bounds.\nAs already suggested, this circle is the superstitious representative of\na person\u2019s own integrity, within which he is safe from the attacks and\nwiles of the devil. It is known also in Ireland, as the following story\ntold in Arisaig, Inverness-shire, by an Irish packman, shows.\n\nA priest\u2019s brother having died, a young man, who had been a bosom friend\nof his, expressed an ardent wish some weeks after to see him again. That\nsame evening he was met by the shade of his dead companion, and the two\nhad a long talk together. They spoke of the pleasure, they had in each\nother\u2019s society, and the dead man got the other to promise to meet him\nat the same spot the following evening. It added, \u201cTo make you sure it\nis indeed I, you will tell my brother the priest of such and such an\noccurrence [describing it], which nobody knows but he and I.\u201d On his way\nhome, the young man called upon the priest, and told what he had seen.\n\u201cIt is not my brother\u2019s ghost at all,\u201d said the priest, \u201cbut the devil,\nwho is trying to decoy you into his power; I will go with you to-morrow\nnight to meet him.\u201d The two went together to the place of appointment,\nthe priest taking with him a dirk, with which he traced a circle round\nthem, and an iron hoop, inside of which also they stood. A figure in face\nand form like the priest\u2019s brother, \u201cmost like, yet not the same,\u201d came,\nbut on finding itself outwitted, and a Bible being opened before it, went\naway in a flame of fire.\n\n\nTHE _Bodach_, OR CARLE.\n\nThe _bodach_ (lit. a carle, an old man) is perhaps the commonest form of\nBaucan, so common that in some districts, _e.g._ the Lord Reay country\n(_D\u00f9thaich Mhic Aoi_), as the seven parishes nearest to Cape Wrath are\ncalled, they have no other name for apparitions or terrifying objects\nseen at night. It is the figure of a man, who is no \u201cliving wight,\u201d\nseen at night, and as may readily be imagined, this kind of apparition\nis frequently seen when children are obstreperous, querulous, or crying\nwithout cause, as their manner is. The Beckoning Old Man (_Bodach an\nSm\u00e9ididh_) appears about the corners of houses, making signs with his\nhand for people to come to him. The _Corra-l\u00f2igein_, whatever his name\nmay mean, stands in places which it is desirable to keep children from\nwandering to after dark, and will ill-treat any of whom it gets a\nhold. The principal of these _Lemures_ is \u201cThe Son of Platter-pool,\u201d\nwhose full title is, \u201cThe Son of Platter-pool from grey spike, silken\nspike, great caterpillar.\u201d[32] This, as his name indicates, is really a\nfrightful bugbear; he looks in at windows, flattens his face against the\npanes, sharpens his teeth with much noise, and takes away children in a\ntwinkling, unless they keep quiet. Neither he, however, nor any of his\nbrother bugbears, enter a house unless called in. The threat of doing so\nis generally quite sufficient to silence the most ill-grained child.\n\n\nFUATH.\n\nThis word means literally aversion, hatred, but in Ross-shire is a common\nword to denote an apparition, ghost, spectre. In this latter sense, it is\nrare in Argyleshire. In the poem of the _Muireartach_ or _Muileartach_,\nwhich may be translated, \u201cWestern Sea,\u201d foster-mother of Manus, King of\nLochlin, describing her attack upon Fin MacCoul and his men, it is said:\n\n    \u201cThe name of the daring spectre (fuath)\n    Was the bold, red, white-maned Westlin Sea;\n    Her face was dusky, of the hue of coal,\n    The teeth of her jaws crooked red;\n    In her head there glared a single eye,\n    That swifter moved than bait-pursuing mackerel;\n    And on her head there bristled dark-grey hair,\n    Like brushwood covered with hoar-frost.\u201d[33]\n\nThe attributes of the _Fuath_ are different in different tales, and\nMr. Campbell (_Tales of the West Highlands_, ii. 191) has fallen into\nthe error of conjoining attributes ascribed in several stories, and\nrepresenting the _Fuath_ as a water spirit, having web-feet, tail, mane,\netc. The name of a desolate moor near Ullapool, in Ross-shire, \u201cThe\nFlat-stoned Declivity of Fuaths\u201d (_Leathad leacanta nam Fuath_), is alone\nconvincing it was not deemed particularly a water spirit.\n\nThe following tales will illustrate the character of Highland hobgoblins\nand such-like objects of terror better than a lengthened disquisition.\n\n\nCACHLAIDH NA FEUSAIG, ISLAY.\n\nAt the bottom of a dell, or hollow, through which the public road lies,\nin the island of Islay, there was a gate across the road, bearing the\nabove name, which means \u201cThe Beard gateway.\u201d At this place things\nunearthly were encountered after dark. One night a man saw an indistinct\nobject coming towards him. He could give no account of it, but that\nits mouth was wide open, as if to devour him, and that from the width\nof its gape he could see its lungs (_sgamhan_) down its throat. He was\naccompanied, fortunately, by a large Newfoundland dog, which rushed\nbetween his legs at the \u201cthing,\u201d and a terrific fight ensued. He ran away\nhome, leaving them at it. In the morning the dog came without any hair on\nits body, and shortly after its return expired.\n\nAbout the middle of February, a party was coming home from the\nmarket held on the Level Ridge (_Imire C\u00f2mhnard_) at Ballygrant (Ugly\nTown). Before parting they entered a roadside inn. One of them, Ewen\nM\u2019Corkindale, had, after leaving, to pass through the Beard gateway and\nthe haunted dell. His companions made fun of him, and asked him if he\nwas not afraid of the _Bodach_, the carle, or old man, who haunted the\ndell. Out of fool-hardiness, Ewen proposed \u201cthe health of the _bodach_,\nthe old man, and let the _cailleach_, the old wife, go to the dogs.\u201d\nWhen he reached the haunted spot two apparitions, an old man and an old\nwoman, met him. The old woman endeavoured to attack him, but the old man\nkept her off, and ever after, at every opportunity, the same scene was\nrehearsed, the old wife attacked him and the old man defended him. The\nlatter also told him to go to a smithy in Ireland, others say to two\nbrothers in Cantyre, and get a dirk made, and as long as he kept this on\nhis person the old woman would not venture to attack him. The dirk bent\nthree times in the making, and from its possession Ewen acquired the\ntitle of \u201cEwen of the Dirk\u201d (_Eoghan na biodaig_). As he was working one\nevening by moonlight in the harvest field, he left the dirk on a stook of\ncorn, along with his vest. The carlin wife got between him and the dirk,\nand gave him such a squeeze that he put out three mouthfuls of blood. The\n_bodach_ came, but too late, to his rescue. It however, told him, that if\nhe survived till cock-crowing, five years would be added to his life.\nEwen woke up now and then to ask if the cock crew yet, but when it did\nit was too late. Very likely the poor man died of some rupture or heart\ndisease. The dirk was preserved by his son.\n\n\nTHE HEADLESS BODY (_Colann gun cheann_).\n\nAt the shore and forming part of the boundary between North and South\nMorar,[34] on the west coast of Inverness-shire, there is a large rocky\nmound (_cnoc m\u00f2r creige_), which was long the cause of terror in the\ndistrict. At the base of the mound a road can be taken along the shore\nwhen the tide is out. No one, however, taking it alone after nightfall,\nlived to tell the tale. His remains were found next day among the large\nboulder stones (_e\u00f2mach m\u00f2r chlach_), of which the shore is full,\nmangled, and bearing traces of a ghastly and unnatural death. Persons\nwho had the second sight looking over the rocks that overhang the shore\nsaid they saw a phantom or \u201csomething\u201d haunting the place, having the\nshape of a headless human figure. Macdonall or MacCu\u00efl, as he is styled,\nof South Morar (_Mac Dhughaill mh\u00f2rair_), whose house was not far from\nthe scene of the Headless Body\u2019s violence, unexpectedly became the means\nof expelling it from its haunt. He was one winter evening unexpectedly\nvisited by a friend. He had no one to send to Bracara across the river,\nto invite some more friends to come and join in the entertainment of\nhis guest but his son and heir, then about 18 years of age. He strictly\nenjoined the youth not to return that night unless men came with him,\nfor fear of the Headless Body. The young man did not find the friends he\nwas sent for at home, and with the temerity natural to his years came\nback alone. The Body met him and killed him, and in the morning were\nfound traces of a fearful struggle, large stones displaced and clots of\nblood, as if the youth had put out his heart\u2019s blood. MacCu\u00efl made a\nsolemn vow neither to eat nor drink till he avenged his son\u2019s death. All\nthat evening his friends tried to persuade him to remain at home, but\nto no purpose. The Headless Body never appeared but to those who passed\nits way alone, and the chief\u2019s friends had to return while he went on\nunaccompanied to the haunted rocks. The Body came out and said, \u201cYou have\ncome to take your son\u2019s ransom (_\u00e9iric_); take counsel, and go home.\u201d To\nthis the chief replied by clasping his arms round the hated apparition. A\nfurious struggle commenced, and to this day the stones may be seen which\nwere rolled out of their way in the dread encounter. At last the strong\nand fearless chief got the Headless Body under, and drew his dirk to stab\nit. The Body cried, \u201cHold your hand, MacCu\u00efl, touch me not with the iron,\nand while there is one within the twentieth degree related to you (_air\nan fhicheadamh miar_) in Morar, I will not again be seen.\u201d\n\nWhen this story was heard some years ago there were only two alive within\nthis relationship to the ancient chief, one a harmless idiot, the other\na poor woman in Fort William. One or other of them must be still alive,\nfor the Headless Ghost has not yet made its reappearance. The person from\nwhom it was heard, was a firm believer in its truth, and in his youth,\nhalf a century ago, was well acquainted with the district in which the\nevents were said to have occurred. He had learned and practised the\ntailoring trade there.\n\nAnother, and somewhat different, version of the tale will be found in\nCampbell\u2019s _West Highland Tales_, ii. 89. In it the subduing of the\nghost is ascribed to Stout John, Laird of Raasay, a proof of the manner\nin which floating popular tales attach themselves to known characters.\nThe words ascribed to the Body as it went away, were composed in the\nEast Indies by a piper of the name of Bruce from East-side, Skye. _Beinn\nHeidera_ and _Bealach a Bhorbhain_ are both in East-side, Skye. The\nwords are an adaptation of an old tune, \u201c_Thogainn fonn air gille an\nt-sealgair_.\u201d\n\nThe tale quoted by Scott (_Lay of the Last Minstrel_ note Q) from Henry\nthe Minstrel, of Sir William Wallace\u2019s encounter with the Headless\nBody is also known in the Hebrides, and has been told to the writer\nby a native of the extreme west of Tiree. According to this version,\nMacfadyen\u2019s head was cut off by Wallace to avoid his falling alive into\nthe hands of the English. Macfadyen was an old man and not able to keep\nup with the rest of the retreating company. When Wallace himself went\nto open the door, the Headless Body stood holding the head by the hair\nin its hand, and threw it at Wallace. Wallace picked it up and flung it\nout at the door as far as he could. The Headless Body went in search of\nit and Wallace made his escape by a window on the opposite side of the\ncastle.\n\nThere is a rhyme with which probably some legend was formerly connected:\n\n    \u201cWhen Fionn went to the hill\n    He met Headless Body.\u201d[35]\n\nIt was deemed very foolhardy in a boy to go out after dark alone and say,\n\n    \u201cHeadless Body\n    Come and take me away.\u201d[36]\n\n\nTHE GREY PAW (_Sp\u00f2g liath_).\n\nIn the big church of Beauly (_Eaglais mhor na manachain_, _i.e._ of\nthe Monastery) mysterious and unearthly sights and sounds were seen\nand heard at night, and none who went to watch the churchyard or\nburial-places within the church ever came back alive. A courageous tailor\nmade light of the matter and laid a wager that he would go any night, and\nsew a pair of hose in the haunted church. He went and began his task.\nThe light of the full moon streamed in through the windows, and at first\nall was silent and natural. At the dead hour of midnight, however, a big\nghastly head emerged from a tomb and said, \u201cLook at the old grey cow that\nis without food, tailor.\u201d[37] The tailor answered, \u201cI see that and I sew\nthis,\u201d and soon found that while he spoke the ghost was stationary, but\nwhen he drew breath it rose higher. The neck emerged and said, \u201cA long\ngrizzled weasand that is without food, tailor.\u201d[38] The tailor went on\nwith his work in fear, but answered, \u201cI see it, my son, I see it, my son,\nI see that and I sew this just now.\u201d[39] This he said drawling out his\nwords to their utmost length. At last his voice failed and he inhaled a\nlong breath. The ghost rose higher and said, \u201cA long grey arm that is\nwithout flesh or food, tailor.\u201d[40] The trembling tailor went on with\nhis work and answered, \u201cI see it, my son, I see it, my son; I see that\nand I sew this just now.\u201d Next breath the thigh came up and the ghastly\napparition said, \u201cA long, crooked shank that is without meat, tailor.\u201d \u201cI\nsee it, my son, I see it, my son; I see that and I sew this just now.\u201d\nThe long foodless and fleshless arm was now stretched in the direction of\nthe tailor. \u201cA long grey paw without blood or flesh, or muscles, or meat,\ntailor.\u201d[41] The tailor was near done with his work and answered, \u201cI see\nit, my son, I see it, my son; I see that and I sew this just now,\u201d while\nwith a trembling heart he proceeded with his work. At last he had to\ndraw breath, and the ghost, spreading out its long and bony fingers and\nclutching the air in front of him, said, \u201cA big grey claw that is without\nmeat, tailor.\u201d[42] At that moment the last stitch was put in the hose,\nand the tailor gave one spring of horror to the door. The claw struck at\nhim and the point of the fingers caught him by the bottom against the\ndoor-post and took away the piece. The mark of the hand remains on the\ndoor to this day. The tailor\u2019s flesh shook and quivered with terror, and\nhe could cut grass with his haunches as he flew home.\n\nThis is perhaps the most widely known and most popular story in the\nHighlands. Its incidents can be reproduced on a winter evening with\nfrightful distinctness by means of a shadow on the wall. This gives\nit a wonderful attraction for children, and if fear can under any\ncircumstances be called into healthy action (and dread, like any other\npower or capacity of the mind must have a proper and healthy action),\nit is in listening to this or similar stories. Their baneful effects,\nif such there be, soon disappear. There is hardly an old church in the\nHighlands, where the event has not been said to have occurred. A writer\nin the last statistical account (Argyleshire, p. 682 note) claims it\nfor the old church of Glassary. In Skye it is placed in the _Eaglais\nUamhalta_ in Conasta near Duntulm. The old church of Beauly has the most\npopular claim, though to a youthful audience the truth of the story is\nmuch confirmed by putting the scene in some place that they know.\n\nIn the cathedral of Iona, there is a small nook pointed out, called \u201cthe\ntailor\u2019s hole\u201d (_Toll an ta\u00ecllear_), where it is said the monks kept the\ntailor who made their clothes. They kept him too long, and too busy at\nhis work, and at last \u201cthings\u201d began to trouble him at night. The worst\nof these was a fleshless hand that used to show itself on the wall, and\nsay, \u201ca great grey paw that is without meat, tailor.\u201d\n\nAnother form of the tale is that the tailor was at the _aire chlaidh_,\n_i.e._ watching the graveyard, of a friend, in a chapel (_caibeal_)\nwhen the foodless figure began to emerge from a tomb. The tailor did\nnot run away till the figure had got up as far as the knees, and said:\n\u201c_Sliasaid liath reamhar_,\u201d etc.\n\n\nEWEN AND THE CARLIN WIFE.\n\nOne of the commonest of Gaelic sayings is, \u201cWhether he would or not, as\nthe old wife came upon Ewen,\u201d to which is frequently added, \u201ca wife as\nbig as his mother\u201d (_a dhe\u00f2in no dh\u2019aindeoin, mar thainig a chailleach\nair Eoghan, bean cho m\u00f2r ri mhathair_). There are various versions of the\norigin of this tale, but none of them common.\n\nThe celebrated Ewen Cameron of Locheil (who is characterised by Macaulay,\nin his _History of England_, as the Ulysses of the Highlands, a gracious\nmaster, a trusty ally, and a terrible enemy), was on a journey, as the\nstory goes, from Aberdeen to Inverness. He was at the time a young man,\nand on entering the inn, in which he stayed at Aberdeen, the evening\nbefore starting, he found sitting before him an old woman he had never\nseen before. On seeing Ewen she wrinkled up her nose, tossed her head,\nand said \u201ch\u012dh.\u201d Ewen, being of a witty humour, replied by wrinkling up\nhis own nose, tossing his head, and saying \u201ch\u014fh.\u201d Next morning when\nstarting, he found the hag waiting for him at the door. She said, \u201cStep\nit out, Ewen\u201d (_Ceum ann, Eoghain!_) He said nothing, but went on his\nway. All day the old woman walked alongside, and, whenever his steps\nflagged, repeated her challenge to him to step it out. Ashamed to be\nbeat by an old woman, and agile as a wild cat, Ewen held on at a headlong\npace, and before nightfall the pair were in Inverness, 108 miles away.\nEwen was sadly fatigued, as may well be supposed from the distance and\nthe pace. That night he consulted an old man, who advised him to answer\nthe old wife\u2019s challenge also in words, and no evil would result from\nhis walk. Next day the hag, as before, was waiting for him at the door,\nand said, \u201cStep it out, Ewen\u201d (_Ceum ann, Eoghain!_) He answered: \u201cA\nstep for your step, and a step additional, old woman!\u201d (_Ceum air do\ncheum, agus ceum a bharrachd, a chailleach!_) This day they walked to\nPatrickson Sound (_Caolas \u2019ic Phadruig_), as the ferry across Loch Leven\nat Balachulish is called, a distance of 75 miles. Ewen got into the ferry\nboat first, and pushed off from the shore. When the hag saw herself about\nto lose him, she called out, \u201cMy sincere wishes are yours, Ewen\u201d (_Mo\ndh\u00f9rachd dhut fh\u00e9in, Eoghain!_) He replied: \u201cYour sincere wishes be upon\nyour own sides, and on yonder grey stone, old wife!\u201d (_R\u00f9n do chridh\u2019 air\ndo chliathaich \u2019s air a chloich ghlais ud thall, a chailleach_). The old\nwife looked at the grey stone, and it split in two, as may still be seen\nby any one passing that way.\n\nAnother version of the parting of Ewen and the Old Wife is, that the pair\ncame to Ewen\u2019s foster-mother\u2019s house. That night his foster-mother put\nhim to sleep on a hard deal board, and placed a crock of butter[43] to\nhis feet, while she put the old wife in a soft and luxurious bed. In the\nmorning Ewen was as fresh as a lark, his feet had soaked in the whole of\nthe butter during the night, but the Carlin wife was dead!\n\nAnother, and probably older, tale of the origin of the saying, is of a\nwilder cast. Ewen was a jolly young fellow (_\u00f3ganach grinn_) who went to\na wedding. He had a switch in his hand, with which, when the ceremony was\nbeing performed in the church, he tapped a skull in the church window,\nsaying to it every word the minister said to the couple marrying. That\nnight on going to bed he was seized by a shivering cold, and an old\nwoman (_cailleach_) came and claimed him as her husband. She said, they\nwere married as surely as the couple in church that day. She came night\nafter night, and Ewen, whose thoughtless fun had turned to such terrible\nearnestness, could not get rid of her, do what he could. An old man,\nwhom he consulted, said, there was a bad chance of her going away while\nhe lived, but that he ought to consult Michael Scott. Michael said, \u201cI\nwill separate you from her, but perhaps you will not live after. Here is\na book, which you are to take to bed with you, and when she goes away,\nopen the book, and follow her wherever she goes. While the book is open,\nshe cannot leave you by walking. Before you come back, you will see the\nbed prepared for me, and will be able to tell me what it is like.\u201d The\nhag went to hell, and Ewen followed.[44] Several subordinate demons came\nfirst to the door, but Ewen demanded an interview with their chief. He\nthen requested, that the old wife should be bound with chains, to keep\nher always in her infernal abode. This was done, but when he offered\nto go away, she followed. She was then put below a caldron (_fo bhial\ncoire_) on the bed of brimstone prepared for Michael Scott, and she is\nprobably there still. Ewen came back to tell Michael, that his bed was\nready, and did not live long after his terrible adventure.\n\n\nTHE BLACK WALKER OF THE FORD.\n\nRather more than a century ago,[45] there lived at Amhulaich, in\nRannoch, a miller, much addicted to the use of tobacco, and when unable\nto get it, was like most smokers very short and quick in the temper.\nOn one occasion, he ran out of tobacco, and sent for a supply by some\nLochaber men, who were passing through Rannoch on their way to Perth.\nThe mill-stream ran close to his house, and he had to cross it on\nstepping stones in going to and from the mill. As he was returning home\none evening in the dusk, and was about to enter the house, he heard the\nsound of footsteps coming to the ford. He called out, who is there? but\nreceived no answer. Being crusty for want of tobacco, and thinking it\nmight be the Lochaber men returning, he called out a second time, very\nperemptorily and impatiently. He still received no answer. He called out\na third time, turning down to the ford, and saying aloud, that, whether\nit was man or devil, he would make it answer. The thing then spoke, and\nsaid it (or he) was the Black Walker of the Ford (_Coisiche du beul an\n\u00e0th_). What further passed between the two never transpired, but every\nevening after that, for a year or more, the miller left home at dusk,\ncrossed the stream, and went to a small clump of trees about half a\nmile away, whence loud cries and yells were heard during the night.\nBefore daybreak he came home, with his knife or dirk covered with blood.\nWhen examined by the light, the blood proved to be merely earth. An\nattempt was made on one occasion by some young men to follow him to the\nrendezvous, but he became aware in some mysterious way of the attempt,\nand turning back warned them not to follow. It was enough, he said, for\nhimself to go, without their perilling their souls. On the last night of\nhis going to meet the Black Walker, such terrific outcries were heard\nfrom the clump of trees, that the people of the neighbouring villages,\nAmhulaich and Craggano\u00fcr, came to the doors to listen. It was a winter\nnight, and next morning marks of a foot or knee were found in the snow,\nalong with the miller\u2019s own footsteps, as if something had been engaged\nin a struggle with him. Some years after this, a man, who had been away\nin America, entered Amhulaich Mill. The miller at the time was dressing\nthe mill-stone, and whenever he observed the American, threw at him the\npick he had in his hand, and nearly killed another, who was standing\nnear. He told him never to appear in his presence again, that he had\nhad enough of him. Many surmised it was this man, who had troubled him\nbefore, but whether it was or not never appeared.\n\n\nSTROWAN, ATHOLE.\n\nWithin the present century, a native of Glen Erochty (_Gleann\nEireachdaidh_), the valley that leads from Athole to Rannoch, was\nsimilarly afflicted. Every evening he went to meet the evil spirit, at\na small circle of trees, on the top of the hill above the clachan of\nStrowan. The last occasion of his doing so, was after the shinty playing\non New-Year\u2019s day. He took with him a large stick, which had been cut\nthat same day in the wood, and had served one of the players for a\nshinty stick. Next day this stick was found at the scene of the nightly\nmeetings, twisted like a withe, while all round within a circle the snow\nwas trampled, as if there had been a struggle. There were marks of a\nman\u2019s foot and of a knee.