{"collection":"folklore-oral-tradition","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_70196/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_70196","id":"gutenberg_70196","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/70196","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Archaeology & Anthropology","Category: History - Other","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Evil eye","Folklore","Superstition"],"text":"Transcriber\u2019s Notes\n\nObvious typographical errors have been silently corrected. Variations\nin hyphenation and accents have been standardised except in the Gaelic\npassages, but all other spelling and punctuation remains unchanged.\n\nItalics are represented thus _italic_, bold thus =bold= and\nsuperscripts thus y^{en}.\n\n\n\n\n EVIL EYE\n\n IN THE\n\n WESTERN HIGHLANDS\n\n\n\n\n _BY THE SAME AUTHOR_\n\n THE GAMES AND DIVERSIONS OF\n ARGYLESHIRE. Demy 8vo, viii.-270 pp.,\n cloth, uncut, 10s. 6d. net.\n\n\n _This volume forms No. 47 of the Publications\n of the Folk-Lore Society._\n\n\n\n\n EVIL EYE\n\n IN THE\n\n WESTERN HIGHLANDS\n\n BY\n\n R. C. MACLAGAN, M.D.\n\n AUTHOR OF\n \u201cTHE GAMES AND DIVERSIONS OF ARGYLESHIRE\u201d\n\n LONDON\n DAVID NUTT, 57-59 LONG ACRE\n 1902\n\n\n Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO.\n At the Ballantyne Press\n\n\n\n\n CONTENTS\n\n\n PAGE\n\n INTRODUCTION 1\n\n EVIL EYE 10\n\n LOCALITY OF BELIEF 20\n\n SOCIAL POSITION OF BELIEVERS 22\n\n DESCRIPTION OF POSSESSORS OF EVIL EYE 24\n\n OBJECTION TO MEETING AN EVIL EYE 28\n\n AVOIDING SUSPICION OF EVIL EYE 32\n\n ACTION OF EVIL EYE INDEPENDENT OF POSSESSOR 35\n\n EVIL EYE TAKES EFFECT EVEN ON THINGS NOT SEEN 37\n\n MORAL SOURCE OF THE EVIL EYE 40\n\n THINGS THAT SPECIALLY ATTRACT 43\n\n STRANGERS SPECIALLY LIABLE TO BE ACCUSED OF THE POSSESSION OF THE\n EVIL EYE 46\n\n PEOPLE SHOULD GIVE WHEN ASKED 48\n\n SYMPTOMS IN ANIMALS ASCRIBED TO EFFECT OF EVIL EYE 51\n\n BENEFIT TO THE OWNER OF AN EVIL EYE 68\n\n DISADVANTAGE TO THE OWNER OF AN EVIL\n EYE 70\n\n CONSEQUENCE OF DIRECT PRAISE 76\n\n A LOOK DOES IT 80\n\n AVOIDING THE LOOK 84\n\n CONVERSION TO BELIEF IN EVIL EYE 88\n\n GIVING AWAY MILK DANGEROUS 89\n\n SCIENCE VERSUS EOLAS 91\n\n HURTER AND HEALER 98\n\n TRANSMISSION OF EOLAS 101\n\n FORMS OF INCANTATION 104\n\n FORM OF PAYMENT 108\n\n THE NECESSITY OF FAITH 112\n\n PREVENTING EVIL BY BLESSING 114\n\n PREVENTING BY DISPRAISING 117\n\n PREVENTING BY ROWAN AND JUNIPER 119\n\n PREVENTING BY HORSE NAILS AND SHOES 121\n\n PREVENTING BY A SMALL GIFT 122\n\n A PREVENTATIVE BY BURNING CLOTHING 125\n\n PREVENTION BY SPITTING 126\n\n PREVENTING BY CHURNING 129\n\n PREVENTION BY PECULIARITY IN CLOTHES 131\n\n TAR AS PREVENTATIVE 132\n\n NICKING THE EAR 134\n\n URINE AS PREVENTATIVE 135\n\n A BURNT OFFERING 140\n\n CHARMS. (STRING) 141\n\n UISGE A\u2019 CHRONACHAIDH (WATER OF INJURY) 151\n\n STONES AND WATER 167\n\n IRON AND WATER 172\n\n WOOD AND WATER 175\n\n SALT AS CURE AND PREVENTATIVE 176\n\n MOST SUITABLE WATER 181\n\n TABOO WHEN IN POSSESSION OF WATER 184\n\n WATER, WHERE APPLIED 192\n\n ODD CURES 195\n\n HONEYSUCKLE CURE 195\n\n CAT CURE 196\n\n RUBBING HAIR THE WRONG WAY 196\n\n CHANGING THE FIREPLACE 197\n\n THE POWER OF A CHILD\u2019S MUTCH 197\n\n WHISKY CURE 198\n\n LEAD DROPPING 198\n\n AN EYE FOR AN EYE 200\n\n SHOWING WHO IS THE MISCHIEF MAKER 205\n\n PUTTING ELSEWHERE 214\n\n APPENDIX 219\n\n INDEX 225\n\n\n\n\n EVIL EYE\n\n\n\n\n INTRODUCTION\n\n\nThe Evil Eye is a superstition arising not from local circumstances,\nor peculiarity of a great or small division of the human family, but\nis a result of an original tendency of the human mind. The natural\nirritation felt at the hostile look of a neighbour, still more of an\nenemy, is implanted in the breast of all, however much they may be\ninfluenced by moral teaching. When we add to this the feeling that some\nvalued possession has attracted the coveteous desire of another, the\nfear of loss is added to the irritation of mere anger. To some such\nnatural feeling we must ascribe the belief in an Evil Eye.\n\nTheories of an origin more restricted, founded on the fear of loss or\ndamage to particular possessions of individuals guaranteed them by the\ncustom of law, developed in the community of which they form part,\nscarcely satisfy after inquiry. Where a subsistence can be easily\nprocured the Evil Eye would be little regarded in connection with food,\nbut might naturally develop itself in connection with the relations of\nthe sexes. No doubt the latter, the most interesting to individuals of\nall passions, causes feelings of hostility between rivals universally,\nbut where the food supply is difficult to procure one would naturally\nexpect that damage from the covetous desires of others, where they\nseemed to affect the life-preserving store, would become equally\nimportant.\n\nIn the following study of the belief of an Evil Eye among the\nGaelic-speaking peoples of Scotland at the present day, an attempt is\nmade neither to disguise nor to improve upon what those in contact with\nbelievers have learned from their mouths. The writer is a believer\nin the Evil Eye only in so far as it may be a term for the natural\nselfishness of the human being, as a \u201ctender heart\u201d is a recognised way\nof speaking of a nature apt to sympathy. Selfishness, natural to all\nof us, is apt to find expression in our habits, however much we may\ndisguise it by religious or charitable profession. Were it a part of\nour nature to have for our neighbour the same affection that we have\nfor ourselves, no such superstition as that of the Evil Eye could have\narisen. But we are not made that way, and so reformers, in endeavouring\nto cure this sin, as they consider it, have preached and tried to\npractise such ordinances as \u201cThou shalt not covet,\u201d and \u201cThou shalt\nlove thy neighbour as thyself.\u201d Truly hard sayings, and in nine hundred\nand ninety-nine cases out of a thousand with difficulty getting beyond\nthe status of a pious opinion.\n\nNot that that teaching has been without effect; and we may hope that\nwith the extension of communications and the progress gradually being\nmade to that condition of things where\n\n \u201cMan to man the world o\u2019er\n Shall brithers be for a\u2019 that,\u201d\n\nthe _bad e\u2019e_ may some day in these isles be merely a study for\nfolklorists as Totemism is, and as difficult to find as an auk\u2019s egg.\n\nRight or wrong, the theory here advanced accounts, satisfactorily, as\nfar as the writer can judge, for the present-day widespread belief in\nScotland of the power for evil of the glance of the human eye.\n\nAs will be seen afterwards, there are those who theorise on the bad\nheart influencing the eye, the ill effect of the Evil Eye only arising\nfrom the glance of the covetous; but this is probably the result of\npreconceived religious ideas, and of the moral teaching to which its\nbelievers have been accustomed. It is not to be wondered at; it would\nbe impossible indeed, but that the teaching of Christianity should have\naffected and given a direction to this ancient superstition. Thus we\nfind it Christianised to a marked degree, its origin is conceived of\nas a breaking of the commandment \u201cThou shalt not covet,\u201d and its cures\nare mostly connected with a reference to the Deity, and to the Trinity\nof the Christian. The magic thread with the three knots on it, though\nheathen in its origin, has surely some connection with the rosary, the\naspersion with water, with baptism, and the holy water of the Roman\nChurch. But it is not a superstition introduced with Christianity, it\nis as native as the heather of our hills, or the sandstone rock of the\nCoronation Stone.\n\nThis statement might be safely enough advanced upon general principles,\nbut we are not without satisfactory literary evidence of what we\nadvance. In the Ossianic \u201c_Acallam na Senorach_\u201d (The Colloquy with\nthe Ancient Men), the second longest prose composition of the medi\u00e6val\nIrish, a collection (probably made in the late twelfth or thirteenth\ncentury) of separate stories united together in one framework, we find\nthe following as related in MSS. of the fifteenth century and later.\n\nThe Fiann are on a visit to the King of Munster. The son of the King of\nUlster marries the daughter of the King of Munster.\n\n\u201cThe damsel bore him a famous and beautiful son named Fer Oc (\u2018young\nman\u2019), and in all Ireland there were scarcely one whose shape and\nvigour and spear-casting were as good as his.\u201d\n\nOn a subsequent visit, the three battalions of the Fiann are lost in\nadmiration of the activity and skill of a young man who turns out to be\nthis Fer Oc. \u201cThen was a hunt and a battue held by the three battalions\nof the Fiann. Howbeit, on that day, owing to Fer Oc (and his superior\nskill) to none of the Fiann it fell to get first blood of pig or deer.\nNow when they came home, after finishing the hunt, a sore lung-disease\nattacked Fer Oc, through the (evil) eyes of the multitude and the envy\nof the great host, and it killed him, soulless, at the end of nine\ndays.\u201d \u201cHe was buried on yonder green-grassed hill,\u201d says Cailte, \u201cand\nthe shining stone that he held when he was at games and diversion is\nthat yonder rising out of his head.\u201d[1] The Gaelic here simply says\n\u201c_tre tsuilib na sochaide_\u201d (through the eyes of the multitude), and\nit will be seen that modern reciters sometimes speak in exactly the\nsame way of the \u201ceye\u201d unqualified, but meaning the Evil Eye. But there\nis more than this in the story; it is a young man who suffers, and\nthe young are most easily affected. It is a remarkable and handsome\nyouth that suffers, and what attracts the eye, especially beauty, is\npeculiarly liable to injury, and the statement is made that it was the\nenvious glance which affected the victim. _Cormac\u2019s Glossary_ (an Irish\ncompilation begun in the tenth century, and added to throughout the\nMiddle Ages), preserved in MSS. of the commencement of the fifteenth\ncentury, mentions the Evil Eye:\u2014\n\n _Milled_ (spoiling, hurting, (_b_) _i.e._ _mi shilledh_, a mislook,\n _i.e._ an evil eye).\n\n _Millead i mi shillead i silled olc._ [Or as in another MS.]\n\n _Milliud quasi mishilliud i drochshilliud._\n\nTo this O\u2019Clery adds \u201c_no droch amharc_,\u201d while O\u2019Donovan\u2019s note at\n(_b_) is \u201cthe evil eye,\u201d \u201cthe injury done by the evil eye.\u201d[2]\n\n [1] _Irische Texte._ Stokes and Windisch, fourth series, vol i. pp.\n 232, 234, 161.\n\n [2] _Cormac\u2019s Glossary_, translated by O\u2019Donovan, edited by Whitley\n Stokes, p. 107; and _Three Irish Glossaries_, by W. S., p. 28.\n\nOur business is with the so-called facts of the Evil Eye, and whether\nor not in this case the philology of the compiler of the _Glossary_\nis right, there can be no sort of doubt of the allusion being to the\npresent living belief in the Evil Eye.\n\nApart from the doing of evil, and causing sickness and death without\nimmediate increase to the possessions of the witch, the effect of the\nEvil Eye centres round the natural covetousness of the greedy person.\nWhere the owner of an evil eye gets no benefit himself, the effect\nascribed is always to diminish what he might envy in the possession\nof another. It is always the young and _toradh_ of cattle (milk and\nbutter), or the fruits of the labour of the owner that is lessened\nor destroyed. Whatever the philological root of this word _toradh_,\nit must surely be allied with the irregular verb _thoir_ (give);\nand though there seems at first sight no close relationship between\npersonal beauty and a good churning, yet both of them are highly\nprized gifts. _Toradh_ means fruit produce; thus Cain\u2019s offering was\nthe _toradh_ of the earth.\n\nThe expression used in Kintyre for the power of taking away produce\nis _pisreag_. In Arran the word applied to the curative measures\nis _pisearachd_. _Piseach_ means increase; thus in Proverbs xviii.\n20, where it is said that a man shall be filled with the \u201cincrease\nof his lips,\u201d the Gaelic word used is _piseach_, and so it comes\nto mean progeny and good fortune. _Piseach ort_ (Good fortune be\nyours). Irish Gaelic gives _piseog_ (witchcraft). Surely this is a\nsecondary meaning from the idea of increase and good fortune being in\ncertain cases brought about by charms and witchery. And thus we have\nfound _pisearachd_ explained as the Arran and Kintyre equivalent for\n_geasarachd_, of which all the evidence seems to favour its primary\nsignification being connected with spells and charms.\n\nAnother word which has been used to collectors for _eolas_ (science\nof its own magical sort) is _fiosachd_, which the dictionaries give\nas meaning \u201cforetelling,\u201d \u201caugury.\u201d This seems to be a secondary and\nlimited application of a term meaning possession of _fios_ (knowledge,\ninformation).\n\nThe popular mixing up of legitimate curative measures, such as come\nfrom the administration of drugs, with what undoubtedly is considered\nillegitimate, namely, the use of charms and sorcery in general, is\nof course as common as can be in the experience of those in contact\nwith genuine savagery, but it occurs also nearer home. A native of\nArran tells how she remembers an old woman, of whom the people were\nafraid because she was supposed to be a witch. The groundwork of this\naccusation was that she was to be often seen gathering herbs, and the\nreciter remembers when she herself was a girl, that, to use her own\nwords, it was \u201cthe fright of her life\u201d to meet her in a lonely place,\nor in the dark.\n\n * * * * *\n\nAn inquiry such as this has to be conducted with care. The believer\nis sensitive to ridicule, and would take as a mortal offence being\npublicly gibbeted, so as to cause animadversion from others, even\nwhen he himself is convinced of the truth of his beliefs and sayings.\nFor this reason we must be excused giving the name and residence of\nthe various reciters. The information has to be drawn in general\nconversation and incidentally, but every care has been taken to avoid\nrecounting anything in which _mala fides_ is suspected. We consider in\nmany cases things told by a daughter of her mother, or a son of his\nfather, as equally reliable as if detailed by himself when we know\nthey have been recited originally for information of the juniors.\nUndoubtedly the younger generation are in many cases more critical than\ntheir forefathers; but we have no hesitation in maintaining that what\nwill hereafter be set down allows of a fairly perfect appreciation of\nthe belief of the great majority of the less educated class, and of\nmany much above that in the West Highlands, up to the introduction of\nthe School Board as a universal institution. Of course there always\nwere doubters, and the tricks played to take a rise out of a believer\nby an unbeliever may sometimes figure as accepted evidence of the bad\neffects of the Evil Eye, when it was a trick played off merely for\nfun, though in other cases deliberately intended to mislead. Tricks,\nhowever, will not carry us back to an original cause, however much\nthey may have helped the maintenance of the belief in superstitious\nminds. These fail entirely in power of appreciation of the jocular,\nwhen what is done is dangerous according to their ideas. A strong\nbeliever in the Evil Eye, and of course much afraid of it, in the\nisland of Skye, was one day out among the cows. Two of his neighbours\npassing, one of them, a bit of a wag, said to his companion: \u201c_Bheir\nmi da sgillinn duit ma theid thu agus do cheann a chuir fodh\u2019n mhart\nsin agus glaodh \u2019nach mor an t-uth tha aig a bho_\u201d (\u201cI will give you\ntwopence if you will go and put your head under that cow and cry,\nHasn\u2019t the cow the big udder?\u201d)\n\nThe fellow agreed, and went and bent his head under the cow and\nshouted out at the top of his voice, calling Rory\u2019s attention to his\nsupposititious admiration of the remarkable development of the cow in\nquestion. The man tempted to make the remark was \u201ca little soft.\u201d Rory\nat once thinking of the Evil Eye, seized his stick and rushed at him,\nthreatening to break his head if he would not at once bless the cow.\nThe suborned perpetrator of the joke, it need scarcely be said, at once\ntook the method demanded to counteract his injudicious praise. How many\nof us are, not in the belief of the Evil Eye, but in other beliefs,\njust as touchy as our friend Rory.\n\nThe stick may be good enough for a defence of superstition, but\nridicule is the proper method of attack.\n\nA young intelligent lady was lately in a house in the village of\nGolspie, the occupant of which, mourning over the dying of her\nfowls, said she suspected it was the result of the Evil Eye of Mrs.\nX., a neighbour. The next day, being in the same house, another\nneighbour came in carrying a growing plant, which she presented to the\ncomplainer, saying: \u201cMrs. X. told me that you had your eye on this,\nand ever since it has done no good; the leaves have been withering and\nfalling off. Now!\u2014there it is to you! keep it.\u201d\n\nThe person superstitious enough to believe in the force of the Evil Eye\nmay well be expected to have his superstitious faculty developed in\nother directions. A child took ill, and its parents believed it was the\nEvil Eye of a certain woman which had done the harm. With the view of\nbringing her to confess her doings, or in any case to punish her, they\nprocured a square of turf, and having stuck a lot of pins in it, they\nplaced it on the fire. This action, one of the forms of the so-called\n_corp creadha_, was intended to do personal injury to the suspected\nparty. There was no evidence of it having had any effect whatever.\n\n\n\n\nEVIL EYE\n\n\nAfter the long existence in this country of Christianity, while we talk\ncomposedly of the superstitions of the heathen and of other Christian\nnations, we are apt to forget our own, or if we speak of them, we look\non them pityingly as peculiar to some individuals of whose opinion\nwe reckon little. In towns, and among those who read many books,\nthe constant friction of man against man hinders the survival of a\nbelief in such a thing as the Evil Eye, now that a certain quantity\nof education is common property. Where the incidents of life are less\ncrowded, and individual experiences are rarer and at longer intervals,\nthat is, in country districts and especially in the more mountainous\nand less closely populated, the Evil Eye has yet in Scotland many\nbelievers, and consequently considerable influence. Such a remark as\nthe following, made to a minister, is not so rare as one might suppose:\n\u201cNae doot whatever Mac had the Evil Eye, that\u2019s certain. I have known\nmany cases when a calf, or even a cow, died the day after he looked at\nher.\u201d Another said of the same: \u201cI was once in the dairy when he came\nin. \u2018You should not have let that bad man in,\u2019 said Nancy MacIntyre to\nme. \u2018Why?\u2019 said I. \u2018Because he has an Evil Eye,\u2019 said she. Now, I will\nnot say that this was true, but this I know, that on that very day one\nof the cows bursted, and died from eating clover. What do ye say to\nthat?\u201d\n\nAnother sample is the following: A farmer\u2019s son, whose father had lost\na horse, was thus addressed by a neighbour, \u201cYou had a horse that was\nill, is it better?\u201d \u201cOh no, it is dead.\u201d \u201cYou are unfortunate this\nyear. Isn\u2019t that four that have died on you?\u201d \u201cYes, but we know now\nwhat was wrong with them.\u201d \u201cWeel, that\u2019s well; ye\u2019ll know what to\ndo should any more take ill. What was wrong with them?\u201d \u201cThey were\n_air-an-cronachadh_\u201d (harmed). \u201cSuch nonsense! there is nothing of\nthat now.\u201d The lad did not agree with this, said they knew who did it,\nand the lad\u2019s interrogator\u2019s mother-in-law joined in the conversation,\nagreeing as to the correctness of the diagnosis; and the doubter\nrejoined, \u201cWell, if you are all against me, I may stop.\u201d\n\nAn Argyllshire islander says:\u2014\n\n\u201c_Tha buideachas uile air falbh anis agus is math gu bheil, oir be\nni olc a bha ann. Ach, ma dh\u2019fhalbh sin, tha rud eile nach d\u2019fhalbh\nfathast, agus \u2018se sin cronachadh. Chunnaic m\u2019i ann mo thigh fein\nmucuircean, agus thainig ban-choimhearsnach a steach latha, agus\nthubhairt i gum bu mhuc ciatach a bha\u2019n sin. \u2018Tha i gle mhath,\u2019\nfhreagair mi fhein. Well, chaidh am boireannach a mach, agus cha robh\ni tiota air falbh, nur a thug a mhuc an aon sgreach aisde agus air\ndol mun cuairt dith, thuit i air an urlar. Le so, thainig D. \u2018ac A. a\nstigh, agus fheoraich e \u2018Co an t-aon mu dheireadh a chunnaic a mhuc?