\n\n\nTHE UNEARTHLY WHISTLE.\n\nAbout seventy years ago, a young man, a native of the village of Cornaig,\nin Tiree, went in the evening to another village, _Cruaidh-ghortain_,\nabout two miles distant. When he reached it, he reclined on a bed,\nand being tired fell fast asleep. He awoke with a start, and thinking\nfrom the clearness of the night (it was full moon) daylight had come,\nhurried off home. His way lay across a desolate moor, called the Yellow\nRidge (_Druim Buidhe_), and when halfway he heard a loud whistle behind\nhim, but in a different direction from that in which he had come, at a\ndistance, as he thought, of above a mile. The whistle was so unearthly\nloud, he thought every person in the island must have heard it. He\nhurried on, and when opposite the Sharp-pointed Rock (_An Carragh\nbiorach_) he heard the whistle again, as if at the place where he himself\nhad been when he heard it first. The whistle was so clear and loud,\nthat it sent a shiver through his very marrow. With a beating heart he\nquickened his pace, and when at the gateway adjoining the village he\nbelonged to, he heard the whistle at the Pointed Rock. He here made off\nthe road, and managed to reach home before being overtaken. He rushed\ninto the barn, where he usually slept, and, after one look towards the\ndoor at his pursuer, buried himself below a pile of corn. His brother\nwas in a bed in the same barn asleep. His father was in the house, and\nthree times, with an interval between each call, heard a voice at the\ndoor saying, \u201cAre you asleep? Will you not go to look at your son? He is\nin danger of his life, and in risk of all he is worth\u201d (_an geall na\u2019s\nfhiach e_). Each call became more importunate, and at last the old man\nrose and went to the barn. After a search he found his son below a pile\nof sheaves, and nearly dead. The only account the young man could give\nwas, that when he stood at the door, he could see the sky between the\nlegs of his pursuer, who came to the door and said it was fortunate for\nhim he had reached shelter; and that he (the pursuer) was such a one who\nhad been killed in the Field of Birds (_Bl\u00e0r nam Big-ein_) in the Moas, a\npart of Tiree near hand.\n\nIn its main outline, this tale may be correct enough. A hideous nightmare\nor terror had made the fatigued young man hide himself under the corn,\nand things as strange have happened, in the history of nervous delusions,\nas that he should have gone himself to the door of the dwelling house to\ncall his father.\n\n\nTHE BATTLE OF GAURA.\n\nThis was the battle in which Cairbre and Oscar, the son of Ossian,\nwere killed. It was fought in Ireland about the fifth century, and\nfrom the poem or ballad, in which Ossian describes the battle and the\ncircumstances of his son\u2019s death, and which is still extant in popular\ntradition, has always been the most celebrated of Celtic battles.\nMacpherson has worked up the popular accounts in the first Book of\nTemora, but not very successfully.\n\nOne night a little man, of the name of Campbell, was going home from the\nsmithy, with the ploughshare and coulter on his shoulder, and in a narrow\nglen encountered a gigantic figure, that stood with a foot resting on\neach side of the valley. This figure asked him, \u201cWhat is your name?\u201d He\nanswered boldly (as became one of the clan), \u201cCampbell.\u201d It then asked,\n\u201cWere you at the Battle of Gaura?\u201d He answered \u201cYes.\u201d \u201cShow me your hand,\nthen, that I may know if you were at the Battle of Gaura.\u201d Instead of\nhis hand, Campbell held out the ploughshare and coulter, and the figure\ngrasped them so tightly, that they were welded together and had to be\ntaken back to the smithy, to be separated. \u201cI see,\u201d said the apparition,\n\u201cthat you were at the Battle of Gaura, for your hand is pretty hard.\u201d\n\nTwo men were during the night on their way, it is said, to steal sheep.\nOne beguiled the way by telling the other about the Battle of Gaura. Two\nfigures of immense size appeared, one on the top of each of two high\nhills in the neighbourhood. The gigantic apparitions spoke to each\nother, and one said, \u201cDo you hear these men down there? I was the second\nbest hero (_ursainn chath_, lit. door-post of battle) at the Battle\nof Gaura, and that man down there knows all about it better than I do\nmyself.\u201d\n\n\nTHE BEAST OF ODAL PASS.\n\nFrom Kyle-rhea (_Caol-Redhinn_), the narrowest part of the Sound of Skye,\nthe Pass of Odal stretches westward and forms one of the most striking\nPass views in the Highlands. It was through it, that the first public\nroad was made in Skye, about sixty years ago. At the time it was being\nmade, the Pass was haunted by \u201csomething\u201d awful\u2014the more awful that its\ncharacter was not distinctly known,\u2014that enjoyed an evil reputation far\nand wide as \u201cThe Beast of Odal Pass\u201d (_Biasd Bealach Odail_). This thing,\nwhatever it was, did not always appear in the same shape. Sometimes\nit bore the form of a man, sometimes of a man with only one leg; at\nother times it appeared like a greyhound, or beast prowling about; and\nsometimes it was heard uttering frightful shrieks and outcries, which\nmade the workmen leave their bothies in horror. It was only during the\nnight it was seen or heard. Travellers through the Pass at night were\noften thrown down and hurt by it, and with difficulty made their way to\na place of safety. It ceased when a man was found dead at the roadside,\npierced with two wounds one on his side and one on his leg, with a hand\npressed on each wound. It was considered impossible these wounds could\nhave been inflicted by human agency.\n\n\n_Luideag_, \u201cTHE RAG.\u201d\n\nAt a small loch between Broadford and Sleat, in Skye, called \u201cThe Lakelet\nof Black Trout\u201d (_Lochan nan dubh bhreac_), thirty or forty years ago,\nthe figure of a young woman with a coat about her head was commonly to be\nseen at night in the neighbourhood of and on the public road that passes\nthat way. She went by the name _Luideag_, _i.e._ the Rag, or slovenly\nfemale. She did not answer when spoken to, and disappeared as silently\nand mysteriously as she made her appearance. The place is lonely and far\nfrom houses, and there was no conceivable reason why any one, much less\na female, should nightly frequent it. An excise-man passing the way once\nspoke to _Luideag_, first in English and then in Gaelic, but she answered\nnot a word. A man was found lying dead on the road at the place, and she\nnever appeared afterwards.\n\n\n_Lochan Doimeig._\n\nOn the skirts of Schiehallion, the steepest and one of the highest hills\nin the kingdom, there is a small loch or tarn, near Crossmount, in Lower\nRannoch, the vicinity of which about 50 years ago was the scene of\nstrange terrors at night. The road leading over the shoulder of the hill\nto Weem lay along the shores of this lake, and, where it was crossed\nby a small stream that falls into the loch, those who passed the way\nafter dark were scared by strange sights. After crossing the ford the\ntraveller was accompanied for about twenty yards by a dog, a he-goat, a\ndark moving mass, or some other object, which, from the unaccountable\nmanner of its appearance and disappearance, could not be deemed earthly.\nA native of Kilchonan, in Rannoch, who had been for some time in the\nsouth as a gardener, came on a visit to his friends, and had to pass in\nthe neighbourhood of the loch. It was ascertained that at Cashieville\n(_Cois-a-bhile_), where he left the strath of the Tay to cross the skirts\nof Schiehallion, he had taken a drink of porter. It was fourteen days\nafter before it was ascertained he never reached Kilchonan. A search\nwas instituted; men gathered from Appin and Athole and Rannoch, and the\nwhole country round about, and continued the search for three or four\ndays, even as far as Glenlyon, but without success. One of the exploring\nparties when above Crossmount was met by a woman, who advised them to\nsearch round _Lochan Doimeig_, for she had dreamt last night she was\ncutting rushes there. Soon after a man met them, who gave them the same\nadvice, and said he had had the same dream. On going round the loch\nthey found the dead gardener lying on a green mound on the brink of the\nstream, already mentioned as crossing the road, in the attitude in which\nhe had stretched himself to take a drink.\n\n\nRETURN OF THE DEAD.\n\nA former minister of East-side, Skye, was in his lifetime addicted to\nvisiting his cattle fold. His whole heart was given to his herds, and\nafter his death his ghost was to be seen revisiting his former haunts. An\nold man undertook to meet and lay the ghost. The two met and saluted each\nother in the usual manner. When shaking hands, however, the man, instead\nof his hand, offered the ploughshare. After that the ghost never came\nback.\n\nIn the same neighbourhood, about thirty years ago, a man died suddenly.\nHis wife watched the cows in harvest soon after this, lest they should\nleave the fank or enclosure, in which they were put at nights to keep\nthem from wandering into the crops. She had occasion one night to leave\nher charge and go to a shop two miles away. On her return she went to\nclose a gap (_be\u00e0rn_) in the fold (_buaile_). She found there her late\nhusband, who told her not to be anxious, as he was watching in her stead.\nEvery night after this he was visible to anyone who chose to go and look\nfor him. He even came to the house to _ceilidh_, _i.e._ to while away\nthe time, a favourite recreation in the Highlands (\u03bb\u03ad\u03c3\u03c7\u03b7 of the ancient\nGreeks) of spending the evening, by gathering in a neighbour\u2019s house\nto listen to gossip and tales and idle talk. The dead man\u2019s attentions\nat last made the wife resolve to sell all she had and go to America.\nOn the day of the sale the cattle could not be gathered; they seemed\nto be taken possession of by an undefinable terror, and the sale and\nprojected emigration had to be abandoned. A little bird hovering about\nwas evidently the cause of the wildness of the cattle. After this day the\nvisits of the dead man ceased.\n\n\nDONALD GORM\u2019S GHOST.\n\nIn 1616 a batch of West Highland and Island chiefs were brought before\nthe Privy Council in Edinburgh, and bound over in restrictions as to\nthe quantity of wine they were respectively to use in their houses.\nThe narrative upon which the Privy Council proceeded is quoted by\nGregory (_History of the Western Highlands_, p. 395): \u201cThe great and\nextraordinary excesse in drinking of wyne, commonlie usit among the\ncommonis and tenantis of the Yllis is not only ane occasioun of the\nbeastlie and barbarous cruelties and inhumanities that fallis oute\namongis thame, to the offens and displeasour of God, and contempt of law\nand justice; but that it drawis numberis of thame to miserable necessitie\nand povartie, sua they are constrainit, quhen they want from their awne,\nto take from their nichtbours.\u201d[46] Among these lawless and reckless\nchiefs was Donald Gorm Mor (Big Blue Donald), of Sleat, in Skye, the then\nLord Macdonald of the Isles. He was prevented from attending the Council\nby sickness, but ratified all their proceedings. \u201cHe named Duntulm, a\ncastle of his family in Trouterness (in Skye), as his residence; and six\nhousehold gentlemen and an annual consumption of four tun of wine was\nallowed him.\u201d He died that same year, and was succeeded by his nephew,\nDonald Gorm Og (Young Blue Donald). So far history; the following\ntradition is well known in Skye:\n\nSome family document went amissing, and its loss was likely to be of\nserious consequence to young Donald Gorm. At the same time the figures\nof Donald Gorm Mor and two companions were repeatedly seen on the road\nleading to Duntulm Castle. Efforts were made to accost them, but the\nthree figures passed those who met them in some mysterious manner without\nbeing noticed, and without giving any opportunity of being accosted. They\nwere then seen to enter the castle. An old man of the neighbourhood\nadvised that seven staves of pine (_gathannan caol giuthais_), according\nto others seven spindles of oak (_seachd dealgun daraich_), with fire\nat their points, should be taken, and entry be made into the room in\nwhich the ghosts each day took up their quarters. This was done, and the\nphantoms, Donald Gorm Mor and his two companions, were found drinking. To\ngive confidence to the intruders, that they might hear his tale, Donald\nsaid:\n\n    \u201cI was in Edinburgh last night,\n    I am in my own mansion to-night,\n    And worth a mote in the sunbeam\n    I have not in me of strength.\u201d[47]\n\nHe then told where the lost document was to be found, and disappeared,\nsaying:\n\n    \u201cIf it were not the slender lances of pine,\n    This would be to thy hurt, Young Donald Gorm.\u201d[48]\n\n\nTAIBHSE CHOIMHLIG.\n\nPeter Brown, at Dun Crosg, in Glen Lochy, hid a ploughshare (_coltair_),\nand died without telling where. In consequence his ghost long haunted a\nwaterfall in the neighbourhood (_Eas Choimhlig_), but no one had the\ncourage to speak to it and ascertain the cause of its unrest. In every\nsettled community, the ploughshare is of greater value, though less\nglory is attached to it than the sword or any other weapon, and in the\nHighlands, the same terrors were attached to the hiding of so useful an\ninstrument, which afterwards, and in a more commercial state of society,\nwere believed to follow the secreting of gold. The unhappy man who hid\nit, and died without revealing his secret, could not rest in his grave.\nPeter Brown\u2019s ghost was commonly seen as a roebuck (_boc-earba_), that\nfollowed people passing the ravine of Coilig after dark, but also as\na horse, dog, man, etc., and disappeared only about forty years ago.\nA weaver had the courage to meet it, and had a long talk with it. He\nwas told what would happen to his family, and that his daughter, whose\nmarriage was then spoken of, would never marry. When he returned home he\ntook to his bed and never rose. There is now a bridge where the ford was\nformerly, and it was at the top of the bank above the ford the ghost was\nseen. It once fought a strong man, and the marks of the conflict long\nremained on the ground and trees.\n\n\nKINGAIRLOCH, ARGYLESHIRE.\n\nA skiff was upset at Maodlach, the most rugged part of the coast of this\nrugged district. Of the two men who formed its crew, one was saved by\nclinging to the boat, but the other, a powerful swimmer, in trying to\nswim ashore, was drowned close to land. He omitted to put off his shoes\nand got entangled in the seaweed. Some time after his brother was coming\nfrom the smithy late at night along the shore, carrying an iron bolt on\nhis shoulder. When opposite the place where his brother\u2019s body had been\nfound, this man was joined by a figure which, it was said, resembled a\nhe-goat. He had at the time two dogs along with him, one of which cowered\nabout his feet, but the other, a bitch, leapt up at his throat, and he\nhad again and again to strike it down with the bolt he carried on his\nshoulder. The figure spoke, but it never clearly transpired what it said.\nIt gave messages to deliver to former associates, especially to one\nthoughtless individual, warning him to amend in time. When the brother\nreached a house and came to the light, he fainted away.\n\n\nFLADDA-CHUAIN.\n\nIn this islet, which lies on the east coast of Skye, there lived\nat one time a native of Mull and his wife. In the place there is a\nburying-ground called \u201cThe Monks\u2019 burial-ground\u201d (_Cladh a Mhanaich_),\nthe existence of which adds much to the feelings of awe natural to so\nlonely a place\u2014a solitary islet several miles from land in a stormy sea.\nA dead body came on the shore, and was buried, after being stripped\nof its clothes. After this the dead man came to the hut in which the\nMull man stayed regularly at midnight, and sat warming himself at the\nfire which was left burning all night on the floor. As he bent over the\nfire, and held his feet and his hands to it, he said, \u201cI will softly\nwarm myself, I will softly warm myself\u201d (_Ni mi mo the\u00f3ghadh \u2019s mo\nthe\u00f3ghadh_), and then add,\n\n    \u201cWife, who took my trousers off,\n    And my nice black shoes from me,\n    And the shirt my sister gave me,\u2014\n    To it, to it, cold feet of mine,\n    Many a sea you\u2019ve traversed.\u201d[49]\n\nAfter the Mull man left the place, a party of fishermen, being in the\nneighbourhood, sent one of their number ashore, Red-headed Donald\n(_D\u00f2mhnull Ruadh_) to prepare dinner for them in the bothy. As Donald\nwas bending down to kindle a fire, something struck him violently on the\nskull and knocked him flat. Every time he attempted to lift his head the\nthing knocked him on the skull again. He felt sure it must be the ghost\nwhich warmed itself at the Mull-man\u2019s fire, the _Te\u00f3ghan_ of which his\ncompanions had warned him. Finding it would not allow him to rise, he\nlay on his back as he had been knocked down, and, not daring to look at\nhis assaulter, wriggled himself along the floor till he got hold of a\npost, up which he clambered, to hide himself among the rafters. When his\ncompanions arrived the ghost was found to be a pet ram, addicted, like\nits kind, to butting.\n\n\nHAUNTED HOUSES.\n\nSome half a century ago or more a native of Rannoch resided at Bonskeid\n(_Bonn-sgaod_) in the neighbouring parish of Blair Athole. He was married\nto a Badenoch woman, who had brought servants with her from her own\ncountry. In fact the only servants about the house were from Badenoch.\nIn obedience to the law, which ascribes that which is mysterious to that\nwhich is remote, Badenoch was at that time esteemed a great place for\nwitchcraft and things \u201cuncanny.\u201d A series of unaccountable noises and\nappearances began about the house in Bonskeid. Turnips and peats, thrown\nby unseen hands, flew about the house, lights were blown out, furniture\nwas mysteriously moved, bedclothes were pulled off, and no one could be\nsure that an article would be found by him where he had left it. In all\nthis there was no appearance of mortal agency, and the whole business was\nat once assumed to be the work of evil spirits. A friend from Rannoch,\nwho had been on a visit to the house, declared solemnly (and he was a\nGod-fearing, trustworthy man) that he himself heard the spinning-wheel\ncoming down stairs, and saw it falling in pieces on the floor of the room\nin which he and the family were sitting, without any visible agency, and\nwithout any part of it being broken or injured. He put it together again,\nand with his own hands carried it upstairs and left it in its original\nplace. He had not sat long after coming down when the wheel again came in\nthe same mysterious manner, and fell in pieces on the floor. On another\noccasion, as he stood in the byre, a turnip came and knocked the candle\nout of his hand. To his certain knowledge there was no one in the byre\nwho could have thrown it. These flying turnips came sometimes as if they\nhad been hurled through the wall. The unhappy man, in whose house this\noccurred, endured the persecution for more than a year, and was sadly\nbroken in health and spirits by the trouble. One day as he stood on the\nhearth-stone, warming the back of his feet to the fire, the hearth-stone\nbegan to move. A Badenoch dark hussy (_Caileag dhubh_) was at the time\nstanding by, with her elbow rested on the kitchen \u2018dresser,\u2019 and her chin\non her hand. He observed her smiling, and it struck him she was at the\nbottom of all this bedevilment. He turned her and all the rest of the\nBadenoch servants away, and no further disturbance took place.\n\nAbout twenty years ago, a house in Kilmoluag, Tiree, was the scene of\nsimilar disturbances. With one or two exceptions, all the people of the\nisland believed them to be produced by some supernatural evil agency, and\nall the superstition that with the spread of education had been quietly\ndying out was revived in renewed vigour. No one could deny the agency\nof spirits when the evidence was so clear. The annoyance began by the\ntrickling of dirty water, mixed with sand, from the roof. The burning\npeats were found among the bedclothes, and pebbles in bowls of milk,\nwhere no peats or pebbles ought to be; linen was lifted mysteriously from\nthe washing, and found in another room; articles of furniture were moved\nwithout being touched by visible hands, and stones flew about the house.\nThe disturbances did not occur during the day, nor when a large company\nassembled at the house. Several went to lay the ghost, and a good deal of\npowder and shot was wasted by persons of undoubted courage in firing in\nthe air about the house. The annoyance became so bad, and the advice of\n\u201cwise people\u201d so positive, that the family removed to another house, in\nthe hope the evil would not follow. The removal, however, had no effect,\nand it is privately rumoured, the disturbances ceased only when some\nmoney that had gone amissing was restored. The cause was never clearly\nascertained, but there is reason to suspect it was caused, as all similar\ndisturbances are, by some one suborned for the purpose and shielded from\nsuspicion by a pretended simplicity and terror.\n\nNumerous similar cases, which have occurred in the Highlands,\nmight be instanced. Instances occurring in England, from that of\nWoodstock downwards, and in the south of Scotland, differ only as\nthe circumstances of the countries do. They all seem to have the same\ncharacteristic, the tricks are such as it is perfectly possible for human\nagency to perform, but it is believed there is no human being about the\nplace who does them. Stones come flying through the windows, as if they\nwere thrown from the sky, and are found lying on the floor; the leg of\na wheelbarrow startles two persons engaged within the house in earnest\nconversation, by coming flying between them through the window, and\nstriking the opposite wall with violence; a peat strikes the incredulous\nstranger between the shoulders, and he goes home a believer, etc. These\ncantrips are exaggerated by fear and rumour, till at last the devil is\nbelieved to be unusually busy in the locality. Once this belief becomes\npopular, the delusion is easily carried on.\n\n\n_B\u00f2cain_, GOBLINS.\n\nThe number of these, resembling _Luideag_, seen about fords or bridges,\nand near the public road in lonely places, as has been already said, are\nnumberless. Every unusual sight and sound, in the locality which has the\nname of being haunted, becomes a goblin to the timorous, and one of the\nmost tiresome forms of ghost stories is, how the narrator was nearly\nfrightened out of his wits (the quantity of which is not mentioned) by a\nhorse standing with outstretched neck, and its head towards him, which he\nmistook for a gigantic human figure, by a white he-goat in the face of\na rock, the plaintive cries of an owl, etc., etc. Most ghosts, however,\nare dependent not so much on the imagination of the individual spectator\nas on accumulated rumours, and their explanation is to be sought in\nmen\u2019s love of the marvellous and tendency to exaggeration. On the high\nroad leading from the wood of Nant (_Coill\u2019 an Eannd_) to Kilchrenan on\nLochaweside, two or three summers ago, the traveller was met by a dark\nshadow, which passed him without his knowing how. On looking after him,\nhe again saw the shadow, but this time moving away, and a little man in\nits centre, growing less as the shadow moved off. The little man was\nknown as \u201c_Bodach beag Chill-a-Chreunain_.\u201d\n\nAbout the same time a ghost haunted the neighbourhood of Inveraray, and\ncaused great annoyance to the post and others travelling late. A man\nhad a tussle with a ghost at _Uchdan a Bhiorain dui_ in Appin, and said\nit felt in his arms like a bag of wool. Phantom men were to be seen at\n_Uchdan na Dubhaig_ above Balachulish; at _Ath-fl\u00e8odair_, a ford near\nLoch Maddy in Uist, \u2018things\u2019 are perpetually seen, and it takes a very\ncourageous man to go from Portree home to Braes, in Skye, after dark. A\nmile above the manse, where the road is most lonely, and near the top of\na gradual ascent, sounds of throttling are heard and dark moving objects\nare seen.