\u2019\nDh\u2019 innis mi fhein dha, gum be a leithid so \u2018a bhean. \u2018Mata\u2019 ars esan,\n\u2018s ise rinn an t-olc. Ach ma tha uillidh sam bi lar ruit, cha chreid\nmi gum bi mise fada ga cuir ceirt. Fhuair mi dha uillidh nam piocach,\nagus ghabh e a mhuc eadar a dha chois, agus thaom e lan copa dheth na\nbeul. Thug a mhuc reibhig, agus shaoil mi fhein gu robh i air chuthach\nach ann a\u2019 mionaid a dh\u2019uine, bha i ceirt gu leoir; Nis, nach be sud an\ndroch bhean?_\u201d\n\n(\u201cWitchcraft is all gone now, and it is well it is, for it was a bad\nthing. But if that is gone, there is another thing that has not gone\nyet, and that is _Cronachadh_. I saw a breeding sow in my own house,\nand one day a neighbour came in, and she said that that was a splendid\nsow. I answered that she was very good. Well, the woman went out, and\nshe was no time away when the sow gave such a scream, and going round\nabout she fell on the floor. With this D. Mac A. came in, and he asked\nwho was the last person that had seen the sow. I told him it was such\nand such a woman. \u2018Well,\u2019 said he, \u2018it was she that did the harm, but\nif you have any oil beside you, I believe I shall not be long putting\nher right.\u2019 I got saithe oil for him, and he took the sow between his\ntwo legs, and poured a cupful into her mouth. She screamed, and I\nthought she was mad, but in a minute\u2019s time she was all right. Now,\nwasn\u2019t that the bad woman?\u201d)\n\nA young fellow who had received a liberal education, in fact, a\nprobationer of the Church, the son of a self-made man, fairly\nwell-to-do, avowed his own belief in the Evil Eye. He said in effect:\n\u201cAs sure as you and I are sitting here there is an Evil Eye in it.\nI know that when I was in Harris, and our M. an infant, there was a\ncertain woman who used to come in pretty often, the sister-in-law of\nH., you know, and my wife, who you know is not one to tell a lie or\nspeak about these things, told me that every time that woman came in\nshe would be praising the child, and the child was always unwell after\nit.\u201d\n\nWe thus see, though we know that ministers of the Church are by their\nprofession kept in the dark on matters of which they would express\nunbelief, yet that where a superstition is ingrained in a parishioner\nit is not concealed from the minister. Ministers may be misled by\nputting their own interpretation on the form in which the information\ncomes to them. A clergyman in one of the Western Islands said: \u201cI\nhave observed that there is still a strong belief in blighting from\nthe Evil Eye among the people in the parish of K. A respectable and\nintelligent man whom I visited often during a season of sickness,\nonce and again, when talking about his illness, made the remark\n\u2018_fhuair mi cronachadh_.\u2019 I always misunderstood what the man meant by\n_cronachadh_, taking it in the sense of reproof, and therefore thinking\nthat what was meant was that the sufferer was placed under chastisement\nby a dispensation of Providence. At last, however, I learned from a\nthird person that the sick man was strongly impressed with the belief\nthat his illness was caused by some evil-intentioned person who had\nwished him ill.\u201d This suggests witchcraft as much as or even more than\nthe Evil Eye; but the two things run into each other more or less.\nWe have already seen one Gaelic reciter maintaining that witchcraft,\n_buidseachas_, did not now exist, but the Evil Eye did. Compare that\nwith this from a native of Uist:\u2014\n\n\u201c_Ma ta bha buidseashas ann. Chaidh mi fhein aon latha gu tigh\ncoimhearsnaich airson coileach oig, agus bha laogh aca ceangailte aig\ncul an doruis. Cha robh mi fada san tigh gus an d\u2019thainig nighean a\nsteach. \u2019Nuair a fhuair mise an t-eun, dh\u2019fhalbh mi, agus cha robh\nmi ach beagan uine air falbh \u2019nuair a dh\u2019fhas an laogh tinn. Chuir\nmuinntir an tighe fios thun boireannach a bha \u2019n sin, aig an robh sgil\nmu bhuidseachas, mar bhiodh daoine \u2019g radh, ga h-iarruidh a thighinn\na dh\u2019-amhairc an laogh. Thainig am boireannach, ach ma thainig, bha an\nlaogh marbh mus d\u2019thainig i. Co luath \u2019s a dh\u2019amhairc i air thubhairt\ni riutha air an spot gum b\u2019e \u2019n \u201csuill\u201d a dh\u2019aobhraich am bas. Agus\nair bharrachd air sin, dh\u2019innis i dhoibh co rinn an gonadh. So mar\nthubhairt i. \u201cNach robh dithist bhoireannaich agaibh an so am eigin\nan diugh?\u201d Agus \u2019nuair a fhreagair iad gun robh, thubhairt ise. \u201cBha\nh-aon diubh soilleir, agus an te eile dorcha. Bha shawl glas air an te\nshoilleir, agus b\u2019bise a dh\u2019oibrich am buidseachas._\u201d\n\n\u201c_Nis bha sin gle fhior, oir bha an nighean a thainig a steach nur bha\nmise san tigh soilleir, agus bha shawl glas oirre cuideachd._\u201d\n\n\u201cIndeed, witchery was in it. I myself went one day to a neighbour\u2019s\nhouse for a young cock, and they had a calf tied behind the door. I was\nnot long in the house till a girl came in. When I got the bird I went\naway, and I was only a short time away when the calf became unwell.\nThe people of the house sent word to a woman that was there, who had\nskill of witchery, as people would be saying, asking her to come to\nlook at the calf. The woman came, but if (she) came, the calf was dead\nbefore she came. As soon as she looked on it, she said to them on the\nspot, that it was the \u2018Eye\u2019 that caused the death. And more than that,\nshe told them who had done the mischief (wounding). Here is how she\nsaid: \u2018Have you not had two women here sometime to-day?\u2019 and when they\nanswered that there had been, she said: \u2018One of them was fair and the\nother dark. There was a grey shawl on the fair one, and it was she that\nwrought the witchery.\u2019 Now that was quite true, for the girl that came\nin when I was in the house was fair, and there was a grey shawl on\nher.\u201d\n\nA woman of about sixty-five, a reader of history and Gaelic\npublications, remembers when the belief in the Evil Eye was so common\nin Islay, that when any disease came among a person\u2019s cattle, it\ngave rise at once to a strong suspicion that they had been _air an\ncronachadh_. The disease was called \u201c_dosgach_.\u201d When one would come\nwith the news of disease or death among a neighbour\u2019s cattle, the\nperson to whom it was told would say, \u201c_Mach an dosgach a so_\u201d; or,\n\u201c_Mach a so an droch sgeul_\u201d (\u201cAway the plague from here;\u201d or, \u201cAway\nthe evil news from here.\u201d) At the same time, suiting the action to the\nwords, he would tear some piece off the clothes he had on at the time\nand throw it into the fire. This was supposed to prevent the evil from\ncoming his way.\n\nIndeed there are very many who still act on the belief expressed in\nthe following, by an old distillery workman, uneducated, but naturally\nshrewd, though we would say credulous: \u201cThey will be saying to me that\nwe have no mention of _cronachadh_ in the Bible, and they will be\nputting it down my throat, but I tell them that it is there. Both the\nEvil Eye and Witchcraft were in it from the beginning, and they will be\nin it till the end.\u201d\n\nWe may mention here that there is a very strong belief among many of\nthe influence of the \u201cwish\u201d for good or evil. \u201cB. McL. affirms that\nif she wishes ill to any person ill is sure to follow, and if she\nwishes well good will come of it. She maintained that a person, lately\ndangerously ill, owed her recovery to her good wishes.\u201d A person\nhas only to maintain this view, and the superstitious will probably\nfind reasons for believing that it is true. This, however, opens the\nquestion of the _guidhe_ (imprecation or intercession, as the case may\nbe), and there are not a few who are applied to to make _guidhes_ of\nboth sorts.\n\nWe must consider the meaning of the terms used.\n\nIn South Argyllshire the common expression regarding a person or thing\naffected is that it is _air a chronachadh_, or, as another in Northern\nArgyll expressed it, _air a chronachen_. _Cron_ means a fault or\ndefect, and the verb used seems to be an expression of the opinion that\nsomething is wrong with the object, the usual meaning of the word being\nbest translated \u201creproved,\u201d or \u201crebuked\u201d; the speaker, as it were,\nfinding some fault in the person or thing spoken to, he _sees_ that\nit is faulty, and says so. In the case of a person with an Evil Eye,\nhe actually causes defect to the object. Now the same would be true\nof black magic; thus, _air a chronachadh_ is as apposite to a person\naffected by witchcraft as by the Evil Eye. It is necessary therefore\nto distinguish, when one hears of a case of _cronachadh_, whether it\nis by mischievous intention or not; and this is done sometimes by the\nreciter. Thus, a person consulted to cure an animal affected, when\ntelling who it was that was to blame for the evil, said: \u201c_Well, \u2019se\nduine le ceann dubh a chronaich do bho leis an droch shuil_\u201d (\u201cWell,\nit is a man with a black head that has injured your cow, with the Evil\nEye\u201d).\n\nIn many districts this expression would merely convey the idea\nof rebuke (Tyree, Lewis, Dornoch, Kiltearn). In these places the\nexpression usually is _Luidh droch shuil air_ (An evil eye rested on\nhim). In Easter Ross, a person desirous of avoiding reflections would\nsay: \u201c_Cha\u2019n eil mi cuir mo shuil ann_\u201d (\u201cI am not putting my eye\nin it\u201d). Even in Arisaig in Southern Inverness-shire, marching with\nArgyllshire, they use this expression only.\n\nWe have already given above, from Uist, an instance in which the\nspeaker simply called it \u201cthe Eye,\u201d neither qualifying it as good or\nbad.\n\nThe rapidity of the action is sometimes expressed thus:\u2014A healer called\nin, said in one case: \u201c_Teum do bho, a bhean_,\u201d equivalent to saying,\n\u201cYour cow is bitten or stung,\u201d the word _teum_ being also applied to\nsomething snatched. The operation of the Evil Eye in Uist is described\nby a parallel phrase, _air a ghonadh_ (stabbed), an expression which\nhas been used in Kintyre as synonymous with _cronachadh_, though there\nit generally expresses pain felt either bodily or mentally.