\n\nIn the island of Coll, the top of the ascent above Grisipol had at one\ntime an evil reputation as a haunted spot. At the summit of the pass,\nthere is a white round rock called _Cnoc Stoirr_. One night a man, on his\nway to the west end of Coll, reached the place about midnight, and was\njoined by a man on horseback. The rider said not a word, and accompanied\nhim for near three miles to the \u201cRound House,\u201d as a house, built for\nthe accommodation of the farm-servants of Breacacha Castle was called.\nWhenever he attempted to enter any of the houses on the way, the silent\nhorseman came between him and the house and prevented him. When they came\nto the Round House, the cock crew, and the horseman disappeared over the\ngate in a flame of fire. The man was lifted into the house, pouring with\nsweat, and going off in fainting fits.\n\nIn Glen Lyon, in Perthshire, there is a village called _Caisle_, and near\nit a ford (now a bridge) and ravine called _Eas a Chaisle_. In the early\npart of the present century, clods and stones were thrown by unseen hands\nat parties crossing this ford at night. At last, no one would venture to\ncross. A harum-scarum gentleman of the neighbourhood, popularly looked\nupon as an unbeliever and a man without fear of God or man, crossed one\nnight, and the clods as usual began to fly about him. He cried out,\n\u201cIn the name of God I defy all from the pit\u201d; and on his saying this a\nmysterious sound passed away up the ravine, and clod-throwing at the\nplace was never afterwards heard of.\n\nThe district, now forming the parishes of Kilmartin and Kilmichael,\nat the west end of the Crinan Canal, is known in the neighbourhood as\nArgyle (_Earra-ghaidheal_), probably from a Celtic colony from Ireland\nhaving settled there first. The people, for instance, of Loch Aweside say\nof a person going down past Ford, that he is going down to Argyle. In\ncourse of time the name has been extended to the county. The public road\nleading through the district was once infested by a ghost, which caused\nconsiderable terror to the inhabitants. A person was got to lay it. He\nmet the ghost and exorcised it in the name of Peter and Paul and John and\nall the most powerful saints, but it never moved. At last he called out\nperemptorily, \u201cIn the name of the Duke of Argyle, I tell you to get out\nof there immediately.\u201d The ghost disappeared at once, and was never seen\nagain.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\nTHE CELTIC YEAR.\n\n\n_Bliadhna_, a year, has been derived by writers on Celtic antiquities\nfrom _Bel-ain_, \u201cthe ring or circle of Baal,\u201d but the derivation is\nat variance with etymological analogies, as well as inadmissible from\nthere being no satisfactory evidence that Baalim worship ever extended\nto the Celtic tribes. It can only be regarded as part of that punning\naffectation with which Gaelic scholarship is disfigured. The initial _bl_\noccurs in many words which have in common the idea of _separation_, and\n_bliadhna_ is likely connected with such words as _bloigh_, a fragment;\n_ball_, a spot, a limb, and denotes merely a division, or separate\nportion, of time.\n\nThe notations of the Celtic year belong to the Christian period, old\nstyle. If there are any traces of Pagan times they are only such as are\nto be gathered from a few names and ceremonies.\n\nThe four seasons are known as _earrach_, spring, _samhradh_, summer,\n_fogharadh_, harvest, and _geamhradh_, winter. The final syllable in\neach of these names is _r\u00e0idh_, a quarter or season of the year, a space\nof three months; and the student of Gaelic will note that the long and\nheavy vowel, of which it consists, is, contrary to the common rule\naffecting long vowels, shortened and made an apparently indifferent\nterminal syllable. It is still deemed, in many parts of the Highlands,\nunlucky to be proclaimed in one quarter of the year and married in the\nnext, and the circumstance is called being \u201castride on the seasons\u201d\n(_gobhlach mu\u2019n r\u00e0idh_). It is an old saying, that the appearance of a\nseason comes a month before its actual arrival; _m\u00ecos roi gach r\u00e0idh\ncholtas_, _i.e._ a month before each season, is seen its appearance. The\ncharacter of the seasons is described in an old riddle,\n\n    \u201cFour came over,\n    Without boat or ship,\n    One yellow and white,\n    One brown, abounding in twigs,\n    One to handle the flail\n    And one to strip the trees.\u201d[50]\n\nThere can be no doubt the origin of the names given to them belongs to a\nperiod anterior to Christianity.\n\n_Earrach_, spring, is derived from _ear_, the head, the front, the east.\nIn naming the four quarters of the heavens, the face, as in the case\nof the Hebrew names, is supposed to be toward the east. The right hand\n(_deas_) is the name given to the south, and the adjective _tuaitheal_,\nfrom _tuath_, the north, means \u201cwrong, to the left, against the sun.\u201d\nHence also, _toirt fo\u2019n ear_, lit. to take a thing from the east, means\nto observe; _earalas_, foresight, _i.e._ the having a thing in view;\n_earar_, the day after to-morrow, _i.e._ the day in front of it. The\nLatin _bos_, and the Greek \u1f14\u03b1\u03c2 or \u1f26\u03c2 would indicate that the ancient\nCeltic name of the season was _fearrach_, and if so it may be connected\nwith _fear_, vir, a man, the first _par excellence_, _for_, before,\n_furasda_, easy, etc. _E\u00e0rr_ means the tail, and the long syllable shows\nit to be only another form of _iar_, west, behind, after, the opposite of\n_ear_. Frequently these names for east and west are known as _sear_ and\n_siar_, as _e.g._ _cha-n fhearr an gille shiar na\u2019n gille shear_, \u201cthe\nlad from the west is no better than the lad from the east,\u201d that is, it\nis but six of the one and half a dozen of the other.\n\n_Samhradh_, summer, according to old glossaries, is from obs. _samh_,\nthe sun, and means the sun season or quarter. This corresponds with the\nEnglish name, which is evidently a softened form of _sun-mer_. _Samh_\nis now used to denote \u201cthe suffocating smell produced by excessive\nheat.\u201d[51] In Tiree, it is the name given to the hazy heavy appearance of\nthe Western ocean, and few expressions are more common than _samh chuain\nt-siar_, the oppressive feeling of which the uneasy sea on the west side\nof the island is productive. In the North Hebrides _samh_ means the ocean\nitself. A common description over the whole Highlands of an intolerable\nstench is _mharbhadh e na samhanaich_, _i.e._ it would kill the savage\npeople living in caves near the ocean, as giants were fabled to do.\n\n_Fogharadh_, autumn, is likely connected with _fogh_, said to mean ease,\nhospitality, and _foghainn_, to suffice, with the same root idea of\n_abundance_.\n\n_Geamhradh_, winter; Lat. _hiems_, Gr. \u03c7\u03b5\u1fd6\u03bc\u03b1. No doubt _geamh_ is of\nthe same origin as the Greek and Latin words, but it does not find\nits explanation in the Greek \u03c7\u03b5\u03c9, to pour. From its being found in\n_g\u00e8amhlag_, a crow-bar, _g\u00e8imheal_, a chain, _geamhtach_, short, stiff,\nand thick, there seems to have been a Gaelic root implying to bind, to be\nstiff, which gives a suitable derivation for the name of the season of\nfrost and ice.\n\n_Mios_, a month, is supposed to be connected with _mias_, a round\nplatter, from the moon\u2019s round orb completing its circle within the\nmonth. Greek \u03bc\u03ae\u03bd, Eol. \u03bc\u03b5\u03b9\u03c2, a month; Lat. _mensis_; Sanscr. _m\u00e2sas_, a\nmonth, _m\u00e2s_, the moon. These show that undoubtedly the origin of the\nword is connected with the moon. The names in the Greek, Latin, and\nTeutonic languages show that there was originally an _n_ in the word, and\nthe Gaelic, as well as Sanscrit, bears testimony to the same fact, by\nthe long vowel. It is a common thing in Hebrew for _n_ at the end of a\nsyllable and in the middle of a word to be assimilated to an immediately\nsucceeding consonant, and it is more likely it so disappeared in some\nlanguages than that it was assumed by others. Another Gaelic name for the\nmoon, _r\u00e9_, is also used to denote a portion of time; _ri mo r\u00e9_, during\nmy lifetime.\n\nComputation of time, however, by months and days of the month, as at\npresent, was entirely unknown to the Highlander of former days; and\neven yet, the native population do not say \u201con such a day of such a\nmonth,\u201d but so many days before or after the beginning of summer or other\nseason, or before and after certain well-known term days and festivals,\nas St Bride\u2019s day, St Patrick\u2019s day, Whitsunday (_caingis_), Hallowtide\n(_Samhuinn_), etc. The time is always reckoned by the old style, and this\ndifference of notation is at first confusing to a stranger. For instance,\nwhen told that the ling fishing on the West Coast lasts from the middle\nof spring till five weeks of summer, it will take a little thought on his\npart to realise that this means from the beginning of April to about the\n18th of June. Names for the months are to be found in dictionaries, but\nthey are obviously manufactured from the Latin names, and confined to\nmodern printed Gaelic.\n\nA connected account of the festivals and days by which the year was\nmarked, must begin with the festivities by which its advent was\ncelebrated.\n\n\nNOLLAIG.\n\nThe seven days from Christmas to the New Year were called _Nollaig_, and\nin the good easy-going olden times no work was done during them, but men\ngave themselves up to friendly festivities and expressions of goodwill.\nHence the sayings, \u201cThe man whom Christmas does not make cheerful, Easter\nwill leave sad and tearful,\u201d[52] and \u201cThere is no Christmas without\nflesh.\u201d[53] Christmas day was called \u201cthe day of big Nollaig\u201d (_Latha\nNollaig mh\u00f3r_), and the night before it \u201cthe night of Cakes\u201d (_oidhche\nnam bannagan_); while New-Year day was known as \u201cthe day of little\nNollaig\u201d (_Latha Nollaig bhig_), and the night before it \u201cthe night of\nblows\u201d (_oidhche nan Calluinnean_).\n\nThe name _Nollaig_ is from the Latin _natalis_, as is made certain by\nthe Welsh word being _Nadolig_; and therefore corresponds to the English\nChristmas. Various explanations are given of the name of the night before\nit. Some say _bannag_ means \u201ca feast of women,\u201d from _bean_, a wife, a\nfeast of rejoicing, such as is customary when a child is born, being\nprepared by women this evening in memory of the birth of Christ. Others\nsay the _bannag_ is the cake presented by them to every one who entered\nthe house that night. If the word means a cake, it is only applied to\nChristmas cakes or those used on this day. When there was a person\nof means, he took every one he met that week, especially the poor, to\nhis house, and gave him his _bannag_, a large round cake (_bonnach m\u00f2r\ncruinn_).\n\nNew-Year\u2019s night, or Hogmanay, was variously known as \u201cthe night of the\ncandle\u201d (_oidhche Choinnle_) and \u201cthe night of the blows or pelting\u201d\n(_oidhche nan Calluinnean, a Challuinn_). The former name may have been\nderived from some religious ceremonies being performed by candle-light,\nas is suggested to be the origin of the English name Candlemas (2nd\nFebruary), or from a candle being kept lighted till the New Year came in.\nThe other name is said to be from the showers of rattling blows given to\na dry cow\u2019s hide used in the ceremonies of the evening, _colluinn_ being\nalso used to denote a thundering blow, or what is called in the Lowlands\n\u201ca loundering lick\u201d (_str\u00e0ic mh\u00f2r_). Thus, _thug e aon cholluinn air_ (he\ngave him one resounding blow); _bi tu air do dheagh cholluinneachadh_\n(you will be severely beaten). The word, however, as was long ago pointed\nout by Lhuyd (_Arch\u00e6ologia Britannica_, 1707) is from _Calendae_, the\nfirst day of every month, this being the beginning of the whole year, and\nthe night being in the Highlands reckoned as preceding the day.\n\n\nCALLUINN.\n\nTowards evening men began to gather and boys ran about shouting and\nlaughing, playing shinty, and rolling \u201cpigs of snow\u201d (_mucan sneachda_),\n_i.e._ large snowballs. The hide of the mart or winter cow (_seiche a\nmhairt gheamhraidh_) was wrapped round the head of one of the men, and he\nmade off, followed by the rest, belabouring the hide, which made a noise\nlike a drum, with switches. The disorderly procession went three times\n_deiseal_, according to the course of the sun (_i.e._ keeping the house\non the right hand) round each house in the village, striking the walls\nand shouting on coming to a door:\n\n    \u201cThe _calluinn_ of the yellow bag of hide,\n    Strike the skin (upon the wall)\n    An old wife in the graveyard,\n    An old wife in the corner,\n    Another old wife beside the fire,\n    A pointed stick in her two eyes,\n    A pointed stick in her stomach,\n      Let me in, open this.\u201d[54]\n\nBefore this request was complied with, each of the revellers had to\nrepeat a rhyme, called _Rann Calluinn_ (_i.e._ a Christmas rhyme),\nthough, as might be expected when the door opened for one, several pushed\ntheir way in, till it was ultimately left open for all. On entering each\nof the party was offered refreshments, oatmeal bread, cheese, flesh, and\na dram of whisky. Their leader gave to the goodman of the house that\nindispensable adjunct of the evening\u2019s mummeries, the _Caisein-uchd_,\nthe breast-stripe of a sheep wrapped round the point of a shinty stick.\nThis was then singed in the fire (_teallach_), put three times with the\nright-hand turn (_deiseal_) round the family, and held to the noses of\nall. Not a drop of drink was given till this ceremony was performed. The\n_Caisein-uchd_ was also made of the breast-stripe or tail of a deer,\nsheep, or goat, and as many as choose had one with them.\n\nThe house was hung with holly to keep out the fairies, and a boy, whipped\nwith a branch of it, may be assured he will live a year for every drop of\nblood he loses. This scratching and assurance were bestowed by boys on\none another, and was considered a good joke.\n\nCheese was an important part of the refreshments, and was known as the\nChristmas cheese (_C\u00e0ise Calluinn_). A slice, cut off at this feast, or a\npiece of the rind (_c\u00f9l na mulchaig_), if preserved and with a hole made\nthrough it, has strange virtues. It was called _laomachan_, and a person\nlosing his way during the ensuing year, in a mist or otherwise, has only\nto look through the hole and he will see his way clearly. By scrambling\nto the top of the house, and looking through it down the _f\u00e0r-lus_ (the\nhole in the roof that served in olden times for chimney and window), a\nperson can ascertain the name of his or her future husband or wife. It\nwill prove to be the same as that of the first person seen, or heard\nnamed. A piece of _laomachan_ is also valuable for putting under one\u2019s\npillow to sleep over.\n\nIn this style the villagers, men and boys, went from house to house,\npreceded in many cases by a piper, and drowning the animosities of the\npast year in hilarity and merriment.\n\n\nCHRISTMAS RHYMES (_Rann Calluinn_).\n\nIn general the rhymes used, when seeking admittance, varied but little in\ndifferent districts. Sometimes an ingenious person made a rhyme suitable\nto the place and people, and containing allusions to incidents and\ncharacter that increased the prevailing fun. The following is one of the\nmost common of the class:\n\n    \u201cI have come here first\n      To renew the Hogmanay;\n    I need not tell about it,\n      It was kept in my grandfather\u2019s time.\n    The Calluinn Breast-stripe is in my pocket,\n      A goodly mist comes from it;\n    The goodman will get it first,\n      And shove its nose into the fire upon the hearth.\n    It will go sunwise round the children,\n      And particularly the wife will get it;\n    \u2019Tis his own wife best deserves it,\n      Hand to distribute the Christmas cakes.\n    Rise down, young wife,\n      And young wife who hast earned praise;\n    Rise (and come) down, as you were wont,\n      And bring down our _Calluinn_ to us.\n    The cheese, that has the smooth face,\n      And butter eye has not blinked;\n    But if you have not that beside you,\n      Bread and flesh will suffice.\n    There is water in my shoes,\n      And my fingers are cut,\n    There is in beside the fire,\n      What will cure my complaint,\n    And if you have room to move,\n      Rise and bring down the glass.\u201d\n\nThe following New-Year\u2019s rhyme must have tried the breath of the speaker\nand the patience of his listeners considerably. It consists probably of\nseveral separate rhymes tagged together, and the allusions it contains\nto the \u201cbig clerk of the street,\u201d etc., make it highly probable the\nceremonies of the evening were remains of the Festival of Fools, and had\ntheir origin in the streets of Rome. The rhyme is given as it came to\nhand.\n\n    \u201cBless this cheerful dwelling,\n      With a musical voice,\n    That it be like a royal palace,\n      Without being wasteful.\n    Bless each man\n      Who surrounds this gathering,\n    From the one grown grey with seniority\n      To the one of infant\u2019s age.\n    Bless our gentle men,\n      And our young children,\n    All who chance at this time\n      To come to Donald\u2019s.\n    Men! this begins my tale\n      And I must tell it.\n    Ho! each black, black generous one!\n      H\u00f2-go! each generous one!\n    Divide this portion\n    My servant harrowed!\n    More produce!\n    Then it was that Margaret said,\n      \u2018O dear! more produce!\u2019\n    Then said Mary,\n      \u2018My dearest dear!\n    Martin is behind the door,\n      Listening to us!\u2019\n    \u2018That is his excuse,\u2019 said she.\n    Hu fudar! hei fedar!\n    Up with you, you cajoler!\n    Fierce icinesses rose\n      On Donald,\n    He levelled at Margaret\n      Fair abuse!\n    He gave a tap to the harp,\n      And the strings sounded.\n    He quickly drew a _crambat_\n      And tried to tune it.\n    \u2018You have done a mischief,\u2019 said the clerk,\n      \u2018That I don\u2019t regret!\n    Utter ruin has come upon you,\n      With your broken stick!\u2019\n    \u2018You have a healing vessel,\u2019\n      Said the harper.\n    \u2018When you are tried with it a second time,\n      \u2019Twill make the stick whole;\n    So your share be yours of the healing cup.\n      O dearest sir!\n    May that stick of many virtues\n      Be full of produce!\u2019\n    I went on candle night to hold New Year revel,\n    In the house of fat puddings,\n    I asked admittance at the door,\n      Coaxingly with fair words;\n    The big clerk of the street spoke\n      A senseless word,\n    \u2018If my gold crook were in my hand,\n    I would not let your head whole from the door.\u2019\n    I took the north turn to the door,\n      That was a north turn of mischief to me;\n    I struck the big toe of my foot\n      In the face of a stone,\n    The pin fell, the pan fell,\n    The harrows in the door fell,\n    They made a cling clang clattering!\n    Rise down, young wife,\n      And honest dame, that hast carried praise,\n    Be womanly as thou wert wont,\n      And bring our Christmas gifts to us.\n    The smoothed-faced cheese,\n      And entrails prepared with juice;\n    But if these are not convenient,\n      Bread and cheese will suffice.\n    It was not greed with open mouth\n      That brought me to the town,\n    But a hamper\n      On my servant\u2019s back!\n    A white servant catch me,\n    Fatness burns me!\n      Open and let me in!\n    \u2018True for him,\u2019 said the goodman, \u2018let him in.\u2019\u201d\n\nThe following rhyme was appointed for all who had nothing else to say:\n\n    \u201cI do not dislike cheese,\n      And have no aversion to butter;\n    But a little drop from the cask\n      My throttle is in quest of.\u201d\n\n\nNEW-YEAR NIGHT.\n\nIt was a practice not to be neglected to keep the fire alive in the\nhouse all night. No one was to come near it but a friend, and, as an\nadditional security against its going out, candles were kept burning.\nHence, the other name given to the night, _Oidhche Choinnle_, _i.e._\ncandle night. There was a rhyme (which the writer has not been able to\nrecover) to be said when feeding the fire. By this means evil was kept\naway from the house for the subsequent year. If the fire went out no\nkindling could be got next day from any of the neighbours. The first day\nof the year was a quarter-day, on which it was unlucky to give fire out\nof the house. It gave the means to witches and evilly-disposed people to\ndo irreparable mischief to the cattle and their produce. The dying out\nof the fire was, therefore, a serious inconvenience in days when lucifer\nmatches were unknown. The women made use of the occasion to bake bread\nfor next day.\n\nOld men, provident of the future, watched with interest the wind the\nold year left (_ghaoth dh\u2019fh\u00e0gas a Choluinn_). That would prove the\nprevailing wind during the ensuing year, and indicated its chief\ncharacteristics, as the rhyme says:\n\n    \u201cSouth wind\u2014heat and produce,\n    North wind\u2014cold and tempest,\n    West wind\u2014fish and milk,\n    East wind\u2014fruit on trees.\u201d[55]\n\n\nNEW-YEAR\u2019S DAY\n\n(_Latha na Bliadhn\u2019 \u00f9r_); also called the Day of Little Christmas (_Latha\nnollaige bige_).\n\nOn getting up in the morning the head of the family treated all the\nhousehold to a dram. After that a spoonful of half-boiled sowens\n(_cabhruich leth-bhruich_), the poorest food imaginable, was given for\nluck. Sometimes the sowens were whole boiled, and in some places the\nwell-to-do farmer\u2019s wife left a little over night at the house of every\npoor man on the farm. The custom of having this dish of sowens was known\nin the central Highlands, and in Lorn, but does not seem to have extended\nto Mull, Morven, or the Western Islands. The salutations of the season\nwere duly given by the household to one another, and to every person they\nmet: \u201cA good New Year to you\u201d (_Bliadhna mhath \u00f9r dhuit_), \u201cThe same to\nyou, and many of them\u201d (_Mar sin duit fhein is m\u00f2ran diu_). The boys\nrushed away out, to play at their everlasting game of shinty, and a more\nsumptuous breakfast than ordinary was prepared.\n\nNothing was allowed to be put out of the house this day, neither the\nashes of the fire nor the sweepings of the house, nor dirty water, nor\nanything else, however useless, or however much in the way. It was a\nvery serious matter to give fire out of the house to a neighbour whose\nhearth had become cold, as the doing so, as already said, gave power to\nthe evil-minded to take away the produce from the cattle. Indeed it\nwas ominous that death would occur in the household within the year.\nHospinian tells that at Rome, on New-Year\u2019s Day, no one would allow a\nneighbour to take fire out of his house, or anything composed of iron\n(Ellis\u2019s _Brand\u2019s Antiquities_, i. 13).\n\nIt was unlucky for a woman to be the first to enter the house, or if the\nperson were empty-handed. A young man entering with an armful of corn\nwas an excellent sign of the year\u2019s prosperity; but a decrepit old woman\nasking kindling for her fire was a most deplorable omen. The same belief\nthat some people are lucky as first-foots led to the \u201ccurious custom\u201d\nin the Isle of Man known as the _Quaaltagh_ (Ellis\u2019s _Brand_, i. 538).\nThat word differs only in spelling from the Gaelic _c\u00f2mhalaich_, or\n_c\u00f2mhaltaich_, a person, the meeting of whom is ominous of good or bad\nfortune. To ensure a good omen, a party of young men went in every parish\nin Man from house to house on New-Year\u2019s Day singing luck to the inmates.\nIt was deemed an omen of good to see the sun this day.\n\nTowards mid-day the men gathered in some suitable place, the largest\nand most level field in the neighbourhood, for the great Shinty Match\n(_Iomain mh\u00f2r_). A match was formed between adjoining districts and\nvillages, or, if the village itself was populous, by two leaders,\nappointed for the purpose, choosing one alternately from those present\ntill the whole gathering was gone through. It was decided who was\nto choose first by the one leader holding his shinty stick (_caman_)\nvertically, or up and down, and throwing it to the other, who caught\nsomewhere about the middle. The two then grasped the stick alternately,\nthe hand of the one being close above that of the other, and the one who\ngrasped the end, so that he could swing the stick three times round his\nhead, had the first choice. Sometimes, to decide the point quickly, one\nasked the other which he would have, \u201cfoot or palm\u201d (_chas no bhas_),\nmeaning which end of the shinty stick he made choice of, the \u201cfoot\u201d being\nthat by which the stick is held, the \u201cpalm,\u201d that with which the ball\nis struck. On a choice being made the club was thrown into the air, and\nthe matter was decided by the point of it that pointed southwardly more\nsummarily than by the \u201cheads and tails\u201d of a copper coin.\n\nIn the game a wooden ball (_ball_) was used in the daytime, when men\ncould guard themselves against being struck by it; but when the game was\nplayed at night, in the dusk or by moonlight, a ball of hair or thread\ncalled _cr\u00ecod_ was used. The object of the game was to drive this ball\n\u201chail\u201d (_thaghal_), that is between and beyond certain marks at the two\nends of the field. Of course the two parties had opposite \u201chails.\u201d The\nplay commenced by setting the ball in a suitable place, and giving the\nfirst blow, called _Buille Bh\u00e0raich_, to the chief, proprietor, priest,\nminister or other principal person present. A player stood opposite to\nhim, and if the ball was missed at the first blow, as sometimes happened\nfrom excessive deliberation, want of skill and practice, etc., whipped\nit away in the other direction, and, without further ceremony, every\nperson ran after it as he chose, and hit it as he got opportunity. Two\nor three of the best players on each side were kept behind their party,\n\u201cbehind hail\u201d (_air ch\u00f9l taghail_), as in the game of football, to act as\na guard when their adversaries too nearly sent the ball \u201chome.\u201d Sometimes\nthe company was so fairly matched that nightfall put an end to the sport\nwithout either party winning \u201ca hail.\u201d Every player got as much exercise\nas he felt inclined for. Some did little more than walk about the field,\nothers could hardly drag themselves home at night with fatigue. Much can\nbe said in behalf of the game as the best of out-door sports, combining\nhealthy, and, when the player chooses, strong exercise with freedom from\nhorse-play.\n\nA piper played before and after the game. The women, dressed in their\nbest, stood looking on. At the end the chief, or laird, gave a dinner,\nor, failing him, a number were entertained in the house of a mutual\nfriend. In the evening a ball was given, open to all.\n\nNew-Year\u2019s Day, like the first of every quarter of the year (_h-uile\nlatha ceann r\u00e0idhe_), was a great _saining_ day, _i.e._ a day for taking\nprecautions for keeping away evil from the cattle and houses. Certain\nceremonies were carefully observed by the superstitious; juniper was\nburnt in the byre, the animals were marked with tar, the houses were\ndecked with mountain ash, and the door-posts and walls, and even the\ncattle, were sprinkled with wine.\n\nBy New-Year\u2019s Day the nights have begun to shorten considerably. It is\na Gaelic saying that there is \u201can hour of greater length to the day of\nlittle Christmas\u201d (_uair ri latha Nollaige bige_), and this is explained\nto be \u201cthe hour of the fuel lad\u201d (_uair a ghille chonnaidh_). The word\nuair means \u201ca time\u201d as well as an hour; and the meaning perhaps is, that\nowing to the lengthening of the day the person bringing in firewood has\nto go one trip less frequently for fuel to make a light.\n\nChristmas Day (_La Nollaige m\u00f2ire_) was said to lengthen _fad coisichean\ncoilich_, a cock\u2019s stride or walk, and the expression was explained to\nmean that the bird had time to walk to a neighbour\u2019s dunghill, crow three\ntimes, and come back again.\n\nThe same sayings are current in the Highlands as in the south. \u201cA green\nYule makes a fat kirkyard\u201d has its literal counterpart in _\u2019S i Nollaig\nuaine ni an cladh miagh_ (_i.e._ _reamhar_) and in _\u2019S blianach Nollaig\ngun sneachda_ (_i.e._ Lean is Yule without snow).\n\nThere is no reason to suppose that any Pagan rites connected with\nthe period of the winter solstice were incorporated with the Yule or\n_Nollaig_ ceremonies. The various names connected with the season are\nof Christian origin; the superstitions, as that of refusing fire and\nallowing nothing out of the house, can be traced to Rome; the custom of\na man dressing himself in a cow\u2019s hide, as suggested by Brand (i. 8),\nwith every probability, is a vestige of the Festival of Fools, long held\nin Paris on New-Year\u2019s Day, and of which it was part that men clothed\nthemselves in cow-hide (_vestiuntur pellibus pecudum_). The holding of\na singed piece of skin to the noses of the wassailers is more likely to\nhave originated in the frolics of the same festival than in any Pagan\nobservance. The meaning of the custom is obscure, but its character is\ntoo whimsical to be associated with any Pagan rite.\n\n\nTHE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS.\n\n(_Da latha dheug na Nollaig._)\n\nThese were the twelve days commencing from the Nativity or Big _Nollaig_,\nand were deemed to represent, in respect of weather, the twelve months\nof the year. Some say the days should be calculated from New-Year\u2019s Day.\n\u201cWhatever weather there is on the twelve days beginning with the last\nof December, the same will agree with the weather in the corresponding\nmonth\u201d (Pennant). In Ireland the twelve days were held to stand for the\ntwelve Apostles, and \u201con Twelve Eve in Christmas they used to set up as\nhigh as they can a sieve of oats, and in it a dozen of candles all round,\nand in the centre one larger, all lighted. This in memory of our Saviour\nand his Apostles, lights of the world\u201d (Brand, i. 25). The same, no\ndoubt, was the origin of the Highland notation. They are also looked upon\nas the twelve days between old and new style. There is evidence in the\nsaying, that \u201can hour and a half is added to Candle Day\u201d (_uair gu leth\nri Latha Coinnle_), that some such custom was known of old in Scotland as\nin Ireland; and though Candle Night (_Oidhche Choinnle_) is now a name\ngiven to Christmas night, there is a probability it originally denoted\nTwelve Eve, or the Feast of the Epiphany.\n\n\nWINTER SEASON.\n\nThe period during which the above festivities occurred, and sometime\nbefore and after _Nollaig_, was popularly known as \u201cThe Black cuttings of\nChristmas\u201d (_Gearra dubha na Nollaig_), from its liability to tempestuous\nweather. The sky is then lowering and dark, the \u201clevel\u201d sun gives little\nwarmth, and high winds prevail.\n\nThe _D\u00f9lachd_ of winter extended over the six weeks preceding the middle\nof spring (_gu meadhon an Earraich_). Some (_e.g._ _Highland Society\u2019s\nDict._, _sub voce_) call it _D\u00f9bhlachd_, and translate it simply \u201cwintry\nweather.\u201d Others call it _D\u00f9dlachd_, and denote by it \u201cthe depth of\nwinter.\u201d The word is a contraction of _duaithealachd_, from _duaitheil_,\nextremely coarse and rough, an epithet applied to stormy weather.\nThus, _nach duaitheil an t-s\u00ecd?_ is it not desperately coarse weather?\n_Ceann reamhar an duaithealais_, \u201cthe thick end of coarseness,\u201d denotes\nextremely rough usage.\n\nHandsel Monday (_Di-luain an t-sainnseil_) was the first Monday after\nNew-Year\u2019s Day, and was the principal day in the whole year for\n_deachainn_, _i.e._ for making trials and forecasts of the future. It\nderives its name from _sainnseal_, Scot. handsel, a present or gift in\nhis hand given this day to every visitor to a house. _Sainnseal sona_\nis \u201ca happy or fortunate present.\u201d In some districts cock-fighting was\npractised in the schools, and children brought a gratuity (in money)\nto the schoolmaster. In other districts this was not the case till\nShrovetide (_Di-m\u00e0irt Inid_).\n\nIn Skye the day is called _Di-luain Traosda_; and it is from it the 12\ndays, corresponding in weather to the 12 months of the year, are computed.\n\n\nFEBRUARY (_Faoilleach_).\n\nThe name _Faoilleach_ is said to mean \u201cWolf-month,\u201d from _faol_, wild,\nwhence also _faol-chu_, a wolf, lit. a wild dog. It embraces the last\n14 days of winter and the first 14 days of spring, the former being\ncalled the winter Faoilleach (_am Faoilleach geamhraidh_), the latter\nthe spring (_am Faoilleach Earraich_). It is also known as \u201cthe Dead\nMonth\u201d (_a\u2019 marbh mhi\u00f2s_). Winter is still ruling the inverted year, and\nall nature seems to be dead. The trees have long lost their foliage, the\ngrass gives no sign as yet of returning growth, and fields and fallows\nare bare. When over all there is a coating of snow the name of \u201cDead\nMonth\u201d appears peculiarly appropriate. The time, being reckoned by old\nstyle, corresponds almost exactly to the present month of February, and\nthe saying that \u201cevery month in the year curses a fair February.\u201d is\namply corroborated by the Gaelic sayings regarding it. Old men liked it\nto commence with a heavy storm and end with a calm, or (to use their\nown words) \u201cto come in with the head of a serpent and go out with a\npeacock\u2019s tail\u201d (_tighinn a stigh le ceann na nathrach, \u2019s dol amach\nle earball peucaig_). There are to be three days of calm during it,\naccording to the saying, \u201cThree days of August in February, and three\ndays of February in August\u201d (_tr\u00ec la Faoilleach san Iuchar, \u2019s tr\u00ec la\nIuchar san Fhaoilleach_). Both the February calm and the August storm,\nhowever, have become proverbial for their uncertainty and short duration.\n\u201cFebruary calm and August wind\u201d (_Fia\u2019 Faoilleach is gaoth Iuchar_) are\nthe most fickle things in the world. In the north it was said mist in\nFebruary means snow next day (_Ce\u00f2 san Fhaoilleach, sneachda maireach_).\nOld people said, \u201cBetter the land be plundered than a calm morning in\nFebruary.\u201d[56] The most unreasonable of expectations is to expect black\n\u201cbrambles in February\u201d (_smeuran dubha san Fhaoilleach_).\n\nIt is unfortunate if the heat of this season is such, as old men say they\nhave seen it, that the cattle run with the heat; but it is a healthy sign\nof the season if men go about with their hands wrinkled with the cold\ntill they resemble an animal\u2019s hoof, and kept in their pockets (anciently\nbelts) for warmth.\n\n    \u201cWild month, wild month, hoof in belt\n    Much rejoicing should be held;\n    Cows and sheep running in heat,\n    Weeping and wailing then are meet.\u201d[57]\n\nIt was said to be as unnatural to hear thunder at this time as to hear\na calf lowing in its mother\u2019s womb (_laogh a geumraich am broinn a\nmh\u00e0thiar_).\n\n\n_Earrach beag nam Faochag._\n\n\u201cThe little Spring of Whelks\u201d is the period from Christmas (_Nollaig_) to\nSt Bride\u2019s day, or beginning of February. That species of shellfish is\nthen at its best, and the soup made from it, called _siabh_ or _brochan\nfhaochag_, was deemed as good as flesh.\n\n\nST. BRIDE\u2019S DAY.\n\nSt. Bridget\u2019s, or St. Bride\u2019s day (_Feill Br\u00ecde_, _Brithid_) is the first\nday of spring, consequently the middle of the _Faoilleach_, the 1st of\nFebruary, O.S., but the 13th New Style. It is frequently confounded\nwith Candlemas, but that day is the 2nd February, whereas St. Bride\u2019s\nDay is the 1st\u2014this mistake is made by Martin (_West. Isl._, 1716, p.\n119). He says that on the 2nd of February \u201cthe mistress and servants of\neach family take a sheaf of oats, and dress it up in woman\u2019s apparel, put\nit in a large basket, and lay a wooden club by it, and this they call\nBriid\u2019s Bed; and then the mistress and servants cry three times, Briid is\ncome, Briid is welcome\u201d (Brand, i. 56). The custom is long extinct in the\nparts of the Highlands with which the writer is acquainted and the only\nparticulars connected with it he has heard are, that on St. Bride\u2019s Day\na bed of birch twigs (_leaba bharraich_) was made by the women, and that\nthey then cried at the door, \u201cBride, Bride, come in, your bed is ready\u201d\n(_Br\u00ecde, Br\u00ecde, thig astigh, tha do leaba dean-te_).\n\nAs in the case of many Gaelic festivals, ceremonies, and other\nantiquities, the origin of St. Bride\u2019s Day is to be traced directly to\nIreland. St. Bridget, we are told, was the first nun in Ireland, and\nfounded her first cell where the city of Kildare now stands, in 585. She\nwas a native of Ulster, and, after building monasteries and performing\nmiracles, became Patroness of Ireland. In 1185 her body was found in\nthe same vault with those of St. Patrick and St. Columba. A well near\nher church in Fleet Street, London, gave its name, Bridewell, to a\npalace given by Edward VI. to the city, for a workhouse and a house\nof correction. The honoured name of St. Bride, who during many ages\nwas celebrated for her sanctity and piety, has thus by accident become\nassociated with the criminal population.\n\nIt is a sign of the approaching spring that on this day the raven begins\nto build, and larks sing with a clearer voice. It has been explained in\nanother part of this work, that there was a belief, the serpent had to\ncome out of its hole seven days previous. The rhyme regarding the raven\nran:\n\n    \u201cA nest on St. Bridget\u2019s day,\n    An egg at Shrovetide,\n    And a bird at Easter;\n    If the raven have not these,\n    Then it dies.\u201d[58]\n\nThe corrections of the observations which it embodies is confirmed by\nWhite (_Nat. Hist. of Selborne_), who gives Feb. 14-17 as the period at\nwhich the raven builds.\n\nIn Tiree this was the day on which cock-fighting was practised, and\ngratuities were given to the schoolmaster. In the evening it was\ncustomary to have a ball.\n\nThe period from _Nollaig_ to _Feill Br\u00ecde_, was reckoned at one month and\nthree days.\n\n\nSPRING.\n\nThe _Faoilleach_ introduces a series of names, peculiarly Celtic, and (so\nfar as the writer is aware), having no equivalents in any other language.\nThe divisions of time denoted by them extend to the beginning of summer,\neach name, in accordance with the genius of the Gaelic language, as shown\nin names of places, nicknames, etc., is descriptive. Almanacs have long\nsuperseded the ancient notations, and it is not now an easy matter to\narrange them in their proper order, or to reconcile the accounts retained\nby tradition with Almanac notation. The length of time ascribed to each\nseems to have varied in different districts.\n\n\n_Feadag_, THE WHISTLE,\n\nsucceeds immediately to the Wolf-month (_Faoilleach_), though some place\nit before _Cailleach_, and about St. Patrick\u2019s day. In M\u2019Leod and Dewar\u2019s\nDictionary it is said to be the third week in February, which reckoned\nby O.S. is from 1st to 8th March, N.S. It is thus made to succeed the\n_Faoilleach_, and the same seems the opinion of Hugh M\u2019Lachlan, of\nAberdeen, a most learned and accomplished man. In a poem on spring, he\nsays:\n\n    \u201cSeason in which comes the flaying Wolf-month,\n    Cold hail-stones, a storm of bullets,\n    _Feadag_, _Sguabag_, the _Gearran\u2019s_ gloom\n    And shrivelling _Cailleach_, sharp bristled.\u201d\n\nIt extends to three days, and its boisterous character is shewn in the\nrhyme:\n\n    \u201cFeadag, Feadag, mother of the cold Faoilleach,\n    It kills sheep and lambs,\n    It kills the big kine one by one,\n    And horses at the same time.\u201d[59]\n\n\n_Gobag_, THE SHARP-BILLED ONE,\n\nlasts for a week, others say three, four, and nine days.\n\n\n_Sguabag_, THE SWEEPER,\n\nseems the same as the three days called \u201cThe Eddy winds of the Storm\nMonth\u201d (_Ioma-sguaba na Faoilleach_). The appearance of spring is now to\nbe seen, but the bad weather is not yet past. The worst weather comes\nback occasionally, and there are fewer gusts of wind, uncertain in their\ncoming and duration, that well deserve the name of \u201cEddy winds from\nFebruary.\u201d\n\n\n_Gearran_, A GELDING, OR PERHAPS _Gearan_, COMPLAINT.\n\nIt is quite possible the latter may have been the original name, as there\nis always associated with it a period called _Caoile_, Leanness. It\nextends over a month, and in Skye is made to succeed to the _Faoilleach_.\nThere was a rule known to old men, that \u201cthe first Tuesday of March\n(O.S.) is the last Tuesday of Gearran\u201d (_a chiad Di-mairt de\u2019n mh\u00e0rt an\nDi-mairt mu dheire de \u2019n Ghearran_). In Tiree, from which the lofty hills\nof Rum form a conspicuous sight, and to the green appearance of which in\nfrosty weather, their snow-covered summits form a striking contrast, it\nis said, that at the season \u201cthe big mare of Rum turns three times to her\ncolt,\u201d _i.e._ from cold and hunger. The expression refers to times when\na little hardy breed of horses was found in the Western Islands, like\nShetland ponies, and left to shift for themselves during winter. It was\nalso said:\n\n    \u201cThen said Gearran to Faoilleach,\n    Where left you the poor stirk?\n    I left it with Him who made the elements,\n    Staring at a stack of fodder.\n    If I catch it, said the May month,\n    With the breath in the points of his ears,\n    I will send it racing to the hill\n    With its tail upon its shoulders.\u201d[60]\n\nThe beast will pull through if it can \u201clift its ear higher than its\nhorn,\u201d which at that age (one year), it ought to do.\n\nThe high winds coming at this time, and well known in the south as the\nwinds of March, were said in their violence to \u201csend seven bolls of\ndriving snow through one augur hole\u201d (_Chuireadh an Gearran seachd bola\ncatha, stigh air aon toll tora, leis co gailbheach\u2019s a bha \u2019n t-s\u00ecd_).\n\nThe Gearran is deemed the best time for sowing seeds. The high winds dry\nthe ground, and all agricultural seeds are the better of being put in\n\u201ca dry bed\u201d (_leaba thioram do\u2019 n t-s\u00ecol_). It is a disputed point what\nprecise date.\n\nThe Perthshire rhyme also testifies to the still stormy character of the\nweather. The calling the Gearran short supports the opinion of many, that\nit was properly only seven days:\n\n    \u201cThen, said the short Gearran,\n    I will play you a trick that is no better,\n    I will put the big cow in the mud,\n    Till the wave comes over its head.\u201d[61]\n\nSome say the Gearran is the month before St. Patrick\u2019s day O.S., others\nfourteen days before it and fourteen days after, _i.e._ before and after\n29th March.\n\n\n_A Chailleach_, the old wife.\n\nThis old wife is the same as the hag of whom people were afraid in\nharvest, the last done with the shearing had to feed her till next\nharvest, and to whom boys bid defiance in their New-Year day rhyme, viz.:\n\u201cThe Famine, or Scarcity of the Farm.\u201d In spring she was engaged with a\nhammer in keeping the grass under.\n\n    \u201cShe strikes here, she strikes there,\n    She strikes between her legs,\u201d\n\nbut the grass grows too fast for her, and in despair she throws the\nhammer from her, and where it lighted no grass grows.\n\n    \u201cShe threw it beneath the hard, holly tree,\n    Where grass or hair has never grown.\u201d[62]\n\n\n_Tr\u00ec l\u00e0ithean nan \u014disgean_, THREE HOG DAYS.\n\nIn the rural lore of the south of Scotland, the three hog days are held\nto be the last three days of March, and to have been borrowed by that\nmonth from April (Brand, ii. 42). Dr. Jamieson (_Etym. Dict. of Scot.\nLang._) says, \u201cSome of the vulgar imagine, that these days receive their\ndesignation from the conduct of the Israelites in borrowing the property\nof the Egyptians.\u201d\n\nThere is a Highland explanation also connecting them with the departure\nfrom Egypt. They were days borrowed by the Israelites for the killing of\nthe Paschal lamb. \u201cSome went on this side of the hillock, some on that\u201d\n(_Ch\u00e0idh cuid an taobh so \u2019n Chnoc_, etc.).\n\nThey are perhaps the days called in Tiree \u201c_tr\u00ec latha na bo ruaidhe_\u201d\n_i.e._ \u201cthe red cow\u2019s three days.\u201d\n\n\n_Mh\u00e0rt_, SEED-TIME.\n\nThis name is doubtlessly derived from the Latin _Mars_, in which case\nit ought to correspond to the month of March, O.S. It does not commence\ntill the 24th of that month. The word has come to signify a busy time\nof the year, whether seed-time or harvest, usually, however, the\nformer. _Saothair a Mh\u00e0rt_ is the \u201cbusiest time of spring\u201d; _a ghaoth\nluath luimeineach Mh\u00e0rt_ means \u201cthe bare swift March wind,\u201d frequently\nmentioned in _Winter Evening Tales_ to denote great speed, and _a Mh\u00e0rt\ntioram blath_ means \u201cdry genial March.\u201d It is a favourable sign of the\nseason when the ground is saturated with wet at its beginning. Old men\nwished,\n\n    \u201cThe full pool awaiting March,\n    And house-thatch in the furrows of the plough land;\u201d[63]\n\nand deemed it a good sign if the violence of the wind stripped three\nlayers of thatch (_tr\u00ec breathan de thugha_) from the houses. The advice\nfor sowing seed now is:\n\n    \u201cLet past the first March (_i.e._ Tuesday),\n    And second March if need be,\n    But be the weather good or bad,\n    Sow thy seed in the true March.\u201d[64]\n\nOthers say, \u201cthough you cannot send a pebble against the north wind\u201d\n(_ged nach cuireadh tu d\u00f2irneag an aghaidh na gaoth tuath_) you are to\nsow.\n\n\u201cA night in March is swifter than two in harvest\u201d (_Is luaithe oidhche sa\nMh\u00e0rt na dh\u00e0 san fhogharadh_).\n\n\n_Inid_, SHROVETIDE.\n\nThe Gaelic name is from Lat. _Initium_, this being the beginning of Lent.\nIt was always reckoned as \u201cThe first Tuesday of the Spring Light\u201d (_chiad\nDi-m\u00e0irt de\u2019n t-solus Earraich_), _i.e._ of the new moon in spring. It is\na moveable feast, and this is a simple way of calculating it. The plan\nadopted by the English Church is more complicated\u2014Shrovetide is always\nthe seventh Tuesday before Easter, and Easter is \u201cthe first Sunday after\nthe first full moon, which happens on or after the 21st March; but if the\nfull moon is on a Sunday, Easter day is the Sunday following.\u201d\n\nShrovetide was called \u201c_an Inid bheadaidh_\u201d (shameless Shrovetide),\nbecause the day of the festival was held to precede the night, while,\nin the case of all the other festivals, the night or vigil was held\nto precede the day. A good reason for this will be found in a natural\naversion to begin the austerities of Lent.\n\nIt has been already told[65] (art. Diabolus) how Michael Scott, or,\naccording to Skye tradition, Parson Sir Andro of Rigg, near Storr in that\nisland, went to Rome, riding on the devil, and first ascertained from\nthe Pope the rule for calculating the day.\n\nIn schools it was the day for cock-fighting, and giving gratuities to the\nschoolmaster. The latter custom was observed with more correctness on\nthe first Monday of the year, being the day allotted for presents. The\npractice of cock-fighting is extinct in the Highlands, but presents to\nthe schoolmaster are universally practised. The boy and girl who give the\nlargest donation (and it seldom exceeds a shilling) are declared King and\nQueen of the school, and have the privilege of asking \u201ca play\u201d (_i.e._ a\nholiday) for the school.\n\nThe names connected with cock-fighting, still to be found in the\nHighlands, being Latin, shew the practice is not of native growth. Each\nboy came to the school with a dunghill cock under his arm. The head of\nthe bird was covered and its tail taken out, to make it more ready to\nfight, and fight better when let loose opposite another bird.\n\nRunaway cocks were called _fuge_, and the name is still given to boys who\nshirk fighting. Shouts followed the defeated bird of \u201crun, run, cock with\none eye\u201d (_fuge, fuge, coileach cam_), and its owner had to pay a penalty\nof some pence.\n\nShrovetide was one of the great days for _saining_ cattle, juniper being\nburned before them, and other superstitious precautions were taken to\nkeep them free from harm.\n\nThose curious or anxious about their future husbands or wives made a cake\nof soot (_Bonnach s\u00f9ith, B. Inid_), of which they partook, putting the\nrest below their pillows to dream over.