\n\nAn elderly woman, a native of Duthill, Inverness-shire, while stating\nthat there were \u201cplenty of people round about us here who have got the\nEvil Eye and hurt both cattle and people with it,\u201d gave the following\nas the expressions used when mentioning it:\u2014\n\n_Thuit droch shuil air_ (An evil eye fell on him).\n\n_Ghabh an droch shuil e_ (The evil eye took him).\n\n_Laidh droch shuil air_ (An evil eye settled on him).\n\n_Bhuail droch shuil e_ (An evil eye struck him).\n\nIn the part of Ireland nearest to Scotland at any rate, and so far as\nthe writer knows also in other places, the expression used in English\nis \u201cblinked.\u201d The readiest conclusion come to as to what is wrong with\na sick cow is that \u201cshe has been blinked.\u201d Blinked milk, therefore, is\nmilk which yields no butter. Blinked beer, beer which has become sour.\n\nAll these expressions, then, of the action of _an suil dona_, the\ncommon expression in part of Inverness-shire, which, seeing \u201cDonas\u201d\nis the Devil, we might translate the \u201cdiabolical eye,\u201d evidently point\nto the fact that a mere look will do the damage; so the remark of\nthe Islay man, \u201c_Ni an fheadhainn aig am bheil an t-suil so cron air\nbeathach neo duine ged nach dean iad ach amhairc orra_\u201d (\u201cThose who\nhave this eye will do injury to beast or person, though they do nothing\nbut look on them\u201d), expresses clearly what seems to have been the\noriginal notion conveyed in the expressions used.\n\nA strange charm for the closure of the eye was expressed in Arran by\nthe following saying: \u201c_Cronachadh air do shuil, cac eun air muin sin_\u201d\n(\u201cIll on your eye, birds\u2019 excrement on the back of that\u201d). This was an\nold practice, according to the reciter, who is a woman of about eighty.\nThe account she gave was as follows:\u2014Her father had bought some cattle\nat the market. \u201cThey were fine beasts, and the servantman and I, then a\nyoung girl, were driving them home. When we were passing King\u2019s Cross a\nman stood and looked keenly at them. The servantman did not like this,\nand turning towards him said the words recited.\u201d They were avowedly\nused to save the cattle from being hurt by the man\u2019s eye, and as the\nold lady said, \u201cWhether that saved them or no I could not tell, but in\nany case we reached home safely and no harm came to the cows.\u201d\n\nThe Islay expression already quoted, _Mach an dosgach_, contains\nwithin it the suggestion of evil coming to the unprotected, _Dosgadh_\n(calamity, misfortune), etymologically having the signification,\n_without protection_.[3] Subsequently we will find that no grown\nperson need be unprotected if he will take a very small amount of\ntrouble.\n\n [3] Macbain, \u201cEtymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language.\u201c\n\nAnother Arran formula used in connection with the Evil Eye, and said\nto be protective, was mentioned in an account of a shepherd who lived\nin the island, said to have an Evil Eye. He could hurt cattle, and\nalso cure the effect of the Evil Eye of another. The reciter said he\nwas a queer fellow, and remembers him at the first Cattle Show ever he\n(reciter) attended, and being frightened by being addressed, with other\nboys, for being in his road: \u201c_Mach a sin leibh. Cha\u2019n ann airson an\nitheadh a tha iad_\u201d (\u201cOut of that with you. They are not for eating\u201d),\nsaid the shepherd, as he drove his cattle. His mentioning eating\nrecalled to the boys\u2019 minds his Evil Eye, and the following formula\nto be repeated in cases of _cronachadh_. \u201c_Ma dh\u2019itheas iad thu, gun\nsgeith iad thu, agus gun garbh sgeith iad thu_\u201d (\u201cIf they eat you, may\nthey vomit you, and roughly vomit you\u201d). This seems to be chaff from\nnon-believers to believers, possibly also the case with the formula\nabove, more than a thing really said with a belief in its curative\npower.\n\n\n\n\n LOCALITY OF BELIEF\n\n\nThere is a considerable difference between some wandering folklorist\nhappening on a superstitious survival in some ancient crone or secluded\ncorner, and in the general acceptation by many, if not by a majority,\nof some belief regarded by the more instructed as to be so classed.\n\nThe belief in the Evil Eye in the West of Scotland comes decidedly\nunder the latter category. Interrogatories show that it exists in\nCaithness, Sutherland, Ross-shire, Inverness-shire, Elgin, Argyll,\nPerthshire, in the Lewis, Harris, both Uists, Barra, Skye, Tiree,\nIslay, the Isle of Man, Arran, and Antrim in Ireland. A wide enough\nfield this. Of course there are many unbelievers, of all classes\nnearly, though the less the education, the more frequent the evidences\nof belief. An attempt to state a proportion of believers as against\nunbelievers is quite out of the question. One witness will tell you it\nwas common enough in his youth, or _very common_, but in speaking of\nthe present day, reliable witnesses will say, perhaps, most usually\n\u201cpretty common,\u201d or \u201cquite common,\u201d not unfrequently, however, \u201cvery\ncommon,\u201d or, as one unbeliever said, \u201cyou hear of them often enough.\u201d A\ncautious man, when you try to get exact information as to the potency\nof the belief, will answer that it is \u201cstrongly\u201d held by some, and of\nthis there can be no sort of doubt; and it is much more common than\nmost people think.\n\nThough we are treating of the Highlands and Islands, it must not be\nsupposed that the \u201cill e\u2019e\u201d is a Highland speciality, speaking of\nScotland alone, of course. It may with perfect sincerity be said, with\nall due caution, that it is \u201cpretty common\u201d among Lowlanders also.\n\n\n\n\n SOCIAL POSITION OF BELIEVERS\n\n\nThe persons among whom this belief is most usual are undoubtedly to\nbe found principally among the agricultural and fishing population,\nthough it is not unknown, by any means, even in such a town as Oban,\nwhere a reciter of Evil Eye incidents says \u201cit is pretty common.\u201d When\none speaks of a farmer in many parts of the Low Country, one naturally\nthinks of well-educated men with comparatively large holdings, and such\nmen, of course, are to be met with in the Highlands in appreciable\nnumbers. There is no evidence that these have faith in the Evil Eye;\nbut the smaller farmers, doing their own work with assistance, are\noften deeply imbued. A native of Kintyre says, \u201cI know a respectable\nfarmer who, when anything goes wrong with his horses, is quite in the\nhabit of suspecting that it is injury by the Evil Eye, and will send at\nonce for a certain woman in the neighbourhood, who is supposed to be\nable to cure in cases of _cronachadh_.\u201d\n\nSo lately as July 1898, in one of the islands a child was unwell. The\ndoctor was there and the minister was there, but still the child was\ngetting worse. At length the parents concluded that it was a case\nof _cronachadh_, and a man who practises as a professional in cases\nof that kind was sent for. On arriving he confirmed them in their\nsuspicion, and told them that it was a woman with brown hair that had\ndone the harm. The reciter (a minister\u2019s wife) did not know what\nmeans he took to cure the child, but whatever they were they were not\nsuccessful. The child died.\n\nMost of our beliefs are inherited, and so it is, perhaps, no wonder\nif one comes upon a young man, a probationer of the Church who has\ngone through his curriculum of study, and yet believes in the Evil\nEye. No evidence, however, is forthcoming of a licensed medical man\nhaving any belief in it. It must be admitted that the greater part of\nthe information is got from women, and if believers were polled, the\nmajority would be found of the less stern sex.\n\nFrom the small farmer downwards, among all owners of stock, and this\nincludes chickens and the pig, believers are frequent.\n\nIn some places there is but little secrecy as to those who have\nthe Evil Eye, or at least are supposed to have it. We refrain from\npublishing the full names, so that if by any chance those spoken of\nsee this they may not be offended; but this is a sample of a common\nstyle of remark: \u201c_Tha, tha, tha droch shuil aig Anna nic E. Nach robh\nMrs. MacT. ag innseadh dhomh fhein nach bu mhor nach robh aon da clann\nmarbh le droch shuil a\u2019 bhoirionnach sin uair. Bha e air a chronachadh\nleatha, agus bhitheadh e marbh ach airson Anna T._\u201d (\u201cYes, yes, Ann\nMcE. has an Evil Eye. Was not Mrs. MacT. telling myself that one of her\nchildren was once nearly dead through the Evil Eye of that woman. He\nwas injured by her, and would have been dead had it not been for Ann\nT.\u201d) Ann T. was a practitioner of _eolas_.\n\n\n\n\n DESCRIPTION OF POSSESSORS OF EVIL EYE\n\n\nAnybody may have the Evil Eye, but that certain people suggest the\nEvil Eye to others from their appearance must be admitted. A minister,\nhimself a son of the manse, who has had Highland surroundings all his\nearly life, bears witness, \u201cThe possession was more frequently ascribed\nto females than to males, and for the most part to elderly women.\u201d\nAnother minister, an older man than the former, says of the Evil Eye:\n\u201cThey were chiefly women that were suspected, and were generally much\ndisliked in the communities.\u201d These two reciters were as far apart as\nArran and Ross-shire.\n\nWas the Evil Eye ascribed to them because they were disliked, or were\nthey disliked because they had the Evil Eye? Women do not improve in\nappearance with age, nor men either, for the matter of that, and one\nof our reciters, in describing a case of _cronachadh_, said that the\noperator was \u201ca bad-looking woman at any rate, and had a queer look.\u201d\nIn Knapdale we hear of one who was \u201ca decent enough looking woman, but\nthere was this about her, people always suspected her of having some\nevil power, and nobody liked to refuse her if she asked anything.\u201d\nAnother of the accused was \u201cstrange in her dress, and spoke in an\nimperious manner.\u201d\n\nIt is curious to note that, having quoted all the descriptions of\nindividuals we have, the criticisms should all be levelled at women;\nbut it must not be supposed that men are at all exempt. The writer was\namused, and not a little astonished, to hear that an old gentleman, a\nconnection of his own, a large farmer and not unknown beyond his own\ndistrict, certainly not a greedy man, and a pleasant companion, was\namong some as notorious for his Evil Eye as for his knowledge of his\nbusiness. He was a Low Country man by descent, ignorant of Gaelic,\nand surrounded by Gaelic-speaking Highlanders, some of whom however,\nproprietors and taxmen, were said to be as bad as himself.