\n\nIt was believed that if there was fair weather at _Inid_ it would be foul\nweather at Easter, and _vice vers\u00e2_, as the rhyme has it:\n\n    \u201cShrovetide said to Easter,\n      Where will I get a place to play myself?\n    Give to me a winter palace,\n      And I will build a summer house for you.\u201d[66]\n\n\n_Carghas_, LENT,\n\nis the period from Shrovetide to Easter. It extends to 40 days, and\nrefers to the miraculous fasts of Moses, Elias, and our Lord. The Gaelic\nmode of calculation was, \u201cSeven short weeks from Shrovetide till Easter\u201d\n(_seachd seachdainean gearr goirid Eadar Inid is C\u00e0isg_). The name\n_Carghas_ is a corruption _Quadragesima_, Ital. _Quaresimo_, 40, just as\n_Inid_ is from _Initium_. _Inid a charghuis_ is just \u201cthe beginning of\nthe forty days.\u201d[67]\n\n\nST. KESSOCK\u2019S DAY (_F\u00e9ill mo Cheasaig_)\n\nwas March 10/22. It is said, \u201cOn the Feast of St. Kessock every eel is\npregnant\u201d (_Latha Feill mo Cheasaig bithidh gach easgann torrach_).\n\nThe Saint was Bishop in Scotland in 560, and has given a name to\nKessock Ferry (_Port a Cheasaig_), near Inverness, and to a market held\nat Callander, Perthshire, for hiring, on the 22nd March, or 10th old\nstyle. The fair is known as \u201cTenth-day,\u201d but among the Gaelic-speaking\npopulation as \u201c_F\u00e9ill mo Cheasaig_.\u201d A rock at the west end of the\nvillage is known as \u201c_Tom a Cheasaig_.\u201d\n\n\nST. PATRICK\u2019S DAY (_Feill P\u00e0ruig_)\n\nis the middle day of spring and that on which the night and day are of\nequal length, March 17/29. A certain sign of the day is held in the\nHebrides to be a south wind in the morning and a north wind at night.\n\nThe saint comes from Ireland to see his parishioners in Barra and other\nplaces on the west of Scotland, and has a favourable wind coming and\nreturning. He is in Highland lore described as \u201cPatrick who blessed\nIreland\u201d (_P\u00e0druig a bheannaich Eirinn_), and is said to have been\nmarried to the daughter of Ossian, bard, and last, of the _Feinne_.\nHe was born A.D. 373, but it is disputed whether his native place was\nScotland, or Wales, or England, or France. There can be no question\nthat in Ireland and the Highlands of Scotland the more lively and kindly\nrecollections of him have been retained. Numerous places called after him\nare found scattered over Scotland, Wales, and Ireland.\n\nAfter this day (_seach gun leum an Fh\u00e9ill P\u00e0ruig_) (lit. once Patrick\u2019s\nFestival has jumped) the limpet is better than the whelk, and is said in\nconsequence to treat it with great indignity.\n\n    _Latha Feill P\u00e0ruig_\n    _Muinidh bhairneach air an fhaochaig._\n\nAnother piece of shore information connected with this season is that\nwith the advance of spring \u201cas horses grow lean, crabs grow fat\u201d (_mar is\ncaoile \u2019n t-each, \u2019s ann is reamhrad am partan_). Others have it, \u201cWhen\nthe horse is lean, the whelk is fat\u201d (_Nuair bhios an t-each caol bi \u2019n\nfhaochag reamhar._)\n\nThe reviving influences of the spring are now making themselves visible,\naccording to the saying, \u201cThere is not an herb in the ground, but the\nlength of a mouse\u2019s ear of it is out on St. Patrick\u2019s Day\u201d (_Chaneil\nluibh san talamh, nach\u2019 eil fad cluas luch dhi mach, latha F\u00e9il P\u00e0ruig_).\n\nOld men liked the days immediately preceding it to be stormy, and to\nsee, as they said, \u201cthe furrows full of snow, of rain, and the thatch of\nhouses\u201d (_a chlaisich l\u00e0n sneachda, l\u00e0n uisge, \u2019s tugha nan tighean_).\n\nThere are particularly high tides on St. Patrick\u2019s Day, and the\nannunciation of the Virgin Mary, according to the saying,\n\n    \u201cThe spring tides of Lady Day\n    And the mad tides of St. Patrick\u2019s Day.\u201d[68]\n\n_Marbhladh na Feill P\u00e0ruig_, the deadening of St. Patrick\u2019s Day, means\nthe quiet calm waters that sometimes occur at this season; others say\n_Bogmharbhlainn_, and say it means the swelling (_t\u00f2cadh_) observable at\nthe time in the sea (from the increasing heat).\n\n\nLADY DAY (_F\u00e9ill Moire_).\n\nThis was known as _F\u00e9ill Moire an t-sanais_ (St. Mary\u2019s Vigil of\nannunciation) to distinguish it from _F\u00e9ill Moire M\u00f2r_ (the Big St.\nMary\u2019s-day), the assumption of the Virgin, which was the middle day of\nautumn. It is March 25/April 6.\n\n\nSHORE OR MAUNDY-THURSDAY.\n\nThis was the Thursday before Easter, and was known in the Hebrides as\n\u201c_La Brochain Mh\u00f2ir_,\u201d the Day of the Big Porridge. It was now getting\nlate in the spring, and if the winter had failed to cast a sufficient\nsupply of seaweed on the shores, it was time to resort to extraordinary\nmeasures to secure the necessary manure for the land. A large pot of\nporridge was prepared, with butter and other good ingredients, and taken\nto the headlands near creeks where seaweed rested. A quantity was poured\ninto the sea from each headland, with certain incantations or rhymes, and\nin consequence, it was believed, the harbours were full of sea-ware. The\nceremony should only be performed in stormy weather. Its object no doubt\nwas, by throwing the produce of the land into the sea, to make the sea\nthrow its produce on the land.\n\n\nGOOD FRIDAY (_Di-haoine na Ceusa_).\n\nThe Gaelic name means literally Crucifixion Friday. The day was the\nFriday before Easter, and was observed in memory of our Lord\u2019s Passion.\nThere was hardly any belief that had a stronger hold on the Highlander\u2019s\nmind than that on no account whatever should iron be put in the ground\non this day. So great was the aversion to doing so that the more\nsuperstitious extended the prohibition to every Friday. As a matter of\ncourse no ploughing was done, and if a burial was to take place, the\ngrave was opened on the previous day, and the earth was settled over the\ncoffin with a wooden shovel. The origin of the observance perhaps was\nthat our Saviour\u2019s sepulchre had been previously prepared, being a new\ntomb hewn out in the rock.\n\nIt was said that if the day be cold, it is colder than any other, in fact\nthe coldest day of the whole year.\n\n\nEASTER (_C\u00e0sg_).\n\nThe proper day for keeping this festival, the anniversary of our Lord\u2019s\nresurrection, was at one time the cause of bitter controversies in the\nChristian world. It was first a subject of keen dispute between the\nEastern and Western Churches, and again between the Church of Rome and\nthe Irish and British Churches. The feast is moveable, and depends on\nthe time of the first full moon after the vernal equinox. Owing to\nrectifications of the calendar introduced at Rome, but unknown to the\nBritish Churches, two different days had come to be observed, and by the\nseventh century the discussion as to which day was the correct one had\nbecome so warm and the difference so scandalous that the civil powers\ninterfered and the question was settled in favour of the Church of Rome\nby Oswy, King of Northumbria, at Whitby in 664. The Celtic clergy were\naccused of being Quartodecimans (a very good word in a controversy), that\nis, of keeping the festival, according to the Jewish mode of calculation,\non the fourteenth day of the month Nizan, whether that day fell on a\nSunday or not. The accusation is now universally acknowledged to be\nill-founded, but it is likely they followed the Alexandrian rule on the\npoint, by which the Easter festival could not begin till the eighth of\nMarch, a rule which had been at one time observed by the Church of Rome\nitself. Neither the cycle followed during the controversy by the Celtic\nChurch, nor that followed by the Romish Church, is that now prevailing,\nso that if one day was of more value than another for the festival, both\nparties were in the wrong.\n\nThe rule now observed in the Highlands is \u201cseven short weeks from\nShrovetide to Easter,\u201d Shrovetide being \u201cthe first Tuesday of the New\nMoon in Spring,\u201d or, Easter is \u201cthe first Sunday of the second wane of\nthe moon in spring\u201d (_chiad Di-d\u00f2mhnaich de \u2019n dara earra-dhubh san\nEarrach_).\n\nThe name \u201c_C\u00e0sg_\u201d is but the Gaelic form of the Hebrew _Pascha_. The\nchange of P into C, K, or Q is well known in philology, and the most\nnoticeable difference between the Welsh and Gaelic branches of the\nCeltic tongue is, that the latter has an aversion which the former\nhas not to _p_ as an initial consonant, preferring _c_ instead. Lhuyd\n(_Arch. Brit._, p. 20) says, \u201cIt is very remarkable that there are\nscarce any words in the Irish (besides what are borrowed from the Latin\nor some other language) that begin with P, insomuch that in an ancient\nalphabetical vocabulary I have by me, that letter is omitted; and no\nless observable that a considerable number of those words whose initial\nletter it is in the British begin in that language with a K or (as they\nconstantly write) C.\u201d He then quotes as illustrations, W. _Pask_, Easter,\nIr. _Kasg_; Corn. _Peneas_, Whitsuntide, Ir. _Kinkis_; W. _pen_, a head,\nIr. _keann_, etc. He quotes from Vassius instances of a similar change in\nthe interrogatives and relatives of the Greek Ionic dialect. A readily\nrecognised instance is the change of the Greek \u1f31\u03c0\u03c0\u03bf\u03c2 into the Latin\n_equus_.\n\nOn C\u00e0isg Sunday, the sun was believed in the Highlands of Scotland, as\nin Ireland, to dance soon after rising, and many respectable people are\nto be found who say they saw the phenomenon. The alternate glancing and\ndarkening of the sun on a fitful spring morning was no doubt often so\nconstrued by those who stared too long at a brilliant object.\n\nA liability to north wind has made \u201c_Gaoth tuath na C\u00e0isg_\u201d (the north\nwind of Easter) a proverbial expression. The most trying part of the\nspring is still to come, and it is an expression employed to moderate\nexcessive joy, and to put people in mind that the cares of life are not\nall past yet, that there is \u201ca long spring after Easter\u201d (_Earrach fada\n\u2019n d\u00e9igh C\u00e0isg_).\n\nAnother expression, reminding men that it is not too late to acquit\nthemselves of their duties or hold rejoicings, is \u201ca Feast can be kept\nafter Easter\u201d (_Gleidhear cuirm an d\u00e9igh C\u00e0isg_).\n\nEaster was a particular holiday with the young, and preparations were\nmade for it long beforehand. Every egg that a boy could steal or lay his\nhands on unobserved, was hid by him in the thatch of an out-house, or\nin a hole in the ground, under a turf, or wherever else he thought his\ntreasure would remain undiscovered. When the great day came, he and his\ncompanions, each with his collection of eggs, went away to some retired\nspot, at a distance from the houses, and beyond the probability of being\ndisturbed by their seniors. Here they had a grand feast of pancakes,\nand enjoyed themselves uncontrolled. The eggs were deemed of no use\nunless they had been secreted or stolen, and this originated, perhaps,\nin a feeling that with honestly or openly got eggs the feast was not so\nentirely independent of the older people.\n\nThe reason why eggs were used at all is supposed to be from an egg being\nemblematic of the resurrection.\n\nTwo Sundays were held as C\u00e0isg. The second was distinguished only by\na better feast than usual in the houses. The first Sunday was called\n\u201cBig Easter\u201d (_C\u00e0isg mh\u00f2r_), and the Sunday after it \u201cOld Men\u2019s Easter\u201d\n(_C\u00e0isg nam bodach_), corresponding to the English Low Sunday.\n\n\nALL-FOOLS\u2019 DAY\n\nis variously known in the Highlands as \u201cThe Day of going on Fools\u2019\nerrands\u201d (_Latha na Gogaireachd_), \u201cCuckoo Day\u201d (_Latha na Cuthaig_), and\n\u201cThe Day of Tricks\u201d (_Latha nan Car_). Its observance is on the first\nof April, N.S., and this argues its very recent introduction into the\nHighlands. The tricks and practices of the day are the same as elsewhere,\nthe sending of acquaintances on sleeveless errands. Sometimes, but only\nrarely, there is some ingenuity displayed in taking advantage of local\nand passing events to throw the most suspicious off their guard, and send\nthem on fools\u2019 messages. It is not difficult to impose on men with a\nserious face and a plausible story, when it entails but little trouble to\nsee if so likely a story or so pressing a message is real.\n\n\n_Bailc na Bealltainn_.\n\nThe fourteen days preceding May-day were known as _Bailc na Bealltainn_,\n\u201cthe balk or ridge of Beltane.\u201d The sea is then as it were awakening,\nand is more obedient to the winds. _Balc_ means a ridge, also swelling,\nstrength, _onfhadh_, _foghail_. The weather threatens frequently without\nbreaking.\n\n    \u201cIf warm May day be swollen [threatening],\n    And it be dry the third day,\n    And it be an east wind after that,\n    There certainly will be fruit on trees.\u201d[69]\n\n\n_Bealltainn_, MAY-DAY.\n\nThe advent of summer is everywhere hailed with joy, and the day\nrecognised as the first of the season is naturally one of the most\nimportant days in the calendar. Another day of equal importance in\nthe Celtic year was the first of winter, and the names of the two\ndays, _Bealltainn_ and _Samhainn_, cannot be traced, like so many\nother notations of the year, to ecclesiastical sources. Like the names\n_Faoilleach_ (the Storm month), and _Iuchar_ (the Hot month), they are\nbest referred to Pagan times.\n\n_Bealltainn_ is commonly derived from _Bel teine_, the fire of Baal or\nBelus, and is considered as sure evidence of the Phoenician origin of\nthe sacred institutions of the Celts. It is a derivation, however, that\nwants all the elements of probability. There is a want of evidence that\nthe Phoenician Baal, or any deity resembling him, was ever worshipped\nby the Celts, or that the fires kindled and observances practised on\nthis day had any connection with the attributes ascribed to him; while\nthe analogies of the Gaelic language prevent the supposition that \u201cthe\nfire of Baal\u201d could be rendered \u201cBeall-tein\u2019.\u201d Besides, the word is not\n_Beall-teine_, but _Bealltainn_, a difference in the final syllable\nsufficiently noticeable to a Gaelic ear. It is the difference between\nthe single and double sound of _n_. Baal and Ashtoreth were the supreme\nmale and female divinities of the Phoenician and Canaanitish nations,\nand are supposed to be personifications of the generative and receptive\npowers of nature, and to be identical with the sun and moon. In Hebrew\nand kindred languages, _Baal_ is a mere title of honour, signifying \u201cLord\nor Possessor of,\u201d and in Gaelic the Sun and Moon are both feminine\nnouns, merely descriptive of the appearance of these planets. There is\nnothing that indicates their ever having been looked on as divinities,\nor ascribing to them any attribute such as belonged to Baal. In Gaelic\nthe noun limited or possessed always precedes the qualifying noun, and\nit would require strong evidence to show that \u201cBaal\u2019s fire\u201d could be\n\u201cBeltane\u201d _i.e._ Baal-fire, and not \u201cTane-Bel\u201d (_Teine-Bh\u00e0il_), _i.e._\nfire of Baal. The contrast between English and Gaelic in this respect is\noften very striking, and a safe rule in etymology!\n\nThe final syllable is the same as in _Samhainn_, the end of summer,\nwhich is thought by Lhuyd, to be from _fuinn_ (connected with the Latin\n_finis_), an end. In this case _t_ is simply accresive. _L_ has an\nattraction for _t_ after it, as _m_ has for _b_, and _n_ for _d_. _Beall_\nis likely connected with the other words that have _bl_ in their initial\nsyllable, with a root idea of separating, parting, opening; and claims\nkindred with _bl\u00e0th_, a blossom, _bial_, the mouth, _bealach_, a pass,\nmore than with the title of a Semitic deity. It is the opening day of the\nyear, when the rigours of winter are parted with, and the seasons, as it\nwere, separate. Behind lay winter, cold, and unfruitfulness of the earth,\nbut before was warmth and fertility and beauty. The final syllable has no\nmore to do with fire than it has in _gamhainn_, a stirk, _calltainn_, a\nhazel tree.\n\nIt was said, with truth, that whatever day New Year day fell upon,\nBeltane fell on the day following. \u201cNew Year\u2019s day to-day, Beltane\nto-morrow\u201d (_Nollaig an diugh, Bealltainn a m\u00e0ireach_).\n\nThere is sometimes very cold weather at this time, and this was denoted\nby the expression \u201cThe mournful linnet of Beltane\u201d (_Glaisein cumhach\nna Bealltainn_). Snow at the time was known as \u201cSnow about the mouth of\nMay-day\u201d (_Sneachda mu bhial na Bealltainn_).\n\nOn the night preceding it, _i.e._ Beltane eve, witches were awake, and\nwent about as hares, to take their produce (_toradh_), milk, butter, and\ncheese, from the cows. People who believed in their existence were as\nearnest to counteract their machinations. Tar was put behind the ears of\nthe cattle, and at the root of the tail; the animals were sprinkled with\nurine to keep them from fighting; the house was hung with rowan-tree,\netc., etc. By having a churning past and a cheese made (_muidhe \u2019s\nmulchag_) before sunrise, the Fairies were kept away from the farm for\nthe rest of the year. If any came to ask for rennet (_deasgainn_), it\nshould not on any account be given to them. It would be used for taking\nthe substance out of the giver\u2019s own dairy produce.\n\nWhen the day arrived, it was necessary, whatever the state of the\nweather, though people sank ankle deep in snow, or (as the Gaelic idiom\nhas it), though snow came over the shoes, to get the cattle away to the\nsummer pastures among the hills (_\u00e0iridh_).\n\nNo fire on this, or any other first day of a quarter of the year (_latha\nceann raidhe_), was given out of the house. It gave the borrower the\npower of taking the milk from the lender\u2019s cows.\n\nPeople had a feast in their houses with better food than ordinary. The\narrival of the cuckoo was looked for, and boys shouted \u201cCuckoo! cried\nthe \u2018gowk\u2019 on yellow Beltane day\u201d (_Gug-\u00f9g ars\u2019 a Chuthag latha buidhe\nBealltainn_).\n\nIn the Statistical Account of Scotland, 1794, XI. 620, there is a custom\ndescribed, as existing at Callander in Perthshire, of boys going on this\nday to the moors, and kneading a cake of oatmeal, one part of which was\ndaubed black. The bread was then put in a bonnet, from which each drew\na piece. The boy, to whose share the black piece falls, is obliged to\nleap three times through the flames, at which the repast was prepared.\nThe minister of Logierait (V. 84), says the festivities of the day were\nchiefly observed by herdsmen, and Pennant (_Tour_, p. 90), describes\na similar feast of herdsmen, in which pieces of the cake were offered\nto the fox, hoodie-crow, eagle, etc., with a request that they would\navoid the cattle during the year. In the south of Ireland, we are told\n(_vide_ Brand on May-day customs), cows were made to leap over lighted\nstraw. All this has been referred to Baal and human sacrifices, and the\ngoing through the fire and other observances, have been assumed to be\nthe remains of Syrian rites. They seem to be nothing but parts of the\nnumerous superstitious observances for the _saining_ of cattle.\n\nA _Sop seilbhe_, or \u201cPossession Wisp,\u201d was burned on land, of which\npossession was to be taken at Whitsunday. The wisp was of fodder or\nheather. The burning of it on the land, as already explained, insured\npossession (_bha e ceangailte aige tuille_).\n\n\n_C\u00e9itein_, MONTH OF MAY.\n\nThis is the month of which Beltane day, O.S., forms the centre, and\nconsists of the last fourteen days of spring, and the first fourteen days\nof summer. Its derivation is from _ceud_, first, it being the beginning\nof the summer season. It is identical with the present month of May.\n\u201cBetter is snow in May, than to be without rain\u201d (_\u2019S fhearr sneachda sa\nC\u00e9itein na bhi gun uisge_).\n\nThe month preceding Beltane was called _C\u00e9itein na h-\u00f2insich_, \u201cthe\nMay-days of the silly one,\u201d the word _\u00f2inseach_ denoting both a silly\nwoman and a cuckoo. The habits of the bird, which has no nest of its own,\nand goes about all day aimlessly uttering its peculiar note, has earned\nfor it the reputation of being silly, as is witnessed also by the Scotch\nword _gowk_, and premature glimpses of fine weather are supposed to\nmislead it as to the advent of May.\n\n\nWHISTLING WEEK.\n\n_Seachdain na feadaireachd_, the whistling week, is the first week of\nsummer, and the name is in allusion to the loud, whistling winds, that\nare apt to occur at the time. It is unlucky during it to proceed with\nfield operations.\n\n\n_M\u00e0igh_, MAY.\n\nThe name _M\u00e0igh_, for the first month of summer, is quite common in the\nHighlands, and is to be found in songs and proverbs. This is mentioned as\nshewing incontestably that Roman (or rather ecclesiastical) notations of\ntime were adopted into the ancient Celtic calendar.\n\n\nTHE AVOIDING DAY OF THE YEAR.\n\n(_Latha seachnach na Bliadhna._)\n\nThis is the third day of summer, and its name is almost the only part of\nthe beliefs concerning it, that now survives. The writer searched far and\nwide for an explanation of the name, and only once heard one that was\nsatisfactory. It was on this day that the fallen angels were expelled\nfrom Paradise, and on it people should avoid doing any kind of evil. If\ncaught in the act, they will be similarly expelled from the regions of\nforgiveness, and be visited with \u201cjudgement without mercy.\u201d If it falls\non a Friday, it is unlucky to go on a journey.\n\nPennant says about it, \u201cThe fourteenth May is unlucky, and the day on\nwhich it falls.\u201d\n\n\n_Caingis_, WHITSUNTIDE, PENTECOST.\n\nThis and Martinmas are the two principal term days in Scotland, at\nwhich half-yearly servants enter on their duties, and at which removals\ntake place. At Whitsunday term (old style) especially, the 25th of May,\nthe towns of Scotland present an animated appearance from the number\nof removals, or changes of residences. The streets are crowded with\nhousehold goods being removed from one house to another. Tenants at will\nare removed and leases expire at this term.\n\nIn Lorn, and the districts to the south of it, along by Lochfyneside,\nthe term is called _Feill Breunain_. St. Brendan the Elder, from whom\nthe name is derived, was abbot of Clonfest in Ireland A.D. 578. His\nday is May 16-28. Kilbrandon parish (in Gaelic _Sg\u00ecreachd a Chuain_,\nthe parish of the ocean) in the west of Argyllshire, derives its name\nfrom him, and there is a farm in the island of Mull of the same name.\nHistory records that the saint with 14 companions once made a voyage in\nsearch of Paradise, and in stormy weather, when the sea is rough and the\nsky inclement, and the earth is hid with driving showers [it excites a\nsmile], that he came north in the hope of finding it. There are days\nindeed in summer in the Hebrides, when a glory covers the sea and sky\nand the hills \u201cthat encircle the sea,\u201d when he might think that he was on\nthe way.[70]\n\nIn Sutherlandshire, people reckon by the _Feill Chelzie_, a market held\non Tuesday of the term, deriving its name from a wool manufactory, now\ndiscontinued, called _New Kelso_, near Loch Carron.\n\nThe names _Caingis_, Whitsuntide, and Pentecost, are modifications of\none and the same word. Pentecost became _pencas_ in Cornish, in Gaelic\n(which represents _p_ of the Welsh dialects by _c_) _caingis_ (Kinkis),\nas _pascha_ became W. _p\u00e2sk_, Gael. _C\u00e0isg_ (Kasg). The Gaelic _c_ or _k_\nsound is represented in the Saxon tongue by _wh_. Thus we have _cuibhle_\n(cuile), wheel; _cuip_, whip; _ciod_, what?; _cuilein_, whelp; _co_,\nwho?; _cuist_, wheesht! be quiet!; _caoin_, whine; etc. So _cencas_ has\nbecome _Whitsun_. The feast has no name in the languages of Western\nEurope, but such as are derivations of the Greek word. The English name\nhas been thought to be an exception, and to be, therefore, of modern\norigin. From the light thrown upon it by the Celtic languages, we infer\nthat it is of the same origin as the rest.\n\n_Caingis_ is reckoned to be \u201cat the end of a fortnight of summer.\u201d\n\n\n_Feill-Sheathain_, ST. JOHN\u2019S OR MID-SUMMER\u2019S EVE, 24TH JUNE-6TH JULY.