\n\nThe only diagnostic mark that has been mentioned, physically\ndemonstrating a possessor, was got from an Islay woman, who said that\nshe had always heard that a person whose eyes are of a different colour\nhas the Evil Eye. This seems explicable enough; if one were a nice\nbright blue eye or a deep and gentle brown one, and the other paler\nand less expressive, their best friends might say that they had a \u201cbad\neye.\u201d All the parti-coloured eyes in Scotland would not account for a\ntenth part of the results accredited to evil eyes.\n\nSmall are the changes in the ideas of men in some respects, even after\nlong intervals.\n\nIn the old Irish saga, entitled the _Sack of Da Derga\u2019s Hostel_,\ndescribing events which occurred, according to the Irish analysts,\neither B.C. 31, or A.D. 43:[4] \u201cWhen they were there they saw a lone\nwoman coming to the door of the hostel, after sunset, and seeking to be\nlet in. As long as a weaver\u2019s beam was each of her two shins, and they\nwere as dark as the back of a stag-beetle. A greyish, woolly mantle\nshe wore. Her lower hair used to reach as far as her knee. Her lips\nwere on one side of her head. She came and put one of her shoulders\nagainst the door-post of the house, casting the Evil Eye on the King\nand the youths who surrounded him in the hostel.\u201d[5]\n\n [4] Translated by Whitley Stokes, _Revue Celtique_, vol. xxii. p. 12.\n\n [5] Whitley Stokes, _Revue Celtique_, xxii. pp. 57-59. The existing\n redaction of within saga is certainly as old as the tenth century.\n\nThe Gaelic word translated by Stokes here \u201ccasting the Evil Eye\u201d is in\nthe original Gaelic \u201c_oc admilliud ind rig_,\u201d literally to this day\n\u201churting or spoiling the king,\u201d _cronachadh_, in fact. It says nothing\nof incantations or magical observances, and the translation given seems\nthoroughly justified. The description of Cailb, Samon, Sinand (she was\nthe possessor of many names), of course imaginatively exaggerates her\nugliness, but her evil looks, with her black fire-burned shins, is just\nwhat one would expect to hear of an old woman credited with the Evil\nEye nowadays, though it is not now common to expose so much leg as to\nshow the effect of toasting it at the fire.\n\nOne can easily fancy that the warriors of Ireland would have no\npleasure in encountering Cailb. A like objection is common in the\npresent day in regard to persons with an Evil Eye.\n\nA Western Islander says: \u201cPeople would be blaming J. B., but there was\none worse than her. Nobody who ever met M. McA. when on his way to\nfish, would go on, for it was believed that no fish would be got after\nmeeting her.\u201d The reciter himself and another man were on their way to\nfish when they met this woman. The other suggested that there was no\nuse going now, for they would not get anything, that was sure. The\nreciter said that he grudged turning back, although he believed his\ncompanion was right; but not to waste time, and to avoid the chance of\nother mischief, they both returned home.\n\n\u201cJ. McE. was said to have the Evil Eye, and no one liked to meet her if\nthey were going on important business, especially to fish; some would\neven turn back if they met her.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n OBJECTION TO MEETING AN EVIL EYE\n\n\nAnother informant, speaking of a woman with an Evil Eye and who\nconsequently was unlucky to meet, said: \u201cThree fishermen met her, and\none of them proposed that they should turn back; it was no use going\non, they would get nothing. The others persisted and overruled him.\nThey were for a while unsuccessful, and he who had proposed returning\nwas very impatient, and kept grumbling and saying they should have\nreturned home. They did catch a few at last.\u201d\n\nSpeaking of those who were supposed to take the milk and butter from\nother people\u2019s cows, an educated Arran man said: \u201cThis class were\nlooked upon as being unlucky to meet on the road, and people tried to\navoid them, especially if they were going on any particular business.\u201d\n\nOne would suppose that it would be exceedingly unpleasant to have the\nreputation of an Evil Eye, consequently it is resented, but precautions\nare taken sometimes, even before the accusation is made, to hinder the\nreport arising about individuals. In one village, where twice a week\na number of fishermen pass, the women and girls of the village try\nto keep out of sight of the men on their way to the fishing-ground,\nlest, if by chance a fisher should see one of them and he was unlucky\nimmediately thereafter, he would report to the rest his want of luck\nand whom he had met, and she would be marked as one of the unlucky.\n\nThe reciter of this was an intelligent domestic servant, twenty-four\nyears old, a reliable girl, brought up by respectable grandparents.\n\nA Kintyre reciter, an educated woman of about thirty, informs us of\na woman, a believer in the Evil Eye, living beside her father, and\nwho does not conceal the fact that she looks with some suspicion upon\ncertain of her acquaintances should they come her way, particularly\nshould she be engaged in churning. Her neighbours, knowing this, are\ncareful to avoid going to her house if she has a churning on hand.\nSuspected persons do not learn their own infirmity merely by being\nlooked at askance.\n\nA clergyman in one of the southern islands informs us: \u201cIt is said\nthat in cases where injury has been done by the Evil Eye, a remedy is\nto charge the suspected party firmly and distinctly to his (or her)\nface with having done it. When a little boy, a cow belonging to his\ngrandmother had lately calved, and a neighbour woman came one day and\nwent to see the cow. She was considered to be a respectable person,\neven a good woman, but was believed to possess the Evil Eye. She was\nno time away when the cow became very unwell, although there had been\nnothing wrong with her up till then. There was considerable excitement,\nand they were sure that the cow would die, and just as sure it was\nthe woman\u2019s Evil Eye that had injured her. Another woman was sent\nfor, supposed to be knowing in these matters, and the case submitted\nto her. She confirmed them in their suspicions, and advised, as the\nbest remedy, that she who had done the mischief should be confronted\nand plainly told to her face that they believed her to be to blame.\nThis was agreed to and carried out at once, with the result, as it was\nbelieved, that whatever power she had obtained over the cow to hurt her\nwas broken, and in a very short time the cow was as well as she had\never been.\u201d\n\nAn Arran woman tells us the same thing in some detail, but she says the\ninjury can only be repaired by the doer of the mischief taking upon\nhimself the evil done to the other, and illustrates it by the following\nstory:\u2014A tramp who was supposed to have a bad eye, and even suspected\nof witchcraft, made a request to Mrs. Mac\u2014\u2014 which she refused. The\nwoman being angered, left in a rage. She was no time away when they\nnoticed that there was something wrong with the child, and when the\nhusband came from his work his wife told him of the woman having been\nthere, and her belief that she had injured their child. The man said\nthe woman was still in the neighbourhood, and he would bring her back.\nHe did so. They then charged her to her face with having hurt the\nchild, and said she must now heal her. The woman did not try to deny\nthis, but said: \u201c_Tha e gle chruaidh gum feumainnsa an cron a rinn mi\nair an leanabh agaibh a ghabhail orm fein, ach na\u2019n d\u2019thug sibhse bonn\nairgeid dhomhsa an ait\u2019 an olann a thug sibh dhomh, cha do thachair so\ndo\u2019n leanabh_\u201d (\u201cIt\u2019s very hard that I should require to take on myself\nthe injury I have done your child, but if you had given me a silver\ncoin instead of the wool you gave me, this had not happened to the\nchild\u201d).\n\nShe had to cure the child, however. What had happened to it was that\nits mouth kept always open, and it could not catch the breast. The\nreciter did not say that the malady of the open mouth stuck to the\nwoman, but being somewhat notorious, and a different incident being\ntold of her by another reciter, the latter remarked that \u201cshe had an\nungainly face, and that if ever there was a witch in Arran, he thought\nthat woman would pass for one.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n AVOIDING SUSPICION OF EVIL EYE\n\n\nPeople have not always the candour to accuse the suspected.\n\nA lady engaged in teaching gives the following information: \u201cYou would\nhear of Mrs. McG.? She is making a great noise because, as she says,\nthe milk is being taken from her cow, and not long ago her horse and\nsome other beast of hers died, and she thinks it is because they were\n_air an cronachadh_ by some person. She blamed a girl that was keeping\nhouse with a neighbour, and she went to the girl\u2019s sister and said to\nher to say to her sister not to be taking away the milk from her cow.\u201d\nThis was not supposed to be a case of witchcraft.\n\nSo far we have been dealing with women, but it must not be supposed\nthat such accusations are rarely made against men.\n\nA small farmer, Alexander \u2014\u2014, having got into difficulties, lost his\nfarm. A neighbour, better able to stock it, entered into possession.\nSoon, however, a cow died, and it was concluded that it was a case\nof _cronachadh_, an opinion in which its owner agreed, declaring:\n\u201c_Well, cho fad\u2019s bhios bo bheo agam, cha dean mise rithist namhaid de\nAlasdair_\u201d (\u201cWell, as long as I have a living cow I will not again make\nan enemy of Alexander\u201d).\n\nMen are also as cautious to avoid suspicion as women. Recently a\nservant-girl in Islay, having the charge of attending to the feeding\nof a pig, requested a man who had never been suspected of possessing\na hurtful eye to look at the pig to see how it was thriving. The man\nrefused, adding quite seriously that he did not like to look at a beast\nthat way, in case of any harm being done. When she persisted that there\ncould be no harm, he replied that not long ago M. McL. had a litter\nof young pigs, and a man came that way and was looking at them one\nevening, and the next morning they were all dead.\n\nThe reasons ascribed for the action of some are doubtless influenced\nby the reciter\u2019s own beliefs. Thus, it was often said of a gentleman\nfarmer in Rothiemurchus, well known in the countryside, that he would\nnever praise any beast of his own, and this was supposed to be owing to\nhis belief that he himself had an Evil Eye. It does not seem to have\noccurred to his neighbours that it was native modesty.\n\nTo show the hold that belief in an Evil Eye has on certain minds, a\nnative of Ross-shire tells how he went to see a neighbour, who asked\nhis assistance in putting a ring in the nose of a pig to prevent it\nrooting. \u201cThere was another neighbour of his there too, who had come\nforward when he saw us, one W. M., an intelligent man, and one that I\nwould never have thought would give in to these superstitions; but he\nwas a man that believed in the Evil Eye, although nobody suspected him\nof having it himself.\u201d Accidentally the pig\u2019s leg was broken. It was\nunderstood to belong to the wife of the man who proposed to ring it,\nwho said:\u2014\n\n\u201cMan, what will we say to the wife? But come away in and see what she\nhas got to say.\u201d When we went in the wife asked us if we had got the\nring in the pig, and her man answered, \u201cNo, and I am sorry to tell you\nthe pig has broken her leg.\u201d\n\n\u201cHow did that happen?\u201d she asked, and her husband said, out of pure\nfun, \u201cOh, I don\u2019t know, unless W. M.\u2019s eye has fallen upon her.\u201d That\nwas enough. Up W. got in a wild rage, and said he would not sit under\nsuch a suspicion, and off he marched, terribly offended.\n\nAt the time of writing a reciter, a woman, admits that at K. in A. a\nman is living whom his neighbours believe to have the Evil Eye, and\npeople not only do not like to meet him, but go out of their way to\navoid him when going on important matters. It is told of him that\na donkey belonging to a woman kicked his horse. The donkey\u2019s owner\nexpressed a hope that he would not come to know of it, lest he should\nhurt her beast. Her fear was justified, as it turned out, for the\nman saw the donkey kick the horse, and however he managed it, people\nbelieved that he put _cronachadh_ on the donkey, for it turned ill and\nshortly died.\n\n\n\n\n ACTION OF EVIL EYE INDEPENDENT OF POSSESSOR\n\n\nIt must be difficult, one would think, for any reasonably\nkindly-intentioned person to accept as proved that they had an Evil\nEye. But a distinction is made between possessing an Evil Eye and doing\nmischief with it. A native of Glen Urquhart, Inverness-shire, among\nothers says that there it is understood a person may possess an Evil\nEye and do mischief with it without intending it, and without knowing\nthat he has done it. When a person knows that he has an Evil Eye, and\ndoes mischief with it intentionally, the ill-doing is usually supposed\nto be more or less connected with witchcraft.\n\nMany believe the injury from the Evil Eye is quite independent of the\nwill of the possessor. A farmer, a believer, said: \u201cWhen we were in\nthe old place more than thirty years ago, there was a man living upon\nthe hill who would often be helping the farmers round about when they\nwere throng. He had the Evil Eye; but he could not help it. He would\nbe sorry for it himself; many a one would be scolding him for hurting\ntheir beasts.\u201d\n\nAnother says: \u201c_Cronachadh_ is still in it, and those that have got the\nEvil Eye cannot help it. They sometimes do harm with their eye when\nthey do not intend it, and even when they do not know that they are\ndoing it.\u201d\n\nThis seems a thoroughly rooted idea in Islay, and a Tiree man informs\nus that there it is also thought that injury by an Evil Eye is\ninvoluntary on the part of the person who has such an eye, and not\nnecessarily malicious or intended.\n\nThis is also met with as a belief in Arran, and a reciter there tells\nof a minister in the Parish of Kilmory who had the Evil Eye in spite of\nhimself, and if he looked on his own cattle or horses they were sure\nto be ill after. Other cases are mentioned, and one of our reciters\ntold how a man, while resident in the south of the island, and fond\nof fine cattle, in the place where he was well known and respected\nhad never been suspected of the Evil Eye, but removing to the Whiting\nBay district, where he was among strangers, suspicion of the Evil Eye\nattached to him and remained with him to the day of his death.\n\nIn these two last cases, in speculating upon the cause of the\naccusation, it seems quite probable that the minister, being occupied\nwith his own special duties, rarely regarded the state of his beasts,\nand only took notice of them under exceptional circumstances, and\ncoincidence had connected his inspection of them and their illnesses.\nThe other evidently was an amateur with an eye to beauty in others\u2019\ncattle, and probably had unfortunately expressed approval before\nsubsequent misfortune. One notorious incident was undoubtedly enough\nto set the report going, and all know the results of giving a lie\nhalf-an-hour\u2019s start.\n\n\n\n\n EVIL EYE TAKES EFFECT EVEN ON THINGS NOT SEEN\n\n\nThere is one simple way of keeping your property safe from the Evil\nEye: viz., by not letting it be known that you have what may be\naffected. A certain D. MacF., who knew that his neighbour was crediting\nhis Evil Eye with having spoiled a churning, was standing in the\nback-yard when the woman who suspected him was milking her cow. She,\nhaving finished, should have passed him with her milk to carry it in\nby the door, but on seeing him she started, and instead of coming\nforward, passed the pitcher of milk in by a little window on the back\nwall of the house, and then walked forward and went in at the door,\npassing MacF. He concluded that her object was to keep the milk out of\nhis sight lest he should hurt it. MacF. disavows the possession of any\npower of the kind.\n\nAnother reciter mentions that a certain Calum Ban, having the name of\nthe Evil Eye, others kept things out of his sight for fear that he\nmight hurt them.\n\nThe mere preventing the eye resting on the thing to be affected would,\nhowever, have been quite insufficient, according to one reciter, a\nnative of Bernera (Harris). She told of one, recognised as possessing\nan Evil Eye, that he was sure to covet everything in the possession\nof his neighbours, and consequently \u201cthose nearest R. were very\nunfortunate.\u201d His influence was understood to extend beyond what he\nactually saw, and therefore even hearing about things was kept from\nhim. On one occasion the young daughter of R.\u2019s neighbour set eggs\nunder two hens, and being considered \u201clucky,\u201d having usually been\nsuccessful, she expected two good broods. In the interval she mentioned\nwhat she had done in the hearing of R.\u2019s daughter. When the time came\nnot a single chicken appeared out of the two settings. Her mother then\nsaid she would put eggs below the hens, but warned all in the house\nto be sure and not tell that they were there. This was done, the hens\nbeing kept carefully concealed, and full and thriving broods were got.\n\nAn old man now dead, a crofter who could read, who was strongly\nsuperstitious, telling his stories with great gusto, and reliable, is\nthe authority for the following, which shows how the superstitions\nof others were played on. In the time when ploughs were made of wood\nof a home manufacture, the farmer in Octofad brought home a new one.\nOne day, using the new plough, coming round at the end of a furrow,\nthe plough was broken in two. The man between the stilts and the man\nleading the horses threw the blame of the carelessness on one another.\nAt last the latter proposed that if the ploughman would leave to him to\ntell the old man (the farmer) how it happened, and if he would not say\na word at all in the matter, he believed that he would be able to put\nit past (_a chuir seachad_) right enough. The ploughman agreed. They\ntook the horses home, and when the farmer made his appearance looking\ndispleased (_coslas gu math crosda air_), the lad began his tale. \u201c_De\nach am beist duine sin tha ann C. aig am bheil an droch shuil. Thainig\ne an rathad far an robh sin a treabhadh, agus on a bhios a shuil aige\nanns gach ni a chi e, thoisich e air a bhi moladh nan each agus a\nchrann; agus cha robh e tiota air falbh, nuair a chaidh a\u2019 chrann ann\nan da leth._\u201d (\u201cWhat but that beast of a man that is in C., who has\nthe Evil Eye. He came the way where we were ploughing, and since he\nwill have his eye in everything he sees, he began praising the horses\nand the plough, and he was no time gone when the plough went in two\nhalves.\u201d)\n\nThe lad\u2019s forecast was correct. His master\u2019s eye lost its gloom, and\nshaking his hand to them, he said: \u201cNever mind, never mind; put in the\nhorses, and do not say a word about it to anybody in case he may do\nmore harm. If the horses are safe, we will not be long in dressing the\nplough.\u201d\n\nIt is perfectly clear that an interesting instance of the influence of\nthe Evil Eye was established here, so far as the farmer was concerned,\nand doubtless the belief in it generally owes not a little to equally\nfanciful stories.\n\n\n\n\n MORAL SOURCE OF THE EVIL EYE\n\n\nThough the action of the Evil Eye is accepted as involuntary, in the\nmajority of cases, this is not the accepted doctrine in all districts.\nFrom Ross-shire (Strathpeffer) a reciter says:\u2014\n\n\u201cIt is a power which they are in some cases supposed to exercise\ninvoluntarily, but oftener intentionally and with mischievous design.\u201d\n\nFrom somewhat the same locality, Dores (near Inverness), a reciter\n\u201cthinks that the involuntary kind that is often met with in certain\nother parts of the Highlands is not recognised, but in every case in\nwhich injury arises from an Evil Eye, it is to be referred to active\ncovetousness and greed of gain at other people\u2019s expense.