\n\nOn this day, the cuckoo was said to enter its winter house (_theid a\nchuthag na tigh geamhraidh_). It is not natural for its song to be heard\nafter this. The bird may be seen, but it is not heard. It is, like the\nlandrail, stonechat, or other birds that disappear in winter, one of the\nseven sleepers, who were believed to pass the winter underground.\n\n_Seathan_, Swithin, is the old form of the name John, the common form\nbeing _Iain_, _E\u00f2in_, and in Islay _Eathin_. It still survives in the\nname of the Clan Maclean, Mac-ill\u2019-sheathain, also written MacGhille\u00f2in.\nA former minister of Kilmore in Mull is still remembered as _Maighsthir\nSeathain_, and an exceedingly plaintive song, composed to her husband,\nwho had been betrayed and executed for piracy, by his widow, begins\n\u201cSwithin is to-night a dead one.\u201d\n\n    \u201cTha Seathan nochd na mharbhan,\u201d\n\nthe names being those now denoted by John.\n\n\n_Mios crochadh nan Con_, DOG-DAYS.\n\n(Lit. month for hanging dogs.)\n\nThis is but a boyish and sportive name given to the month preceding\n_L\u00f9nasdal_, or first of August, the time of greatest scarcity with the\npoor. The stores of last harvest are exhausted, and the new supplies\nare not yet come in. If there is a scarcity of food for the dogs, it is\nrecommended as the best thing that can be done, to hang them. Besides,\nthe excessive heat makes it advisable to get rid of all superfluous dogs.\n\n\n_Latha Martainn Builg_, TRANSLATION OF MARTIN.\n\n(Lit. Martin of the Bag\u2019s Day.)\n\nJuly 4-16 received its title of the Translation of Martin from being\nthe day on which the remains of St. Martin, Bishop of Tours, 397, \u201cthe\napostle of the Gauls\u201d (who also gives his name to the Martinmas term)\nwere transferred to the Cathedral of Tours. In Scotland the day is called\nSt. Martin of Bullions Day, and it was a proverb that if the deer rise\ndry and lie down dry on it, that is if the morning and evening be dry,\nit will be a dry season till harvest; and it was a general belief over\nEurope that rain on this day betokened wet weather for the next twenty\ndays.\n\nThe Day of St. Martin of the Bag is commonly translated St. Swithin\u2019s\nday, which is the 15th. St. Swithin was Bishop of Winchester, and no name\nof an English Bishop is found in the Gaelic calendar.\n\n\n_L\u00f9nasdal_, LAMMAS, AUGUST 1-12TH.\n\nThis, being a quarter day, formed a great day with old women for saining\ncattle, and performing those ceremonies by which evil was to be kept\naway from them for the next three months. Tar was put on their tails and\nears, charms (_\u00f2radh_) were said at their udders, red and blue threads\nwere put on their tails, and various observances were gone through with\nballs of hair (_rolag_), plants, fire about the earthenware pipkins\n(_crogain_) in which milk or butter was to be put, etc. Curds and butter\nwere specially prepared for a great feast held this day, at which it was\nhighly important that everyone got as much as he cared for.\n\nOn Lammas day, the gad-fly \u201closes one of its eyes\u201d (_Latha L\u00f9nasdal\ncaillidh chreithleag an leth sh\u00f9il_). The creature is not so vicious\nafter this date.\n\n_L\u00f9nasdal_ is not a word of Gaelic origin, at least no satisfactory\nGaelic etymology can be given for it. It is perhaps a contraction of the\nLatin, _luna augustalis_, the August moon. The Roman month was lunar, and\nwas reckoned from the first appearance of the moon\u2019s slender crescent in\nthe sky. The moon in the harvest months is of more consequence to the\nhusbandman than at any other season, and has always been taken notice of\nfor its splendour. The temperature of the night air has much to do with\nthis. The Gaelic bears its own testimony to it, in giving distinctive\nnames to the autumn moon.\n\nThe corresponding English name, Lammas, had very likely the same origin,\nand it is a contraction of _Lunamas_. The derivation of it from Lamb-mas\nis an \u201caffectation of punning,\u201d and that suggested by Gen. Vallancey\nfrom La-ith-mas, \u201ca day of eating fruit,\u201d is extremely fanciful. The\nomission of _n_ in the middle of a word, for the sake of brevity or from\ninadvertence, frequently occurs. So _g_ has been elided in _L\u00f9nasdal_.\nAugustus, which was adopted as the name of the sixth month B.C. 6, became\n_east_ in Cornish and _eost_ in Armoric.\n\n\n_Iuchar_, THE HOT MONTH (_i.e._ AUGUST).\n\nThe _Iuchar_ consists of 14 days of summer and 14 days of autumn, and\nLammas Day, O.S., being the first of autumn, corresponds to the present\nmonth of August. It is regarded, in point of weather, as the opposite of\n_Faoilleach_, the \u201cstorm month\u201d of February.\n\nThe name is derived from an obsolete verb _fiuchadh_ to be hot. Lhuyd\n(_Arch\u00e6olog. Brit._) renders _fiuchaeh_, boiling, and _fiuchadh_, a\nspring, _scatebra_. In another place he gives _fiuchadh_ as an equivalent\nof the Latin _\u00e6stus_. In some districts of the north, the name of the\nseason is still called _Fiuchar_. Linlithgow, celebrated for its wells,\nis known in the Highlands as _Gleann Iuch_, and the Linlithgow measures\nare called _tomha\u00eds Ghlinn Iuch_. The dropping of _f_ initial, as in the\ncase of the Greek digamma, is too common to need illustration.\n\n\n_F\u00e8ill Moire_, ASSUMPTION DAY.\n\nThis is the middle day of autumn (_latha meadhon an fhogharaidh_), August\n15-27. It was counted a greater day than St. Mary\u2019s Day (_F\u00e9ill Moire_)\nin spring, and was called \u201cthe Big St. Mary\u2019s Day.\u201d Harvest operations\nwere now vigorously pushed forward, and hence the saying, \u201cBig St Mary\u2019s\nFeast in harvest, sheaf and binding and men with their coats off\u201d (_an\nFh\u00e9ill Mhoire m\u00f2r a\u2019s t-fhogharadh sguab \u2019us ceangal \u2019s daoin\u2019 as an\nl\u00e9intean_).\n\n\n_F\u00e9ill R\u00f2id_, ROODMAS, SEPTEMBER 14-26.\n\nThis day is the first of the rutting season among deer, and it was held\nthat if the night before it (_oidhche na F\u00e9ill R\u00f2id_), be wet, or (as it\nwas expressed), \u201cif the deer took his head wet into the rutting season\u201d\n(_ma bheir e cheann fliuch san d\u00e0mhair_), there will be a month after\nit of dry weather, and the farmer need be under no apprehension as to\nsecuring his crops. The belling of red deer among the hills on this night\nis magnificent.\n\nThe night succeeding Roodmas was called \u201cthe night of the nut,\u201d \u201cthe\nnight of the Holy Nut\u201d (_oidhche na cn\u00f2, na cn\u00f2 Naomh_), a name, the\nreason of which is doubtful. Some say it arises from this night dividing\nharvest in unequal halves, as the kernel is divided in the nut. Brand (i.\n353) mentions a custom of going a nutting upon Rood Day, and it seems to\nhave been a popular belief that on this day the devil goes a nutting.\nThis does not explain why the nut is called the Holy Nut.\n\nThe Holy Rood is the same as the Cross.\n\n\nMICHAELMAS (_Feill M\u00eccheil_)\n\nis also known in the Roman Catholic districts of the Highlands, as \u201cthe\nRiding Day\u201d (_latha na marcachd_). On the level green of Borg (_machaire\nBhorg_), in Barra, a great race is held, the women bringing the horses,\nand sitting behind the men on horseback. In the scamper that ensues,\nit is a lucky sign if the woman tumbles off. All the expenses of the\nfestivity are borne by the women, each of whom takes with her to the\nracecourse a large thick bannock of oatmeal, made with treacle, butter,\netc.\n\n\n_Samhain_, HALLOWMAS,\n\nis the first day of winter, and is also known as All-Saints\u2019 Day (_Latha\nnan uile Naomh_), Nov. 1-13. It was a sign of a bad winter if it fell\nupon a Wednesday, according to the saying: \u201cWhen Hallowmas is on\nWednesday, it is afflictive after it\u201d (_Nuair is Di-ciada\u00ecn an t-samhainn\nis iargaineach na d\u00e9igh_).\n\nThe coming of winter was hailed with more fun and merriment than any\nother season of the year. The cold was now fairly set in, the fruits of\nthe summer, down to the very nuts, were gathered, and the young became\ndesirous of learning their fate with regard to that subject of anxiety\nin every age, their future husbands and wives. This natural welcoming of\nwinter explains the ceremonies of the day, and the games of the evening.\nHardly any of them have reference to the practices or deities of the\nnations of antiquity or to Scripture, and this explanation must be sought\nfor in Pagan times.\n\nOn the last day of autumn children gathered ferns, tar-barrels, the long\nthin stalks called _g\u00e0inisg_, and everything suitable for a bonfire.\nThese were placed in a heap on some eminence near the house, and in the\nevening set fire to. The fires were called _Samhnagan_. There was one for\neach house, and it was an object of ambition who should have the biggest.\nWhole districts were brilliant with bonfires, and their glare across a\nHighland loch, and from many eminences, formed an exceedingly picturesque\nscene. Some find in them traces of the worship of the invariable Baal,\nbut there is no reason to look upon them otherwise than as the natural\nand defiant welcome of the season, in which fires are most required,\nwhen the heat of the year is departed, and cold and frost and rushing\nwinds cover all things with gloom. Bonfires are kindled on all occasions\nof public rejoicing, or excitement, and Hallowmas fires are a natural\nexpression of the change of season. It is possible a deity was originally\nassociated with the practice, but there is now no trace of him in name or\npractices of this day.\n\nAs the evening wore on, the young people gathered to one house, and an\nalmost endless variety of games (_cleasan_) were resorted to, with the\nobject in every case of divining the future lot of the company. Were they\nto marry or not, was it to be that year or never, who was to be married\nfirst, what like the future husband or wife was to be, their names,\ntrade, colour of hair, size, property, etc.? were questions of great\nimportance, and their answer was a source of never-failing entertainment.\nThe modes of divination are of interest, from the light they throw on\nthe character of the people among whom they prevailed, and from an\nantiquarian point of view, as remains of Pagan times.\n\nA shoe caught by the tip and thrown over the house, fore-indicates the\nfuture by its position on the ground on the other side. In whatever\ndirection the toe points, the thrower will go before long, and it is\nvery unlucky if the shoe be found with the sole uppermost, misfortune is\n\u201cmaking for\u201d him. A thin, fine shoe, used in this manner, led the man,\nfished up from the Green Island, to remark, after some years of silence:\n\n    \u201cA thin shoe, little valued,\n    It is hard to say who will wear it.\u201d[71]\n\nHe might well say so, for the owner of the shoe died in a few days.\n\nThe white of eggs, dropped in a glass of pure water, indicates by certain\nmarks how many children a person is to have. The impatience and clamour\nof the children often made the housewife perform this ceremony for them\nby daylight, and the kindly mother, standing with her face to the\nwindow, dropping the white of an egg into a crystal glass of clean water,\nand surrounded by a group of children, eagerly watching her proceedings,\nformed a pretty picture.\n\nWhen the fun of the evening had fairly commenced, the names of eligible,\nor likely as possible matches, were written on the chimney place, and the\nyoung man, who wished to essay his fortune, was blindfolded and led up to\nthe list. Whatever name he put his finger on would prove to be that of\nhis future wife.\n\nTwo nuts were put on the fire beside each other, representing two\nindividuals, whose names were made known to the company. As they burned\ntogether, or flared up alone, or leaped away from each other, the future\nmarriage of the pair, or haughty rejection of each other, was inferred.\n\nA dish of milk and meal (_fuarag_, Scot. crowdie), or of beat potatoes,\nwas made, and a ring was concealed in it. Spoons were given to the\ncompany, and a vigorous attack was made on the dish. Whoever got the ring\nwould prove to be the first married. This was an excellent way of making\nthe taking of food part of the evening\u2019s merriment.\n\nApples and a silver sixpence were put in a tub of water. The apples\nfloated on the top, but the coin lay close to the bottom. Whoever was\nable to lift either in his mouth, and without using his teeth, was\ncounted very lucky, and got the prize to himself.\n\nBy taking an apple and going to a room alone, dividing it there into nine\npieces against the name of the Father and the Son, eating eight pieces\nwith the back to a looking glass and the face looking over the left\nshoulder, and then throwing the ninth piece over the same shoulder, the\nfuture husband or wife was seen in the glass coming and taking the piece\nof apple away.\n\nA person, going in the devil\u2019s name to winnow in a barn alone, will see\nhis future partner entering the door.\n\nAn unmarried woman, taking a ball of thread and crossing a wall on her\nway, went to a kiln or other out-house. Here, holding one end of the\nthread, she threw the ball in the dark into the eye of the kiln (_s\u00f9il\n\u00e0th_), or over one of the rafters or a partition wall, in the name of\na sweetheart whom she had before fixed on in her mind, and calling out\n\u201cwho is down there at the end of my little rope?\u201d (_co so sh\u00ecos air\nceann mo r\u00f2pain?_), at the same time she gave the thread a gentle pull.\nIn reply, some one or something pulled the thread at the other end, and\na voice called out the name of her future husband. There is a story of\na tailor having hid himself in anticipation of this mode of divination\nbeing resorted to, and when the ball was thrown he caught it and gave the\nthread a tug. In answer to the question \u201cwho is this at the end of my\nlittle rope?\u201d he said, \u201cI am the devil\u201d (_Tha mise, \u2019n deamhan_), and\nthe woman to whom this frightful answer was given never tried divination\nagain.\n\nYoung women sowed hemp seed (_fras l\u00ecn_) over nine ridges of plough land,\nsaying \u201cI sow hemp seed, and he who is to be my husband, let him come\nand harrow it\u201d (_Tha mi cur fras l\u00ecn, \u2019s am fear bhios na fhear \u2019dhomh,\nthigeadh e \u2019s cliathadh e_). On looking back they saw the figure of their\nfuture husband. Hallowe\u2019en being the night preceding the first day of a\nlunar month was always dark, and this ceremony was rendered more awful\nby a story that a woman once saw herself coming after her, and never\nrecovered from the effects of the vision.\n\nBy dipping his shirt sleeve in a well to the south (_tobar mu dheas_),\nand then pulling off the shirt and placing it to dry before the fire, the\nanxious youth, if he does not oversleep himself, will see his sweetheart\nentering through the night and turning the shirt.\n\nOn putting an odd number of keys in a sieve, going to a barn alone, and\nthere riddling them well \u201cwith the wrong hand turn\u201d (_car tuaitheal_),\nthe destined one will come and put the odd key right.\n\nBy holding a mouthful of water in the mouth, and going to listen\n(_farcluais_) at a neighbour\u2019s window, the first name overheard will\nprove to be that of one\u2019s intended.\n\nThe same knowledge was obtained by biting a piece of the last cart that\nsent in the corn, and with it in the mouth going, without speaking, to\nlisten (_farcluais_) under a neighbour\u2019s window.\n\nA common practice was to go and steal kail stocks. Unless the plants\nare pulled surreptitiously, without the knowledge or consent of their\nowner, they are of no use for the purpose of divination. A number of\nyoung people go together, and having cautiously and with difficulty made\ntheir way into a kailyard, pull each one the first stock that comes to\nhand after bending down. It must be the first that the hand meets. The\nplant is then taken home and examined by the light, and according to its\nheight, straightness, colour, etc., will be the future husband or wife.\nA quantity of soil adhering to it signifies money and property. When put\nfor the night above the lintel of the door, it affords indications by the\nfirst person entering below it in the morning; and, put below the pillow,\nit is excellent to dream over.\n\nA straw, drawn at random from a stack, indicates by the number of grains\nupon it what family a person is to have.\n\nThree ears of corn similarly pulled and placed below the pillow for the\nnight, will cause dreams of the future husband reaping them.\n\nA plate of clean water, one of dirty water, and one empty being placed\non the floor, and a napkin thrown over the eyes, the dish in which the\nperson blindfolded puts his forefinger, indicated a maid, or widow, or\nnone at all.\n\nA piece of flesh being buried this night, if any living creature was\nfound in it in the morning, the person burying it would be married; but\nif not, he never would.\n\nIf water, in which the feet had been washed, were kept in the house this\nnight,[72] (and the Fairies were apt to enter the house when that was the\ncase), a person putting a burning peat in it will see the colour of his\nsweetheart\u2019s hair in it.\n\nIf a mouthful of the top sod of the house wall (_f\u00f2id f\u00e0il na h-anainn_),\nor a mouthful from the clod above the lintel of the door (_\u00e0rd-dorus_) be\ntaken into the house in one\u2019s teeth and any hair be found in it, it is of\nthe same colour as that of the future wife of the person who performs the\nrite.\n\nOne of the chief performances of the evening was for young women to\ngo to a Boundary Stream (_allt cr\u00ecche_), (if between two neighbouring\nproprietors so much the better,) and with closed eyes to lift from it\nthree stones between the middle finger and thumb, saying these words:\n\n    \u201cI will lift the stone\n    As Mary lifted it for her Son,\n    For substance, virtue, and strength;\n    May this stone be in my hand\n    Till I reach my journey\u2019s end.\u201d[73]\n\nThe stones were for putting below the head when going to sleep.\n\nMany other modes of divination were practised too tedious to mention,\nby slices from the plough, different metals, eating a stolen raw\nsalt herring, sprinkling corn in front of the bed, etc., etc. These\nobservances can hardly be characterised as superstitions; they proceeded\nfrom a spirit of fun more than from any belief in their efficacy. There\nare in every community many weak and simple people who are easily\nimposed on, and made to believe almost anything; but the divinations of\nHallowe\u2019en left an abiding impression on few minds.\n\n\n_Feill Fionnain._\n\nSt. Finan\u2019s Eve is the longest night in the year, and hence it is said of\na very stupid person, \u201che is as dark as the night of St. Finan, and that\nnight is pretty dark\u201d (_Tha e co dorcha ri oidhche Feill Fionnain, \u2019s tha\n\u2019n oidhche sin gl\u00e8 dhorcha_). The shortest day is called, in the Mackay\ncountry, the extreme north of Sutherlandshire, \u201cThe Day of the Three\nSuppers\u201d (_Latha nan tr\u00ec suipeirean_).\n\nOn this night it was said \u201cthe rain is wine and the stones are cheese\u201d\n(_Tha \u2019n t-uisge na fh\u00econ \u2019s na clachan nan c\u00e0ise_), and it was\nconsidered a joke to persuade boys to go out and see. \u201cI remember,\u201d says\none who is a shrewd intelligent man, \u201cabout fifty years ago, when I was\na little boy, sitting quite contentedly on the Eve of St. Finan\u2019s Day\nsipping with a spoon from a big tub of water, in the full hope that the\nnext spoonful would prove to be wine.\u201d\n\nThe name is derived from St. Finan, confessor, Bp. of Clonard, in\nIreland, in the sixth century. This day is now fixed as the 12th\nDecember, but in the Highlands it is the shortest in the year, whatever\nday of the calendar that may fall upon. In olden times it was much\nesteemed, as the rhyme shows:\n\n    \u201cSt. Finnan\u2019s night of festivities,\n    And Christmas night of great cheer.\u201d[74]\n\nBesides giving a name to the days of the calendar the saints were\nemployed to designate local markets, St. Kessock\u2019s Day (_F\u00e8ill mo\nCheasaig_) at Callander has been already mentioned. St. Connan\u2019s Day\n(_Feill Connain_) is the autumn market in Glenorchy; _Feill Fhaolain_\nis held at Killin; _Feill Ceit_ at Kenmore; and in other places we\nhave _Feill Peadair_, _F. Aindreis_, etc. Old men spoke of _Feill an\nDiomhanais_, the festival of St. Idleness, a holiday frequently observed\nby a great many people. _Latha na Sluasaid_, Shovel Day, means the day\nof one\u2019s burial. _Bliadhna na Braoisge_, Grinning Year, and _La Luain_,\nMoon-day (_i.e._ Monday come-never), mean the same thing, the Greek\nKalends. _Bliadhna nam Brisgeinean_, the Year of Silverweed roots,\nwas shortly after Culloden, and is remembered in Tiree as a year of\ngreat scarcity. The land had been neglected in previous years from the\ndisturbed state of the country, and in spring the furrows were white with\nroots (_brisgeinean_), and people made meal of them.\n\n\nDAYS OF THE WEEK.\n\nThese play a more important part in Highland superstition than even the\nseasons of the year. The names by which they are known are not Celtic;\ntwo, Wednesday and Thursday, are of Scandinavian or Teutonic origin, and\nthe rest are from the Latin. The superstitions, as might be expected, can\nin most cases be traced directly to incidents in Scripture history. The\ndivision of time into weeks was introduced with the Christian religion\nfrom Ireland, and the Irish must be held responsible for the names\nadopted. Neither in the names nor in the superstitions is there any trace\nof an age anterior to Christianity.\n\n_D\u012d_, which is prefixed to each name, in the sense of _day_, is kindred\nwith the Latin _dies_, and occurs in slightly modified forms in all the\nCeltic dialects. It is curious that in Gaelic it occurs in no other form\nor combination in the sense of \u201cday,\u201d and a suspicion is thereby created\nthat it is merely an adaptation of the Latin word, an easier adaptation,\nbecause there are words of similar sound and kindred meaning in Gaelic.\n\n\n_Di-d\u00f2mhnaich_, SUNDAY (_dies Domini_).\n\nThe name _D\u00f2mhnach_ for our Lord is not common. It is evidently derived\nfrom the Latin _Dominus_. It occurs in the proper name _Maol-D\u00f2mhnaich_\nLudovic, lit. the bald one (_i.e._ the shaven priest) of our Lord, a name\nstill to be found in Skye, and formed like _Maol-Mhoire_, Miles (lit.\nthe priest of St. Mary), _Maol-Ciaran_, _Maol-Ruainidh_, etc. There is\na streamlet near Strowan, in Blair Athole, called _allt D\u00f2mhnach_, the\nstreamlet of our Lord; and a _Tobar an D\u00f2mhnach_, the well of our Lord,\nin Balmeanach, in the west of Tiree. In a charm for fulling cloth the\nexpression occurs, \u201cif he (the wearer of the cloth) enter field or fight,\nthe full succour of our Lord be his\u201d (_Sl\u00e0n chomraich an D\u00f2mhnach da_).\n\nThe day is also known as \u201c_an D\u00f2mhnach_\u201d without the prefix of _di_.\nOther names are those occurring in Scripture, Sabbath, etc.\n\nThe plant pulled on Sunday is, according to a proverbial expression,\nwithout good or harm (_luibh an D\u00f2mhnach gun mhath gun chron_).\n\n\n_Di-luain_, MONDAY.\n\n_Luain_ is said in dictionaries to be a Gaelic name for the moon,\nagreeing in origin with the Latin _luna_. It is used only in the name of\nthis day, and in the expression _la luain_, a poetic phrase for Monday\ncome-never, _i.e._ \u201cnever more.\u201d The adjective _luaineach_, restless, is\nsupposed to be derived from it, but is a word never applied to the moon.\nIt applies to whatever moves restlessly by fits and starts, from place\nto place, without staying long in one place, and never to anything on\naccount of change of shape or form. Its derivation from _la uaine_, green\nday, is absurd, and there are grounds for suspicion, that _luain_ is a\nword manufactured by ancient Gaelic grammarians from the Latin.\n\nIt was deemed unlucky to commence ploughing (stretching the team, as it\nwas called, _s\u00ecneadh na seisrich_), or any kind of work on Monday. It\nwill be proceeded with too quickly or too slowly, according to the adage,\n\n    \u201cWork commenced on Monday,\n    Will be (too) quick or will be (too) slow.\u201d[75]\n\nIt was deemed, however, a good day for removing or \u201cflitting\u201d upon, just\nas Saturday was the reverse.\n\n    \u201cSaturday removal is to the north,\n    Monday removal to the south,\n    Though I had but a lamb\n    On Monday I would it remove.\u201d[76]\n\nOld men called it \u201cthe key of the week\u201d (_iuchair na seachdain_).\n\n\n_Di-m\u00e0irt_, TUESDAY.\n\nThe name is obviously enough from _dies martis_, the Latin name.\n\nThis was a good day to begin ploughing upon, and it was ominous of good\nluck if any of the harness broke and the ploughing was stopped for the\nday. Such a belief could exist only in the easy-going olden days.\n\n\n_Di-Ciadain_, WEDNESDAY.\n\nMuch ingenuity has been spent on the etymology of this word by those who\ndelight in recondite meanings, and believe that every word in Gaelic\nmust be traced to a Gaelic origin. What Lhuyd says of radicals and\nprimitives is equally applicable to other words. It is a very common\nerror in etymology to endeavour to derive all the radical words of our\nWestern European languages from the Latin or Greek; or indeed to _derive\nthe Primitives of any one language from any particular tongue_. When we\ndo this we seem to forget that all have been subject to alterations, and\nthat the greater and more polite any nation is, the more subject they are\n(partly from improvement, and partly out of a luxurious wantonness) to\nremodel their language. Nearly all words connected with ecclesiastical\naffairs both in English and Gaelic have been imported from the Latin\nand Greek, undergoing only such changes as the difference of language\nrequires. When or why the name of a Scandinavian deity, and not a Roman\nname, was adopted by the British and Irish churches to designate this\nor any other day is a different question. We must seek (and this is a\nrule lamentably neglected by Gaelic etymologists), the true explanation\nof words in any language that offers one that is probable and rational;\notherwise we make \u201ca useful art ridiculous,\u201d and the etymologist\ndegenerates into \u201ca trifling conjecturer.\u201d\n\nThe Latin name of this day is _dies mercurii_, which name was adopted in\nthe Welsh, Cornish, and Armoric, but the Teutonic names are derived from\nthe Scandinavian deity _Odin_ or _Woden_, who was supposed to correspond\nto Mercury. This was the designation adopted in Gaelic, both Irish and\nScottish. Like the French the Gaelic has no _w_, and represents that\nsound by _g_ or _c_. Thus, _gad_, withe; _gul_, wail; _cosd_, waste;\n_cl\u00f2imh_, wool; _cnuimh_, worm; _curaidh_, warrior, etc. Sometimes, as\npointed out under Whitsuntide (_caingis_), the corresponding English\nsound is _wh_. So _Woden\u2019s_-day, Wednesday, became _Di-ceden_.\n\nThe derivation _ciad aoin\u2019_, first fast, is open to the objection that\nthere was no fast on Wednesday in the Celtic or any other church,\nthat the use of the word _aoin\u2019_, to denote a fast, is secondary, and\nderived from Friday (_di-haoine_), the true fast day, and that the final\nsyllable, being the essential one, would with such a derivation, be\nheavily accented, instead of falling away into a mere terminal syllable.\nThe grave _ia_ in _Di-ciadain_ is accounted for by the _o_ in Woden being\nlong.\n\nThere was a malediction used to young women, \u201cThe disease of the woman\nbe upon you, who put the first Wednesday comb in her head\u201d (_Galar na\nt\u00e8 chuir a chiad ch\u00ecr Chiadna na ceann_). The disease was that she died\nchildless.\n\nMany would not begin sowing seed in spring, but on this day or Thursday.\nIt was also counted a lucky day to begin ploughing upon.\n\nA witch, in the island of Coll, being asked by a person, who had detected\nher in her unhallowed pranks, to visit a farm-house in shape of a hare,\nsaid, that as the day was Wednesday she could do nothing. Why her power\nwas limited on this day does not appear.\n\n\n_Di\u2019rdaoin_, THURSDAY.\n\nThe Latin name, _dies Iovis_, has been similarly followed, with slight\nalteration, by the Cymric branch of the Celts; while the Gaelic names\nare taken from _Thor_, _Tor_, and in some dialects _Thordan_, the\nScandinavian deity, son of Odin.\n\nThis is a lucky day for a calf or lamb to be born upon, for beginning\nthe weaving of cloth, and on which the hair should be cut, as the rhymes\ntestify:\n\n    (1) \u201cThursday the day of benign Colum-cill\n        A day to take possession of sheep,\n        To put cloth in warp, and settle cow on calf.\u201d\n\n    (2) \u201cCut your hair and beard on Thursday,\n        And blunt the nail on Saturday.\u201d[77]\n\nIt is unlucky if Beltane day, the first of summer, falls upon a Thursday,\naccording to the saying, \u201cMany a woman will be without an infant son,\nwhen Beltane falls on Thursday\u201d (_Is iomadh t\u00e9 bhios gun mhacan baoth dar\nis ann air Di\u2019rdaoin bhios a Bhealltainn_). M\u2019Intosh (_Gael. Prov._, 146)\nhas it, \u201cWoe to the mother of a wizard\u2019s son, when Beltane falls on a\nThursday.\u201d A similar prejudice existed against Hallowmas (_Samhain_), the\nfirst of winter, falling on a Wednesday.\n\n\n_Di-haoine_, FRIDAY, DIES VENORIS.\n\nHere the Gaelic names revert to the Latin. Venus is etymologically\nconnected with the Gael, _bean_, a wife, as _Friga_ is with the German\n_frau_. In Armoric the name of the day is _dar guener_, and says\nLhuyd (p. 9) \u201c\u2019Tis observable that the initial _gu_ is common to the\nBritons, with the French, Spaniards, and Italians; and that the Romans\nfrequently begin such words with an V consonant.\u201d The Gaelic word would\nbe pronounced in the same manner, though spelled _di-Fhaoine_, which\nprobably is the more correct form. _Aoine_ is said in dictionaries to\nmean a fast, but in that sense never came into popular use, and is not\nfound in song or proverb.\n\nThe number of superstitions attached to the day were very numerous, and\nthis origin is to be traced to Friday, being the day of the Crucifixion.\nOn Good Friday (_Di-haoine na Ceusa_), the anniversary of our Lord\u2019s\nPassion, the various beliefs had twofold force. So much was it a belief\nthat the powers of evil have more power on this day than on any other,\nthat it was a common saying, \u201cFriday is against the week\u201d (_Tha Di-haoine\nan aghaidh na seachdain_).\n\nOn Friday and on Sunday it was not deemed proper to go and see a sick\nperson. Most took such a visit in anything but good part, and many would\nas soon see death coming to the house as a sympathising friend. In their\nopinion there was little difference.\n\nThe more superstitious would not allow iron to be put in the ground, and\nconsequently no graves were dug and no ploughing was proceeded with.\nCommonly, however, ploughing was abstained from only on Good Friday.\n\nIt was not lucky (_sealbhach_) on Friday to cut one\u2019s hair or nails,\nto sharpen knives, commence work, count animals, or go near the fire.\nIn Argyllshire and the Highlands generally it is deemed unlucky for\nmarriages, but in the south it is a favourite day, and in Appin,\nPerthshire, people did not care to be married on any other day. The\naversion of seafaring men to leave on this day is well known.\n\nOn Fridays the fairies visited men\u2019s houses, and people were careful not\nto say anything to give them offence. Friday was not called by its own\nname, but \u201cthe day of yonder town\u201d (_la bhaile ud thall_), and if any\none unfortunately mentioned the proper name, the evil was averted by the\nbystanders adding \u201con the cattle of yonder town.\u201d Old women in Tiree\naverted the evil consequences of sharpening knives on Friday by saying\n\u201con the farm of Clark,\u201d alluding to a big strong man of that name to whom\na general dislike was entertained, and who was said to have entered a\nfairy hillock and compelled the inmate to give him a cure for his sore\nleg.\n\nThe aversion of the elves to iron was a prominent feature in their\ncharacter, and dislike to putting iron in the ground was perhaps aversion\nto disturb (especially with what the elves disliked so much) the earth\nunder the surface of which that easily offended race lives. The \u201clittle\nfolk\u201d are quick to take offence, and dislike hearing the name of Friday,\nseeing iron sharpened, or the earth disturbed with it. When there was any\noccasion to mention the creatures, all danger of evil consequences is\naverted by saying, \u201cA blessing on their journeying and travelling, this\nis Friday and they will not hear us.\u201d\n\nIn the western islands it was a bitter curse to wish that \u201cthe number of\nFriday\u201d or \u201cthe cross of the number of Friday\u201d might come upon a person\n(_crois \u00e0ireamh na h-aoine dh\u2019 amas ort_). To count three times cattle,\nchickens, men, etc., on this day was followed as a certain result by none\nof them being alive at the end of the year. Many in Tiree remember that\nin their youth a sure method of putting an old woman in a rage was to\nbegin counting her chickens on a Friday. She seldom allowed them to get\nbeyond three or four. The superstition probably arose from a belief that\nit was on Friday King David numbered the Children of Israel.\n\nPeople did not like to kill a cow, a sheep, or other beast, or cut or\nmark calves or lambs on Friday, and there were many who would not allow\ntheir cattle to be shifted from one place to another. They would not\nalter their fold. If, _e.g._ the day was come for removing cows to the\nsummer hill pastures, the more superstitious would not allow it to be\ndone if the day was Friday.\n\nAs work commenced on Monday proceeded too quickly or too slowly, work\nbegan on Friday was said to be always hurriedly done, \u201cit will be\nrunning\u201d (_bi i na ruith_). \u201cA person born on Friday is always in a\nhurry\u201d (_Bi neach a rugadh Di-haoine driopail_); hence the malediction,\n\u201cThe running, or hurry, of Friday be upon you\u201d (_Ruith na h-aoine ort_).\n\n\u201cA threatening Friday makes a tearful Saturday\u201d (_\u2019Si \u2019n Aoine bhagarach\nni \u2019n Sathurna deurach_), and if it came on to rain early on Friday,\nor (as the saying was) if Friday caught the rain \u201cin its mouth\u201d (_Nan\nglacadh an t-aoine na bhial e_), it would be wet all day.\n\n\n_Di-sathuirne_, SATURDAY (_Dies Saturni_).\n\nThis, as might be expected, was not deemed a lucky day to begin work\nupon. It was not deemed of much consequence whether ploughing began or\nnot, but the manufacture of cloth should on no account be begun. \u201cThe\nwarp prepared on Saturday will have the delay of the seven Saturdays upon\nit\u201d (_An rud theid a dheilbh Di-Sathuirne, bi stad nan seachd Sathurn\u2019\nair_). No spinning was to be done after sunset, but other work might\nproceed as usual. All work should stop at 9 p.m. It is still considered a\nbad thing among the old people in Kintail to work past that hour.\n\nThere is a man in Tiree who will not allow a newly-engaged servant to\ncome home to enter on his service on Saturday. On one occasion, when the\nterm-day happened to be Saturday, he persuaded the servant man to come\non Friday, though only to stand in the house for a few minutes, that the\nevil omen might be averted.\n\nNew moon on Saturday was deemed a presage of stormy weather. \u201cSaturday\nlight goes seven times mad before it goes out\u201d (_Solus Sathurna gabhaidh\ne na seachd cuthaich mun d\u2019 theid e mach_).\n\nAn evil wish is \u201cThe end of the seven Saturdays be upon you\u201d (_Deire nan\nseachd Sathurn\u2019 ort_), Macintosh\u2019s _Prov._, p. 78; and in Cowal it is a\nvicious saying of one woman to another, \u201cWorse than that will come upon\nyou, the disease of the seven Saturdays will come upon you\u201d (_Thig na \u2019s\nmiosa na sin ort, thig galar nan seachd Sathurn\u2019 ort_).\n\nThe objection to removing on Saturday has been already mentioned under\nMonday.[78] The same objection is entertained in Ireland.\n\nThe end of the week is very grateful to the labouring man. \u201cAlas! and\nalas! is Monday, but my love is Saturday\u201d (_och is och! Di-luain, ach \u2019s\ne mo luaidh Di-Sathuirne_).\n\n\nWEATHER WISDOM, ETC.\n\nExpressions denoting high wind are: \u201cthe blowing of hillocks out of their\nplaces\u201d (_seideadh nan cnoc_), \u201ca wind to take the tails off horses\u201d\n(_Bheireadh i na h-earbuill bhar nan each_), and \u201cblow the barn over the\nhouse\u201d (_chuir an t-sabhuill thar an tighe_); heavy rain takes \u201cpieces\nout of the ground\u201d (_m\u00ecrean as an talamh_), and gives \u201cmilk to the\nwhales\u201d (_bainne do na muca mara_), it being supposed that in heavy rain\nwhales lie on the surface to cool themselves; heavy snow \u201cconfines the\ninfirm to their cots\u201d (_chr\u00f2dhadh e na gi\u00f9igirean_), strong robust men\ncan go about their business. A dead calm is called \u201cthe calm of birds\u201d\n(_fia\u2019 nan ian_); on days when not a hair is moved by the wind, and\nthe sea is unruffled, the young fry of fish come to the surface, and\nsea-birds, themselves also conspicuous in such weather, can look about\nthem for their prey.\n\nThe first breath of wind after a calm comes from the south, hence \u201cWhen\nthe wind is lost look for it in the south\u201d (_Nuair a bhios gaoth air\nchall iarr a deas i_). After a heavy fall of rain the wind comes west, as\nis told in the saying, \u201cWest wind after fat rain\u201d (_Gaoth \u2019n iar \u2019n d\u00e9igh\nuisge reamhar_). If frost comes on, when rivers and pools are swollen,\nand the ground is very wet, it does not last long; \u201cthe freezing of the\nfull pool does not rest long\u201d (_reodhadh an lodain l\u00e0in, cha mhair e\nfada_). The heaviest rain comes from the north (or rather north-east),\nand the longest drought from the south; \u201cthere is no rain but from the\nnorth, or lasting dry weather but from the south\u201d (_Cha-n uisge ach o\u2019n\ntuath, \u2019s cha turadh buan ach o\u2019n deas_). The frequency with which the\nviolence of the wind moderates after a shower of rain has given rise to\nthe proverb \u201cafter wind comes rain\u201d (_an d\u00e9igh gaoth mhor thig uisge_),\nto denote that after loud merriment and laughter come sorrow and the\ncares brought by reflection. \u201cIt is north wind that dissipates mist\u201d\n(_\u2019s i gaoth tuath sgaoileas ce\u00f2_); \u201cthe first day of south wind, and\nthe third day of north wind\u201d (_chiad latha de \u2019n ghaoth deas \u2019s an treas\nlatha de \u2019n ghaoth tuath_), _i.e._ they are moderate then, and are best\nfor crossing ferries on. \u201cA speckled chequered summer makes a white,\nsunny harvest\u201d (_ni samhradh breac riabhach fogharadh geal grianach_).\nThe south-west, being the direction from which rain commonly comes, is\nknown in the Hebrides as \u201c_Cachlaidh na Buigeuisg_,\u201d the gateway of soft\nweather.\n\n\nTHE MOON.\n\nBoth the sun (_a Ghrian_) and moon (_a Ghealach_) are feminine in Gaelic,\nand the names are simply descriptive of their appearance. There is no\ntrace of a Sun-God or Moon-Goddess. The root _gr_ in _Grian_ denotes\nhorrent or bristling, and alludes to the sun\u2019s rays. It is said by\nsome writers, that the name is connected with Apollo Grannua, but the\nconnection is a mere accidental similarity in the initial letters. The\nroot _gr_, denoting what is streaming or bristling, occurs in _gruag_,\na wig, flowing hair; _greann_, a surly look, a bristling of the hair as\non an enraged dog; _gr\u0101in_, aversion, from the turning up of nose and\nstomach and bristling appearance of one much disgusted, so ab_horr_ence,\netc. _Gealach_, the moon, is from _geal_, white. The names _luan_,\n_easga_, or _easgann_ are given in dictionaries, but have disappeared\nfrom common use. With the former is supposed to be connected _luaineach_,\nrestless, and _luaisg_, to move. _R\u2019_ denotes any planet.\n\nThe moment the moon begins to increase is called _gob soillse_ (lit. the\nbill or beak of the light). The height of the tide, which follows his\nchanges, is _bolg reothairt_ (lit. the swollen womb of spring tide). The\nmoon\u2019s increase is _f\u0101s_, and when waning she is _san earra-dhubh_ (lit.\nin her black boundaries).[79]\n\nAt the instant the moon begins to increase, (_air gob na gealaiche_) the\nhorns of cows are loose on their pith (_slabhagan_), and may be pulled\noff and stuck on again. It is told that a dispute having arisen on one\noccasion as to the correctness of an almanac, about the moon\u2019s change,\nthe old man who raised the question proved himself to be in the right by\nturning round and drawing the horn from one of his cows, as a sheath is\ntaken from a knife, and sticking it on again. The story is told of a man\nwho lived in Sconser, Isle of Skye, of more than one person in Tiree, and\nwas doubtless told of people in various places.\n\nIt was said that there is never any north wind at _gob gealaich_.\n\nThe first time an unmarried person sees the new moon, he should stoop\ndown and lift whatever meets his hand. If, on taking it to the light, any\nhair be found among it, its colour will prove to be that of the future\nhusband or wife. It is unlucky to see the new moon for the first time\nwhen washing one\u2019s hands, or with the hand on the face.\n\nIn olden times great regard was paid to the increase and wane of the\nmoon. Garden seeds, as onions, kail, etc., if sown in the increase, ran\nto seed, but if sown in the wane, grew as pot-herbs. Withies or slender\ntwigs (_Caol_) intended for creels and baskets were cut only in the wane.\nTwigs cut in the increase proved brittle. Trees cut in the increase were\nbelieved to bud again, but not those cut in the wane. Eggs laid during\nthe wane were preserved for hatching, rather than those laid during the\nincrease. Hens came from the former; cocks from the latter. Birds hatched\nin the increase were deemed difficult to rear, and it was doubtful if\nany of them would ultimately survive. Hence _E\u00f2in an fh\u00e0s_, birds of the\nincrease, is a name given to weakly pining children. They are worthless\nfor hatching.\n\nMany would not cut (_i.e._ castrate) an animal, calf, or foal, or pig,\nduring the increase of the moon, and it was a belief that cows seek the\nbull only in the first and third quarters of the moon, and never at neap\ntides. A man in Islay pretended to tell, from the time the cow paid her\nvisit to the bull, whether her offspring would prove a bull-calf or a\ncow-calf. If in the first quarter, the former; if in the wane, the latter.\n\nThe second moon in autumn, the harvest moon, or first after the autumnal\nequinox, was variously known as _Gealach an abachaidh_, \u201cthe ripening\nmoon,\u201d from a belief that crops ripen as much by it as they do during\nthe day; _Gealach bhuidhe nam broc_, \u201cthe badger\u2019s yellow moon,\u201d these\nwary animals being engaged, it was said, in taking home their winter\nsupplies; _Gealach an t-sealgair_, \u201cthe hunter\u2019s moon\u201d; and the last moon\nin harvest, extending for a month before Hallowmas (_Samhain_). The first\nof winter was known as _Gealach a ruadhain_, \u201cthe reddening moon,\u201d during\nwhich vegetation grew as much by night as in the day.\n\nIt was said there was no north wind at the exact period of the appearance\nof new moon (_gob gealaich_).\n\n\n\n\nFOOTNOTES\n\n\n[1] Gheibh baoth \u2019guidhe ach cha-n fhaigh a h-anam tr\u00f2cair.\n\n[2] _Prov._, p. 143.\n\n[3] Is mairg is m\u00e0thair do mhacan baoth, dar is ann air Di\u2019rdaoin bhios a\nBhealltainn.\n\n[4] In Germany it was a common belief that witches met on the night\nbefore first May (_i.e._ Beltane night) on the mountain called the\nBlockberg, to dance and feast with devils.\n\n[5] The crook or pot-hanger seems to have been an important article of\nthe witch\u2019s paraphernalia. A shepherd in Mull, coming in late from the\nhill, with his feet wet, placed his stockings to dry on the pot-hanger.\nAn old woman present pulled the stockings down again, saying to the\nshepherd, \u201cDon\u2019t do that; remember you are a person that travels the hill\nnight and day.\u201d (Cuimhnich gur duin\u2019 thus\u2019 tha siubhal a mhonaidh latha\n\u2019s a dh\u2019oidhche.) He never could ascertain what she meant.\n\n[6] The ancient churn was broader at one end than the other, and its\nnarrow end, or mouth, was secured with a prepared sheepskin covering,\ncalled _f\u00f9ileach_ in Mull, _iomaideil_ in Morven and on the mainland\ngenerally. The cross or hoop, that secured this covering in its place,\nshould also be of mountain ash. The churn was worked by the small end\nbeing lifted up and let down repeatedly.\n\n[7]\n\n    Badan de ni \u2019chaorruinn\n      Thig o aodunn Ealasaid,\n    Cuir snaithn\u2019 dearg \u2019us sreang as\n      Cuir sid an ceann a chrathadair;\n    \u2019S ged thigeadh buidseach Endor\n      Gun ceannsaicheadh Ailein i.\n\nThe rhyme was composed by the bard Ailein Dall.\n\n[8] De\u2019n riabhach thug a\u2019 so sibh?\n\n[9]\n\n    Di-luain a dh\u2019\u00e9irich a ghaoth,\n    \u2019S thog i orra fraoch us fearg,\n    Us innis do mhathair mo chuirp,\n    Gur h-e na h-uilc a rinn an t-sealg.\n\n[10] The tale has this much truth in it, that one of the ill-fated\nSpanish Armada was blown up in Tobermory Harbour, A.D. 1589. The wonder\nwould be, in those days when public news travelled slowly or not at all,\nif the history or object of the Spanish fleet should be known in the\nHighlands, or that it should be known to the Mull people that there was\nany ship in the fleet but the one that came to their own coasts.\n\n[11] A family of this name has had down to the present day a reputation\nfor witchcraft. The last of them was known to the writer as a poor woman\nof much shrewdness and inoffensive character. She professed great skill\nin healing cattle by means of charms and such-like _white_ witchcraft.\n\n[12] _C\u00f9l a\u2019s aghaidh mo sp\u00f2ige ri Macillduinn._\n\n[13] Tha m\u2019iteagun\u2019s m\u2019atagun ag atadh ris na h-eibhleagun.\n\n[14]\n\n    \u201c\u2019Sann a nochd a thorchanaich leinn\n    Mharbhadh an urchuill earchaill mh\u00f2r.\u201d\n\n\u201cAn do mharbhadh Maol Meanachan nan cat? Mar bhi na h-uile oidhche fhuair\nmi biadh \u2019us bainne na d\u2019theaglach, bhiodh do sg\u00f2rnan fada riabhach ann\nam \u00ecnein. Innis do Bhruc Riabhach gun d\u2019eug Bladrum.\u201d\n\n[15] Mhami, mhami! tha mo sheanair ag \u00e9iridh.\n\n[16] Cotta, _Short Discovery of Unobserved Dangers_, 1612. Quoted by\nBeand, iii. 3.\n\n[17] The author wrote this chapter in 1874.\u2014ED.\n\n[18]\n\n    Dia bheannachadh do sh\u016bil\n      Deur muin mu d\u2019 chridhe,\n    An luchaidh san tom\n      \u2019S an otm ri theine.\n\n[19] Al. Early on Sunday, to a level stone on the shore.\n\n[20]\n\n    Teine d\u00e9 air do bhus,\n    Rug do mh\u00e0thair ch\u00e9il ubh,\n    \u2019S thug thu fh\u00e9in mach an gur.\n\n[21]\n\n    Beairt ribeach\n    Dubhan bradach\n    Slat cham chaoruinn.\n\n[22]\n\n    Buainidh mise a m\u00f2than\n      An luibh a dh\u2019\u00f2rduich Criosd\n    Chaneil eagal losga\u2014teine dhuit\n      No cogadh nam ban sh\u00ecth.\n\n[23]\n\n    Achlusan Challum Chille,\n      Gun sireadh gun iarraidh,\n    Cha d\u2019thoir iad as do chadal thu,\n      Is cha ghabh thu fiabhrus.\n    Buainidh mis\u2019 an donn duilleach,\n    Luibh a fhuaradh an taobh bearraidh,\n    Cha tugainn e do dhuine\n    Gun tuilleadh air mo bheannachd.\n\n[24]\n\n    Buainidh mis\u2019 an t-achlasan,\n    \u2019S e luibh nam ban fionn e,\n    \u2019S e chuirm eireachdail e\n    \u2019S a chuirt sh\u00f2ghail.\n    Luibh fhirionn e, luibh bhoirionn e,\n    Luibh bh\u2019aig e\u00f2in an allt e,\n    Luibh bh\u2019aig Ni Math na eiginn\n    \u2019S aig Chrisd air aineol,\n    \u2019S b\u2019fhearr a dhuais do\u2019n laimh dheas,\n    Am bitheadh e.\n\n[25]\n\n    Buainidh mis\u2019 an t-iubhar \u00e0igh\n    Roimh ch\u00f2ig aisneam croma Chriosd\n    An ainm an athar, a Mhic, \u2019s an Spioraid Naoimh\n    Air bh\u00e0thadh, air gh\u00e0bhadh, \u2019s air ghriobhadh.\n\n[26]\n\n    Buainidh mis\u2019 a chathair l\u00e0ir\n    Mar bhuain Moire le da l\u00e0imh,\n    Buainidh mi le m\u2019 neart i,\n    \u2019S buainidh mi le m\u2019 ghlaic i, etc.\n\n[27]\n\n    \u201c_A\u2019v a chuis a choinneal_\n    _Thuair mi an\u2019am laimh ga cumail_\n    _Um sheasamh a\u2019 s an deathaich_\n    _\u2019S cha be sin m\u2019 abhaist_\n    _Un tigh mo mhathar \u2019s m\u2019 athar._\u201d\n\n    \u201cA\u2019r a shocair a bhuinneag\n    \u2019S math a b\u2019aithne dhomhsa chuideachd\n    Aona mhart air thri sinnean\n    \u2019S naoinear do mhuinntir.