\u201d But even\nin Kintyre, where the involuntary action is accepted, a native tells\nus: \u201cI believe in what people call the Evil Eye, and I have known very\nmany who believed in it just as much as I do; not that every man has\nit, for there are only some that I would be afraid of. If I see a man\nthat thinks highly of what belongs to himself, and would not exchange\nit with any man, that is the man I would like to have dealings with,\nfor although he might do injury to himself, or to any living thing he\nmight possess, he would do no harm to another. If I saw a man envying\neverything he saw, and thinking what belonged to other people was\nbetter than what belonged to himself, I would be afraid of that man,\nand if I had cattle I would not like him to come among them, for if he\ncame I would be sure something would happen.\u201d\n\nA Mull woman said: \u201c_Cronachadh_ is quite common. It is done usually by\na person that has an Evil Eye. It is just an eye with great greed and\nenvy.\u201d\n\nAn Islay man says: \u201c_Tha cronachadh ann. Se \u2018n droch cridhe tha dol\nthun na sul, agus a\u2019 deanadh droch suil._\u201d (\u201c_Cronachadh_ exists. It\nis the evil heart going to the eye and causing an Evil Eye.\u201d) The\nsuggestion thus is that an Evil Eye is but the result of the natural\nman who has not rooted out of his nature what is forbidden in the Tenth\nCommandment, and so a native of Ross-shire (Tarbat) shows how strong\nthe belief was that mischief might come \u201cthrough the Evil Eye or ill\nwish of another.\u201d A certain aunt of his formed a strong dislike to him\nwhen he was a boy, simply because it was known that his grandfather\nfavoured him to the disadvantage of this aunt, as she thought, and he\nwell remembered how anxious his mother was for a long time, lest the\naunt\u2019s known ill-will should cause some blight to come on him.\n\nThe following from Islay shows that though the belief there that it is\ninvoluntary is strongly held, those who have the power may exercise\nit deliberately. \u201cThere was a woman in Islay who had a sow that had a\nlitter of young pigs. One morning a neighbour came to her, and seeing\nthe teapot at the fire, asked if she would give her a drop of the tea.\nThis was given to her. She then said, \u2018You have fine young pigs there.\u2019\n\u2018Yes, but they are all sold,\u2019 answered the other. With that the visitor\nturned towards the door to go, and said, \u2018Well, you sold a pig to me\nthat died.\u2019 That was all that passed, and she went her way; but the\nfollowing morning two of the pigs were dead, and the owner was quite\ncertain that the woman had done the mischief. The reciter who gives the\ninformation is of the same opinion, and he adds that it was an unkind\nthing to do on a poor woman.\u201d\n\nThe strength of the Evil Eye, according to some, is to be gauged by the\nfollowing remark by an old man: \u201c_B\u2019abhaist gu\u2019m biodh e air a radh le\nsean daoine, gun sgoilteadh an t-suil sanntach eadhon na creagan fein o\ncheile._\u201d (\u201cIt used to be said by old people that the greedy eye would\nsplit asunder the very rocks.\u201d)\n\nAnother says _cronachadh_ is just envy, and it is said that envy will\nbreak the very stones. A man who wishes to have everything for himself\nwill do harm to whatever he sees.\n\n\n\n\n THINGS THAT SPECIALLY ATTRACT\n\n\nA woman of twenty-eight, whose information is quite reliable, the\ndaughter of a respectable man in one of the inner islands, remembers\nwhen young people talked a great deal about these things, and many were\nvery much afraid of them. \u201cThe idea was that it was always the best and\nprettiest of beast or body that was most liable to be injured by a bad\neye. Her youngest brother was awfully pretty when a child. They used\nto have him dressed in a red frock and white pinny, and with his fair\nskin, fair curly hair, and red cheeks, he was the nicest-looking child\nin all the place. Many a time, when my father would take him out, the\nneighbours would be warning him to take good care lest some one might\ndo the child harm, and some would advise my father to go in and take\nthe frock and pinny off him, so that he might not draw one\u2019s attention\nso much.\u201d\n\nFrom Ross-shire we hear the same thing. A native \u201cremembers when he\nwas young, people believed in the Evil Eye and were afraid of it.\u201d It\nwas supposed that pretty children were specially liable to be injured\nby it, and it was a common device with some mothers, in circumstances\nwhere there was any suspicion of danger, to take care that at least\nsome article of the child\u2019s dress would be at fault, either in respect\nof neatness or cleanness, or better still, to have one of the child\u2019s\nstockings turned outside in when being worn. These were supposed to\nform a protection to the child against injury.\n\nThe reciter remembers quite well a woman who in her own person and\nhouse was the pink of neatness, but full of superstition, and he cannot\nremember ever having seen her children without something untidy about\nthem. Always a stocking or something else wrong on, and this was done\nintentionally by their mother to keep away the Evil Eye.\n\nA native of Bernera (Harris) testified: \u201cWhen a person appears well\ndressed and good-looking, it is supposed that she is in danger of being\naffected by the Evil Eye. A recommendation in such a case is to wear\nsome article of clothing with the wrong side out, as a preventative of\nharm.\u201d\n\nAn old man of eighty-seven, uneducated, but full of information,\nsomewhat difficult to understand from the loss of his teeth and the\nweakness of his voice, telling his experiences in the most pathetic\nmanner, said: \u201c_Bu nighean a\u2019 cheud duine cloinne bha riomh agam, agus\nbha deigh mhor agam oirre. Ach de thachair, ach latha bha \u2018n sin, bha\ni amach aig taobh an tighe, agus bha neach a\u2019 dol seachad aig an robh\ndroch shuil, agus chaidh an droch shuil anns an leanabh, agus bha i air\na chronachadh. O\u2019n am sin chaidh an creatur air a h-ais co mor gus aig\na cheann mu dheireadh cha robh i air a cumail beo ach le beagan fion a\nbha air a chuir ann a beul le spain ti._\u201d (\u201cThe first one of my family\nwas a daughter. She was a pretty child, and I was very fond of her. But\nwhat happened but a day that was there, she was out at the side of the\nhouse and a person passed who had an Evil Eye, and the Evil Eye went\ninto the child and she was injured. From that time the creature went\nback so much, until at last she was only kept alive by a little wine\nput into her mouth with a teaspoon.\u201d)\n\n\u201cWhen people had occasion to go to farmer R.\u2019s house, having children\nwith them, they contrived to put some attractive article of clothing\non the children, so that the gay clothes might divert his eye from the\nwearers and save them from injury.\u201d\n\nA native of Knockando (Elgin) says that there is an impression that the\nyoung, either of man or beast, are very liable to receive injury from\nan Evil Eye fastening upon them, if that should be the first eye that\nsees them after their birth. This belief makes people take great care\noften to secure that any one supposed to possess an Evil Eye will not\nbe the first to see an infant immediately after birth, or any other\nyoung animal.\n\nUsing short texts separated from the context leads undoubtedly to\nmisapprehensions on the part of the unlearned. In Isaiah xiii. 18, he\nsays of the Medes, alluding to physical injury alone, \u201ctheir eye shall\nnot spare children.\u201d That text has influenced not a few.\n\nWithout any suspicion of the owner of a beast having the Evil Eye\nhimself, his desire to retain it is supposed to render it specially\nliable to the evil influence of any one possessed of the power. A\nKinlochbervie man remembers well how very common, in his youth, was\nbelief in the Evil Eye, and vividly recalls the terror his mother had\nwhen any unknown vagrant came the way, lest, being possessed of an Evil\nEye, he might leave a blight on the house or anything belonging to it.\nShe would give almost anything they might ask so as to get them away in\na good mood.\n\n\n\n\nSTRANGERS SPECIALLY LIABLE TO BE ACCUSED OF THE POSSESSION OF THE EVIL\n EYE\n\n\nAcquaintances might be divided into two classes. The Evil Eyes and the\nNon-Evil Eyes. Precautions should be taken against the former, and with\nthem it was safe to class strangers. The daughter of a tradesman, a\nclever, intelligent woman, a farmer\u2019s wife, whose husband\u2019s people and\nher own mother are very superstitious, having moved from one district\nto another, her new neighbours, not long after she had came to live\nbeside them, lost a number of geese. The owners made a great \u201cado,\u201d and\nthe position they took up relative to our reciter, the suspected one,\nwas: \u201c_Faicibh fein an droch shuil tha aice. Cha deachaidh na geoidh\nair seachran riomh roimhe, ach ghabh iad fuath \u2018nuair a\u2019 dh\u2019 amhairc\nise orra._\u201d (\u201cSee for yourself the Evil Eye she had; the geese never\nbefore wandered, but took fright when she looked at them.\u201d)\n\nThe owners of these geese seem to have had a very lively faith in the\nEvil Eye. The collector having mentioned the experience to another\nneighbour, she said: \u201cThat\u2019s not so bad as I got. I went to inquire for\na friend if they would sell a goose. They said they would not sell, and\nthere was no harm in that; but shortly after all the geese flew away,\nand if I did not catch it. They were in a fearful rage, blaming me for\nputting my Evil Eye in them. Another time their hens ceased laying, and\nthey blamed my eye for that also.\u201d\n\nIt is scarcely to be wondered at, the jealous ascription of the Evil\nEye to strangers, though Highland publications speak largely of the\nnoble characteristics of Highlanders at large, and the writer is the\nlast man to deny them credit due. It must be confessed there is a\nlarge quantity of a \u2018parochial\u2019 feeling of jealousy in the Highlands\ngenerally. It is not necessary to go into the question whether this is\nor is not the modern aspect of previous district quarrels. Tramps trade\nupon this fear of strangers in other Gaelic places than the Scottish\nHighlands. A minister relates the following, which came under his own\nobservation in Antrim. A tramp was passing a house, and he went and\nasked the housewife for a drink of milk. She said she had no milk, but\nthe tramp was sure she had, but did not want to part with it. He said,\n\u201cOh, very well, I\u2019ll take a drink of water, and let what will happen\nto the cows.\u201d This was enough; she was sure that this was a challenge\nthat he would have the milk in spite of her, so she repented and gave\nhim as good a drink of milk as he could wish for, no doubt in this way\nescaping evil consequences.