\u201d\n\n    \u201cCha be sin an gnathas\n    Bha \u2019n tigh m\u2019 athur no momhathar\n    Cha robh aona mhart air thr\u00e9 sinnean\n    Na naoinear \u2019a mhuinntir\n    Ach naoi slabhrinnean \u00f2ir\n    An crocha \u2019n tigh Righ Sionnach.\u201d\n\n[28] Others say his servant man saw her first, a tradition which finds a\nready explanation for the whole account, in an attempt to discourage Hugh\nby means of a prevailing superstition.\n\n[29] After his victory Dowart made prisoner of his brother, Lochbuy, and\nsent him to Kerneburg, a stronghold of which the Dowarts became heritable\nkeepers, on one of the Treshinish Islands, near Staffa, west of Mull. He\nsent \u201cBlack Sarah Macphie\u201d (_M\u00f2r dhu nic a Ph\u00ec_), from _Suidhe_, in the\nRoss of Mull, the most ungainly woman he could get, so ugly that she was\nnicknamed \u201cThe Pack-saddle\u201d (_an t-srathair_), to take care of him. Black\nSarah, however, became the mother of _Murcha Gearr_, who ultimately made\nhimself master of his paternal acres.\n\n[30] Campbell of Islay\u2019s _West Highland Tales_, ii. 83.\n\n[31] An old man in Aharacle, in the north of Argyleshire, was shaved, his\nface was washed, his hair combed, and his personal appearance attended\nto in anticipation of his speedy dissolution. When an attempt was made\nto cut his nails, he told his friends to let them alone: \u201cThey are, he\nexclaimed, but slight weapons for myself, seeing I don\u2019t know where I am\ngoing to.\u201d (_\u2019S beag an t-armachd dhomh fh\u00ecn iad, \u2019s gun fhios \u2019am cean\u2019\ntha mi dol._)\n\n[32] MacGlumag na mias, o liath tarrang sh\u00ecoda, burrach m\u00f2r.\n\n[33]\n\n    \u2019S gum b\u2019ainm do\u2019n fhuath nach robh ti\u00f2m\n    A mhuireartach maol, ruadh, muing-fhionn;\n    Bha-aodunn du-ghlas, air dhreach guail;\n    Bha-deud a carbaid claon-ruadh;\n    Bha aon s\u00f9il ghlogach na ceann,\n    \u2019S gum bu luaith i na rionnach maghair;\n    Bha greann glas-dhu air a ceann\n    Mar choille chrionaich roi chrith-reothadh.\n\n    M. S.\n\n[34] North Morar is known as _M\u00f2rair mhic shimidh_ and South Morar as\n_M\u00f2rair mhic Dh\u00f9ghaill_.\n\n[35]\n\n    Dar chaidh Fionn don Bheinn\n    Thachair ris Colann gun cheann.\n\n[36]\n\n    Colann gun cheann,\n    Thig a nall \u2019s thoir leat mi.\n\n[37] Fhaic thu \u2019n t-sean bho liath, \u2019s i gun bhiadh, a th\u00e0illear.\n\n[38] Sg\u00f2rnan fada riabhach, \u2019se gun bhiadh, a th\u00e0illear.\n\n[39] Ch\u00ec-sa, mhic, ch\u00ec-sa, mhic, ch\u00ec-sa sid \u2019s fuaigheam so an dr\u00e0sda.\n\n[40] Gairdean fada riabhach \u2019s e gun fhe\u00f2il gun bhiadh, a th\u00e0illear.\n\n[41] Sp\u00f2g mh\u00f2r liath gun fhuil, gun fhe\u00f2il, gun fh\u00e9ithean, \u2019s i gun\nbhiadh, a th\u00e1illear.\n\n[42] Sp\u00f2g mh\u00f2r liath, \u2019s i gun bhiadh, a th\u00e0illear.\n\n[43] In connection perhaps with this is the saying, \u201cAsk everything of a\nCameron, but ask no butter from a Cameron\u201d (_Iarr gach ni air Camsrhron\nach, ach na iarr \u00ecm air Camsrhronach_). The clan are also called \u201cThe\nsoft Camerons of the butter\u201d (_Camsrhronaich bhog an ime_).\n\n[44] This is the origin, at least an illustration, of the saying, \u201cTake\na wife from hell, and she will take you to her own house\u201d (_Thoir bean a\nifrinn, \u2019s bheir i gu tigh fhein thu_).\n\n[45] It was in the house of this man, tradition says, that Allan Breac,\nthe true murderer of Colin Campbell of Glenure, when making his escape,\nstayed the night after the murder. James Stewart of Ardsheal was hung in\nchains for the murder in 1752.\n\n[46] The excessive use of wine by the West Highland chiefs is borne\nwitness to by the distich:\n\n    \u201cNeil, son of Rory, fast travelling,\n    Who gave wine to his horses,\n    That they might avoid the meadow waters.\u201d\n\n    [Nial Mac Ruaraidh \u2019n astair\n    Bheireadh fi\u00f2n da chuid eachaibh\n    Air son b\u00f9rn an l\u00f2n a sheachnadh.]\n\n[47]\n\n    Bha mi\u2019n Dun-Eideann an raoir,\n      Tha mi\u2019m thalla f\u00e9in a nochd;\n    \u2019S fiach an, dadum ud \u2019sa ghr\u00e9in\n      Chaneil annam f\u00e9in do neart.\n\n[48]\n\n    Mar bhi na gathannan caol giuthais\n    Bhiodh so gu d\u2019phuthar-sa, Dh\u00f2\u2019uill Ghuirm Oig.\n\n[49]\n\n    Bhean, thug mo thriubhas dhiom\n    \u2019S mo bhr\u00f2gan grinne dubha bhuam,\n    \u2019S an l\u00e9ine thug mo phiuthar dhomh,\u2014\n    Thuige, thuige, chasan fuara,\n    \u2019S ioma cuan a shiubhail sibh.\n\n[50]\n\n    Th\u00e0inig ceathrar a nall,\n    Gun bh\u00e0ta, gun long,\n    Fear buidhe, fionn,\n    Fear slatagach, donn,\n    Fear a bhualadh na s\u00f9isde,\n    \u2019S fear a r\u00f9sgadh nan crann.\n\n    _Toimhseagan._\n\n[51] Highland Society\u2019s Dictionary, _sub voce_.\n\n[52] _Am fear nach dean a Nollaig sunndach ni e ch\u00e0isg gu tursach\ndeurach._\n\n[53] _Chaneil Nollaig gun fhe\u00f2il._\n\n[54]\n\n    A challuinn a bhuilg bhuidhe bhoicinn\n    Buail an craicionn (air an tota)\n    Cailleach sa chill,\n    Cailleach sa ch\u00f9il,\n    Cailleach eile \u2019n c\u00f9l an teine\n    Bior na da sh\u00f9il\n    Bior na goile\n    A challuinn so,\n    Leig astigh mi.\n\n[55]\n\n    Gaoth deas, teas is toradh\n    Gaoth tuath, fuachd is gaillionn,\n    Gaoth \u2019n iar, iasg is bainne,\n    Gaoth \u2019n ear, meas air chrannaibh.\n\n[56]\n\n    B\u2019 fhearr leam a chreach thigh\u2019nn do\u2019n t\u00ecr\n    Na mhaduinn chi\u00f9in \u2019san Fhaoilleach fhuar.\n\n[57]\n\n    Faoilleach Faoilleach, cruth an crios\n    Faoilte mh\u00f2r bu ch\u00f2ir bhi ris;\n    Crodh us caoraich ruith air theas,\n    Gul us caoidh bu ch\u00f2ir bhi ris.\n\n[58]\n\n    \u201cNead air Brithid, ubh air Inid,\n      \u2019S eun air C\u00e0isg,\n    \u2019S mar bi sin aig an fhitheach\n      Bithidh am b\u00e0s.\u201d\n\n[59]\n\n    \u201cFeadag, Feadag, m\u00e0thair Faoilleach fuar,\n    Marbhaidh i caoraich us uain,\n    Marbhaidh i \u2019n cro m\u00f2r mu seach,\n    \u2019S an t-each ris an aon uair.\u201d\n\n[60]\n\n    \u201cThuirt an Gearran ris an Fhaoilleach,\n    C\u2019\u00e0it an d\u2019 fh\u00e0g thu \u2019n gamhuinn bochd!\n    Dh\u2019 fh\u00e0g mi e aig an Fhear rinn na d\u00f9ilean,\n    \u2019S dh\u00e0 sh\u00f9il air an t-sop.\n    Ma bheireas mis\u2019, thuirt a mios M\u00e0igh,\n    Air an anail am barraibh a chluas,\n    Cuiridh mi ruideis air an tr\u00e0igh e,\n    \u2019S fheaman air a ghualainn.\u201d\n\n[61]\n\n    \u201cSin thuirt an Gearran gearr,\n    Ni mi farran ort nach fhearr,\n    Cuiridh mi bh\u00f2 mh\u00f2r sa pholl,\n    Gus an d\u2019 thig an tonn far a ceann.\u201d\n\n[62]\n\n    \u201cBuailidh i thall, buailidh i bhos,\n    Buailidh i eadar a da chois;\n    ...\n    Thilg i e fo \u2019n chraoibh chruaidh chuilinn,\n    Air nach do chinn gas feur no fionnadh riamh.\u201d\n\n[63]\n\n    An linge l\u00e0n air chionn a Mh\u00e0rt,\n    \u2019S tugha nan tighean an claisean nan iomairean.\n\n[64]\n\n    Leig seachad a chiad Mh\u00e0rt\n    S an d\u00e0rna Mh\u00e0rt m\u00e0s fheudar e,\n    Ach olc air mhath gan d\u2019thig an t-s\u00ecd,\n    Cuir do sh\u00ecol san fhior Mh\u00e0rt.\n\n[65] Campbell\u2019s _Superstitions of the Scottish Highlands_, p. 296.\n\n[66]\n\n    Thuirt an Inid ris a Ch\u00e0isg,\n      C\u2019\u00e0it am faigh mi \u00e0ite cluich?\n    Thoir thusa dhomhsa p\u00e0illiun geamhraidh\n      \u2019S togaidh mi tigh samhraidh dhuit.\n\n[67] This derivation has been derived from, and others have been\nconfirmed by Lhuyd (_Arch\u00e6ologia Britannica_, publ. at Oxford, 1707). The\nwork is folio size, and contains many curious and sensible philological\nobservations. Its principal defect is, that what is valuable is buried in\npages of uninteresting glossaries.\n\n[68]\n\n    Reothairt na Feill Moire\n    \u2019S boilich na Feill P\u00e0ruig.\n\n[69]\n\n    Mas a bailc Bhealltainn bhl\u00e0th,\n    Mas a turadh an treas l\u00e0,\n    \u2019S mas a gaoth an ear a rithis,\n    \u2019S cinnteach gum bi meas air chrannaibh.\n\n[70] In the Hebrides, the name St. Brendan\u2019s Eve for the Whitsunday term\nis entirely unknown. It is told of a Tiree man of the last generation,\nthat he was promised a croft, or piece of land, by the then chamberlain\nof the island, who was a native of the mainland, and said, \u201cYour name\nwill be put on the rent-roll on St. Brendan\u2019s Day.\u201d The Tiree man went\nhome and consulted his godfather (_goistidh_) as to what day the factor\nmeant. \u201cI really don\u2019t know,\u201d said his godfather, \u201cunless it be the day\nof judgment.\u201d\n\n[71]\n\n    Br\u00f2g thana, \u2019s i gun mheas,\n      Gun fhios co chaitheas i.\n\n[72] Campbell\u2019s _Superstitions of the Scottish Highlands_, p. 260.\n\n[73]\n\n    Togaidh mise chlach,\n    Mar a thog Moire da Mac,\n    Air bhr\u00ecgh, air bhuaidh, \u2019s air neart;\n    Gun robh a chlachsa am dh\u00f2rn,\n    Gus an ruig mi mo cheann uidhe.\n\n[74]\n\n    Feill Fionnain nam fleadh\n    S\u2019 oidhche Nollaig na m\u00f2r bhladh.\n\n[75]\n\n    Tinnste (tionnsgnadh?) nitear Di-luain,\n    Bithidh e luath no bi e mall.\n\n[76]\n\n    Imrich an t-sathurna mu thuath,\n    Imrich an Luain mu dheas,\n    Ged nach biodh agam ach an t-uan\n    \u2019S ann Di-luain a dh \u2019fhalbhainn leis.\n\n[77]\n\n    (1) Di\u2019rdaoin, latha Challum-chille chaoin\n        Latha chuir chaorach air seilbh,\n        A dheilbh, \u2019s a chuir bo air laogh.\n\n    (2) T\u2019 fhalt \u2019s t\u2019 fhionna Di\u2019rdaoin,\n        \u2019S t\u2019 ionga mhaol Di-sathuirne.\n\n[78] _V._ page 293.\n\n[79] When hid in her vacant interlunar cave, _i.e._ when she is waning\nand late of rising, the dark period of the night is called _rath dorcha_\n(dark circle). \u201cSon of the moon\u2019s dark circle\u201d (_mhic an rath dorcha_) is\nan expression of mild objurgation.\n\n\n\n\nINDEX.\n\n\n    All Fool\u2019s day, 266\n\n    All Saints\u2019 day, 281, 297, 307\n\n    Allan of the Faggots, 45\n\n    Allophylian, 92\n\n    Apparitions of the Dead, 127, 137\n\n    Ardvoirlich Stone, 94\n\n    Arrow-head, 92\n\n    Assumption day, 279\n\n    Autumn, 227, 306\n\n    Avoiding day, 273\n\n\n    Baal, 224\n\n    \u201cBeard Gateway, the,\u201d tale, 189\n\n    Beast of Odal Pass, tale, 207\n\n    Beckoning Old Man, 187\n\n    Beltane, 267, 270, 272\n      Beltane day, 12, 156, 297\n      Beltane night, 7\n\n    Bereavement of a ta\u00efsher, tale, 139\n\n    Big Allan of Woodend, 83\n\n    Black Duncan of the Cowl, 110\n\n    Black Walker of the Ford, 201\n\n    Black witchcraft, 1\n\n    Black shore, 184\n\n    Blind Allan, the Glengarry Bard, 82\n\n    Boat of Gortendonald, tale, 161\n\n    Boat of Iona, 162\n\n    Bocain, 220\n\n    Bonfires, 282\n\n    Breadalbane\u2019s Warning, 110\n\n    Bridewell, 248\n\n    Brimstone Betty, 154\n\n    Burt\u2019s Story, 36\n\n\n    Calluinn, 230\n\n    Cameron of Glenevis, 35\n      tale, 38\n\n    Cameron of Locheil, 198, 200\n\n    Campbell and the Battle of Gaura, 206\n\n    Candle Day, 244\n\n    Cattle cured of sickness, 56,\n      of murrain, 94\n      elf-struck, 91\n      Hairy Donald\u2019s power to hurt or cure, 10\n      Saining cattle, 257, 272, 277\n      watched by their dead possessors, 210\n\n    Cats, 34\n      Boy eaten alive by cats, 39\n      coming to life again, 40\n      protection against drowning, 35\n      revenge of a, 38\n      used in the cure of the evil eye, 61\n      witches as, 18, 34\n      woman torn by cats, tale, 39\n\n    Celtic Year, the, 224\n\n    Charms, 6, 55\n      against danger, tale, 73\n      against drowning and dangers in war, 74\n      counter-charms, 10\n      E\u00f2las or, 57\n      for bruises, 67\n      for cattle, 71\n      for conferring graces, 80\n      for consumption and affections of the chest, 68\n      for fulling new cloth, 77\n      for general use, 79\n      for new-born babes, 77\n      for preventing a newly-purchased animal going astray, 71\n      for rheumatic pains, 67\n      for a sheep, 74\n      for sprains, 66\n      for toothache, 69\n      for young women\u2019s faces, 81\n      in a lawsuit, 83\n      love charm, 82\n      smith\u2019s immunity from bullets, 76\n      The Gospel of Christ, 79\n      use of, 55\n      veteran\u2019s safety, 74\n\n    Christmas or Nollaig, 229\n      Black cuttings of, 244\n      cheese, 232\n      Day of Little Christmas, 238\n      Rhymes, 233\n      the twelve days of, 243\n\n    Cock fighting, 249, 257\n\n    Coffin, 151\n\n    Contest of a gull and a cormorant, 23\n\n    Cormorants, 43\n\n    Cows\n      bewitched, 14\n      bringing back a cow\u2019s milk, 71\n      milked to death, 9\n      old wife\u2019s charm, 73\n\n    Cure of\n      axillary swelling, 99\n      consumption and leprosy, 100\n      epilepsy, 97\n      hiccup, 96\n      lumbago, 100\n      miscellaneous cures, 94\n      stiff neck and toothache, 96\n      stye and tetter, 95\n      treatments of madness, 97\n      warts, 94\n      whooping-cough, 96\n\n\n    Danger of strong wishes, 140, 143\n\n    Daughter of the King of Enchantments, tale, 107\n\n    Day of the big porridge, 261\n\n    Day of three suppers, 289\n\n    Days of the week, 291 to 302\n\n    Death, 150\n      apparitions of the dead, 127, 137\n      death lights, 169\n      funeral processions, 155\n      howling of dogs, 164\n      legend of the death lights, 171\n      Spirits seen before a, 172\n      ta\u00efsher seeing his own, 159\n      warnings, 109\n      wraiths seen before, 158\n\n    Devil\u2019s wiles, tale, 186\n\n    Dog Days, 276\n\n    Dogs, 163\n      as spectre-seers, 163\n      howling, sign of death, 164\n\n    Doideag, 26\n\n    Donald of the Ear, 48\n\n    Donald the Fair-Haired, 140\n\n    Doubles, 122, 125, 128, 130, 145, 163\n\n    Dowart, 112, 117\n\n    Dreag or Driug, 111\n\n    Dreams, 27, 209\n      Spirits appearing in dreams, 179\n\n    Drowning, charm against, 74\n      foreseen by seers, 160\n      ill-fated boats, 161\n      sailors\u2019 drowning foretold by screams, 168\n\n    Druidism\n      druid\u2019s glass, 87\n      relique of, 84\n      remains of Druid magic, 121\n\n    _Dublin University Magazine_, 39\n\n    Duncan Ban MacIntyre, 82\n\n\n    Easter, 263\n\n    _Easter eggs_, 265\n\n    Egyptians, 87, 254\n\n    Eddy winds of the Storm month, 251\n\n    Elisha, 59\n\n    _Ellis\u2019s Brand\u2019s Antiquities_, 239, 243, 244, 248, 271, 280\n\n    \u201cEnticing plant, the,\u201d 106\n\n    Envy splits the rocks, 63\n\n    _Etymological Dictionary of Scottish Language_, 254\n\n    Events happening at a distance, 149\n\n    Evil Eye, 59\n      Cure for, tale, 60\n      dangers of the, 61\n      danger for a horse, 62\n      how to detect the victim, 60\n      incantations to counteract, 63\n      precautions against, 59\n      stone for the cure of the, 93\n\n    Ewen M\u2019Corkindale or Ewen of the Dirk, tale, 190\n\n    Ewen and the Carlin Wife, tale, 198\n\n    Ewen and the Skull, tale, 200\n\n\n    Fairies, 1\n\n    February, 245\n\n    Festival of Fools in Paris, 243\n\n    \u201cFetch,\u201d or coffins, 119\n\n    Fin MacCoul, 188\n\n    Fish procured by witchcraft, 17\n\n    Flounders, 18\n\n    Friday, 297\n      Good Friday, 262, 298\n\n    Frog Stone, 89\n\n    Fulfilment of visions, 157, 158, 159, 160\n\n    Funeral processions, 128, 155, 156\n\n\n    Gaelic customs on festivals, 229\n      etymologies, 224\n      divisions of time, 225\n\n    Gaelic months and seasons, 224 to 307\n\n    Games to divine the future, 282\n\n    Gaura, battle of, 205\n      Hero of battle, 206\n\n    Gelding season, 251\n\n    Ghosts\n      Donald Gorm\u2019s Ghost, tale, 211\n      Drowned man\u2019s Ghost, tale, 214 and 215\n      \u201cGospel,\u201d 94\n      Hidden ploughshare, tale, 213\n      Laying a, 222,\n        in name of Duke of Argyle, 223\n      of the living, 124\n      Shadows, 221\n      Song of a, 179\n      Silent horseman, 221\n\n    Glen Erochty, 203\n\n    Goblins, 220\n\n    Good Friday, 262, 298\n\n    _Gregory\u2019s Western Highlands_, 211\n\n    Grey Paw, the, tale, 194\n\n    Gulls, 23, 42\n\n\n    Hallowe\u2019en night, 144\n      Hallowmas, 284, 297, 307\n\n    Handsel Monday, 245\n\n    Hares, 8, 33\n\n    Haunted houses, 217\n      seer, 137, 148, 161\n\n    _Highland Society\u2019s Dictionary_, 226, 244\n\n    Henderson\u2019s Gloves, tale, 135\n\n    Hobgoblins, 181\n      Baucan, 181, 182\n      Bodach, 187, 190\n      dogs and horses, tales, 185, 215\n      Etiquette when meeting a, 184\n      Fuath, 188\n      Haunts of, 183\n      precursor of Death, 182\n      refuge from, 184\n      safety in a circle against, 185\n\n    Hogg\u2019s _Witch of Fife_, 36\n\n    Holly whipping, 232\n\n    Horses\n      as spectre-seers, 163\n      fright of a horse, tale, 165\n      horse as an omen of Death, 117\n      men changed into, 49\n      phantom horse, 111\n      safe from witches, 13 and 185\n      saved by incantations, 63\n\n    Horse-shoe protection against witchcraft, 12\n\n    Hot month, 279\n\n    Hugh of the Little Head, tale, 111\n\n    Hugh M\u2019Lachlan of Aberdeen, 250\n\n    Hugh, son of Donald the Red, tale, 147\n\n    Hump-backed Blue-eye or Gormla, 23, 26, 50\n\n\n    Ian Garve, tale, 25\n\n    Ignes Fatui, 171\n\n    Ile, tale, 177\n\n\n    Juniper, 11,\n      incantations, 105, 242\n\n\n    Kate MacIntyre, 51\n\n    King Frog, 89\n\n\n    Lachlan Mor, 139\n\n    Lachlan the Wily, 112\n\n    Lady day, 261\n\n    Laird of Coll, tale, 8, 139, 146, 180\n\n    Lent, 258\n\n    _Lhuyd\u2019s Arch\u00e6ologia Britannica_, 230, 258, 264, 269, 294\n\n    Linlithgow, 279\n\n    Little Spring of Whelks, 247\n\n    Lochan Doimeig, 208\n\n    Lochbuy, 112, 118\n\n    Lochlin\u2019s daughter, 100\n\n    Loch Ma N\u00e0r, 101\n\n\n    Macaulay, Lord, 198\n\n    MacCannel, 173\n\n    Macdonald, Lord, 23, 48, 173\n\n    Macdonall or MacCu\u00efl and the Headless Body, tale, 191\n\n    Macdougall of Lorn, 113\n\n    Macfadyens, 113, 194\n\n    MacGilvray, freed from witchcraft, tale, 47\n\n    MacGregor, 35, 110\n\n    MacIain Ghiarr, 47\n\n    _MacIntosh\u2019s Gaelic Proverbs_, 297, 301\n\n    Maclachlan Clan, 110, 170\n\n    Maclaine, 113\n\n    MacLean, 118\n\n    Maclean, Hector, tale, 30\n\n    M\u2019Lean of Coll, 102, 139\n\n    MacLean of Dowart, 27, 76, 117, 139\n      Bewitched clay figure of, 47\n      his bargain with a shade, 178\n      clan, 276\n      Nose of the, 136\n      Song of the, 115\n\n    _M\u2019Leod and Dewar\u2019s Dictionary_, 250\n\n    MacNeills, 21\n\n    \u201cMacpherson of power,\u201d legend, 20\n\n    Macpherson, 206\n\n    MacRanald, 21\n\n    Magic staff, 6\n\n    Malicious spectres, 133, 135\n\n    Manaman MacLeth, 83\n\n    _Martin\u2019s \u201cWestern Highlands\u201d_, 248\n\n    Martin of the Bag\u2019s day, 277\n\n    Martinmas, 274\n\n    Maundy-Thursday, 261\n\n    May, 272, 273\n\n    May Day, 267\n\n    Mountain ash, 11, 242\n\n    Meyer, 88\n\n    Michaelmas, 281\n\n    Midsummer\u2019s Eve, 276\n\n    Milk carried in a seaweed, 9\n\n    Monday, 292\n\n    Moon, 304\n\n\n    Nails, 176\n\n    New Year\u2019s Day customs, 238, 241\n      fire, 237\n      night, 236\n      rhyme, 234\n\n    Nightly assignations with spectres, 130,\n      tale, 132\n      with spirits, tale, 175, 201, tale, 203\n\n    Noises\n      depression of a seer caused by, 151\n      forerunners of funerals, 154\n      heard by people not ta\u00efshers, 152\n      wailing, sign of death, 166\n\n\n    Old Wife, 253\n\n    Omens, 145\n\n    Oswy, King of Northumbria, 263\n\n    Otter, 89\n\n\n    Paschal Lamb, 254\n\n    _Peacock\u2019s Guide to the Isle of Man_, 70\n\n    Pearlwort, 15, 71\n      its uses, 103\n      to prevent the return of the dead, 172\n\n    Pennant, 89, 243, 271, 274\n\n    Pet Ram, the, tale, 217\n\n    Ph\u0153nicians, 87, 268\n\n    Pins, used to free cows from witchcraft, 14\n\n\n    Quartodecimans, 263\n\n\n    \u201cRag,\u201d the, or the Lakelet of Black Trout, tale, 208\n\n    Rats, 42\n\n    _Red Book of Appin_, 13\n\n    Red-Headed Donald, 216\n\n    Red Hector of the Battles, 76\n\n    Return of the Dead, 172, 210, 215\n\n    Rhymes, 56\n      New Year, 234\n      of the wind, 237\n\n    Riddle of the Four Seasons, 225\n\n    Roman Calendar, 263\n\n    Ronag, or ball of hair, 11\n\n    Roodmas, 280\n\n\n    St. Brendan\u2019s Eve, 275\n\n    St. Brendan the Elder, 274\n\n    St. Bride\u2019s Day, tale, 247\n\n    St. Bride\u2019s Rhyme, 249\n\n    St. Fillan, legend of, 98\n\n    St. Finan\u2019s Eve, 289\n\n    St. John\u2019s Eve, 276\n\n    St. John\u2019s wort, incantation, 104\n\n    St. Kessock\u2019s Day, 259, 290\n\n    St. Patrick\u2019s Day, 250, 259\n\n    St. Swithin\u2019s Day, 277\n\n    Scott, Sir Walter, 87, 193\n      Michael, 200, 256\n\n    Second Sight, 120\n      hereditary, 126, 131\n      marriage foreseen by, 147\n      to get rid of, 180\n\n    Seed time, 255\n\n    Seers, 122,\n      tale, 138\n      haunted by a drowned man, 161\n      the four wives of a, tale, 148\n\n    Sharp-billed one, 251\n\n    Sheep, 10, 30\n\n    Shepherd\u2019s adventure, 35\n\n    Shinty, 230, 238, 239\n\n    Shore Thursday, 261\n\n    Shrovetide, 256\n\n    Sinclair, Alexander, and the dairymaid, tale, 135\n\n    Spanish Armada, 28\n\n    Spectral funerals, 128, 155,\n      horses, 153\n\n    Spectres, 160\n      of the living, 132\n\n    Spirits of the dead, 172\n      reverence paid to the dead, 176\n      Secrets revealed by, 173\n      unholy compacts, tale, 174 f.\n\n    Spring, 225, 250, 260\n\n    Strong wishes, tales, 141\n\n    Stones\u2014\n      Burial stones, 177\n      Cruban stone to cure diseases of joints, 92\n      Fairy-arrow or elf-bolt, 91\n      frog stone, 89\n      serpents\u2019 bead, 85, 87\n      serpents\u2019 egg, 84\n      snail bead, 88\n      storm stone, 93\n      Virtues of the Fairy Spade, 92\n\n    Storm of the Borrowing Days, 25\n\n    Summer, 226\n\n    Sun, 304\n\n    Sunday, 292\n\n    Swarths, 124\n\n    Sweeper, 251\n\n\n    Tailor and the skulls, 176\n      detected among witches, 50\n      drowning witches, 15\n      Grey Paw and the, tale, 194\n      tailor\u2019s hole, 197\n      torn by cats, 37\n      unlucky experiment in witchcraft, 16\n\n    Ta\u00efsher, 123, 126\n      moral character of a, 131\n      tale, 137, tale, 159\n\n    T\u00e0radh, or the omens of living men, 124, 125, 144, 146\n\n    T\u00e0sg, 166\n\n    Threads used in witchcraft, 6, 10, 61\n\n    Three hog dogs, 254\n\n    Thursday, 296\n\n    Translation of Martin, 277\n\n    Tuesday, 294\n\n\n    Ulysses of the Highlands, 198\n\n    Unbeliever convinced, tale, 169\n\n    Unearthly whistle, tale, 204\n\n\n    Waldron, 121\n\n    Wallace, Sir William, and the headless body, 193\n\n    Weather wisdom, 302\n\n    Wednesday, 294\n\n    Weight of the dead, 140\n\n    Wells\n      Fian Flag-Stone Well, healing power of, 101\n      of Stones, 102\n      of the Heads, 114\n      of the Nine Living, 102\n      Sanna Cave, 101\n      to cure toothache and jaundice, 102\n\n    Western Sea poem, 188\n\n    Whales, 44\n\n    Whistle, 250\n\n    Whistling week, 273\n\n    White witchcraft, 54\n\n    Whitsuntide, 274\n\n    Wicken tree, 103\n\n    _Wilson\u2019s Prehistoric Annals_, 90\n\n    Wine, 211, 212\n\n    Winter, 227, 281\n      games, 283\n\n    Witchcraft, Black, 1\n      White, 54\n\n    Witches\n      as cats, tales, 18, 34\n      as cormorants, tale, 43\n      as gulls, tale, 23, tale, 42\n      as hares, tales, 33\n      as rats, 42\n      as sheep, 10, 30\n      as whales, tale, 44\n      bribes to, 2\n      celebrated, 50\n      definition, 2\n      delaying birth of child, 45\n      destruction of Captain Forrest\u2019s ship, 27\n      disguised as a hare, 8\n      doings of, 5\n      etymology, 4\n      going to sea, 15\n      how to detect, 53\n      knots to raise the winds, 19\n      little witch, the, tale, 22\n      on Beltane eve, 270\n      plants and trees as protection against, 103\n      Portree witches sinking a boat, 22\n      powerless on Wednesdays, 296\n      raising storms and destroying people, 19\n      sinking a vessel by means of a dish of milk, 21\n      their own belief in witchcraft, 3, 58\n      transformations of, 6\n      use of tar, 13\n      using clay corpses, 46\n      witches and milk, 7\n      wounded by silver, 30, 49\n\n    Wizard rising after death, 52\n      head-stone, 53\n\n\n    Year, Celtic, 224\n      of the Silverweed roots, 290\n\n    \u201cYellow Claws,\u201d 23, 26, 51","title":"Witchcraft & Second Sight in the Highlands & Islands of Scotland: Tales and Traditions Collected Entirely from Oral Sources","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":77859}