\n\n\n\n\n PEOPLE SHOULD GIVE WHEN ASKED\n\n\nThe danger of refusing a request is great, not so much from the purely\nChristian-charity point of view, as from that of escaping the Evil Eye.\nA native of Knapdale, a believer, tells of a woman notorious in that\nneighbourhood. She went to a farmer for a barrel of potatoes, which\nhe refused her. No more was said, but she had not long gone when the\nbest horse he had fell down and could not rise. It was foaming at the\nmouth. A man skilled in counteracting the Evil Eye was consulted, and\ndeclared that the horse had been injured by it. Having been informed\nby the farmer that he had refused to give a barrel of potatoes to the\nwoman, he said it was that that had done the harm. His advice was a\nlittle peculiar, not in that he recommended the sending the potatoes\nto the woman, but that they should be sent on the injured horse, with\nevidently a view to its cure. The potatoes were got into a bag, the bag\nlifted on the horse\u2019s back, and away it went quite briskly, and they\nwere delivered at the woman\u2019s house, and thereafter the horse was quite\nwell.\n\nDrovers are not, of course, complete strangers in the districts in\nwhich they do business, but as a class they are looked on with some\nsuspicion. Thus we are told, \u201cSome drovers are possessed of the Evil\nEye, and in consequence it is reckoned foolish not to sell any animals\nto them if they appear anxious to have them.\u201d The reciter\u2019s father had\na good cow, and some drovers coming about wanted to buy her. His father\nrefused to sell. The drovers persisted, but still met with a refusal.\nAt last the drovers left, but shortly after the cow sickened, died, and\nnothing remained of her value to the owner but her skin.\n\nA parallel case was mentioned as happening in Islay. \u201cI remember it\nwas a few days before the market a man came the way and wanted to buy\na beast from A. McI. The drover was very anxious to get it, but they\nwould not sell. The drover left, and before the sun went down that\nevening that beast was dead and buried. The reciter of this, a man of\nabout fifty and a good workman, living by himself, is a piper, and\npossibly the addition of the beast\u2019s hurried burial may be the result\nof a natural tendency to \u2018blow,\u2019 as they say. Anyhow, the piper said\nthat it was believed that it was the drover\u2019s eye that had killed the\ncow.\u201d\n\nAnother reciter tells that a farmer in Islay had two good horses which\nsome dealers wished to buy. The farmer would not sell either, and the\nfollowing day one of them died. It was believed to be a case of Evil\nEye.\n\nThe risk of refusing purchasers is not solely in the case of drovers.\n\u201cMany are of opinion that it is risky for a person to refuse to sell\nany animal he may have to any one who shows a great desire to purchase\nit; some would sell at a sacrifice rather than run the risk. A native\nof Killean, Kintyre, tells of a fine cow his father had, and on which\nthe family set a considerable value. A man who had known something\nabout the cow came all the way from Campbeltown purposely to buy her,\nbut the owner declined to sell her. \u201cIf he did, he hardly got any good\nof her thereafter, for in a short time she became unwell, and lingering\nfor a time, died. The neighbours thought it was a real case of Evil\nEye.\u201d\n\nFrom the mainland of Argyllshire a lady relates: \u201cAn uncle had a farm\nfive miles from Oban. A neighbour on his way to attend a funeral,\nthinking her uncle might drive along with him, called. As he was\npassing the cow-fold the calves were being let out to their mothers,\nand one of the cows had a beautiful calf. The neighbour fixed his eyes\non them and kept looking at and admiring them. He then asked her uncle\nif he would sell him the calf, but the proprietor refused, saying he\ndid not intend to sell either cow or calf. That very week the calf was\ndead, and they never doubted but that it was the man\u2019s Evil Eye that\nhad killed it.\u201d\n\nA native of Applecross in Ross-shire told he had bought a fine horse,\nbut before the purchase another man had been looking at it and been\nvery anxious to have it, and praised it as a splendid beast. It was\nnot long in the reciter\u2019s possession until it had some complaint from\nwhich it died. The people\u2014the reciter does not himself say he shares\nthe feeling\u2014believe that it was killed by the Evil Eye, for it had been\nknown to everybody how anxious the disappointed man had been to get it,\nand how highly he had spoken of it.\n\n\n\n\n SYMPTOMS IN ANIMALS ASCRIBED TO EFFECT OF EVIL EYE\n\n\nOne naturally asks what are the symptoms which, when present in\nanimals, have given rise to the supposition that they were affected by\nthe Evil Eye.\n\nA woman gives the following account of what happened to her mother. She\nhad been married very young, and was sitting by the fire suckling her\nfirst child with her breasts bare. The child had fallen asleep on her\nleft arm. \u201cMy mother heard something behind her, and when she turned\nher head, there was a tall, grey-haired, ill-favoured-looking woman\nstanding. My mother got up hurriedly, and having a great deal of milk,\nthe milk spouted from her right breast into the fire. The _cailleach_\ngave an unpleasant laugh and said, \u2018The milk has gone along with the\npee.\u2019 My mother answered pleasantly enough, \u2018Oh no, the milk and pee\nwill be all right,\u2019 and gave the _cailleach_ what she wanted. She was a\nTiree _cailleach_, and they were all looked upon as being bad ones. The\nnext time my mother was going to give her baby a drink she found she\nhad not a drop of milk for him. The baby was crying, and when he would\ncry she would cry too, and what was to be done? This state of things\nlasted for a day, and my father then went for assistance from a person\nsupposed to be skilled.\u201d\n\nThe expression used by the Tiree woman was understood by the reciter to\nmean the milk that should have nourished the child was to turn into\nwater in the mother\u2019s system, and be so discharged.\n\nYawning has been ascribed to the effect of the Evil Eye.\n\nAn Islay man said: \u201c_Bha piuthair aig an te nach maireann agus bha i\ncho boidheach \u2019sa chunnaic sibh riomh. Aon uair thainig boireannach a\nstigh agus thoiseach i air a chaileag a mholadh gu ro mhor. Well, cha\nrobh a bhean sin ach gann air dol amach nur a thoiseach a chaileag air\nmeunanaich, agus cha robh fad gus an robh i cho dona agus gun robh iad\na saoilsinn gum bitheadh i air falbh._\u201d\n\n(\u201cMy late wife had a sister, and she was as pretty as ever you saw.\nOnce a woman came in and commenced praising the girl excessively. Well,\nscarcely was that woman gone out of the house when the girl began to\nyawn, and it was not long till she was so bad that they thought that\nshe would be away (die).\u201d)\n\nIn the case of a child which was quite quiet and looking well, with\nthe mother sitting nursing it, a neighbouring woman, who is not much\nliked in the place, came in. She sat a little while, and was no time\naway until the child began to cry. It cried long and bitterly, and\nits mother got into a fearful state, protesting of the other woman:\n\u201c_Co fior\u2019s tha mi beo, chronaich i mo phaisde_\u201d (\u201cAs true as I am\nalive she injured my child\u201d). It is interesting to note that in this\ncase \u201ca little white powder\u201d prescribed by a qualified practitioner\ncounteracted that Evil Eye.\n\nAnother case in which a child was ill was told as follows:\u2014A woman went\nto inquire after a man who had just lost his wife in the Low Country,\nand brought their child home to his relations. She was told that the\nchild was \u201cnot but poorly.\u201d \u201cWhat is the matter with him?\u201d I asked.\nMy informant answered me, that his mother had been sitting at the fire\nand the child in her bosom, when two women came to ask for the child\u2019s\nfather. The child was quite well and brisk when they came in, but\nbefore they went away he began to cry and groan. \u201cHe was quite sure,\u201d\nhe said, \u201cthat one or other of them had injured the child, but why they\nshould do that he did not know, for they both had families of their\nown.\u201d This case was cured by an unlicensed practitioner.\n\nThe following is from a woman of her own experience in the case of\nher own son. She told that his sister went out with him one day to a\nneighbour\u2019s house. He was sitting in her lap, when the neighbour\u2019s\ndaughter called her mother\u2019s attention to the white beauty of the\nchild\u2019s legs. The mother agreed, and something more was said praising\nthe child, and he then got a drink of milk. Well, as soon as he took\nthe milk, he began as if he were singing, \u201cDo re do, do re do.\u201d This he\ncontinued to do for a good while, and was very fretful. This child was\ncured by a magic thread which stopped the \u201chumming.\u201d\n\nCattle, in popular belief, are much more liable to damage from the Evil\nEye than other animals, judging from the greater number of instances\nrelated of it in their case. \u201cTwo of M. McN.\u2019s cattle died within a\nshort time of each other, and all the old people of the place persisted\nin saying they were injured by some Evil Eye.\u201d A reciter told of her\nmother, who had married the elder of two brothers occupying a farm in\ncommon, getting the credit of the Evil Eye because, shortly after her\nmarriage, the cattle on the farm \u201cbegan to die right away.\u201d\n\nIn the following case motive is given, and if any overt act of a\nmagical nature had been said to occur, it would certainly have to be\nclassified as witchcraft, but seeing there is no such history, it is\none of those cases in which the action of an Evil Eye was evidently not\nsupposed to be involuntary. The heir to a tenant who had fallen into\narrears, having paid what was owing, got possession from the superior.\nMeanwhile a woman had been living in the house. She was warned to\nleave, but paid no heed to the warning, and it became necessary to turn\nher out by force. She got shelter from a relative near by, while the\nnew tenant went to live in the house from which she had been ejected.\n\u201cBut if he did, he soon suffered for it, for he was not long there\nuntil he had lost nine of his cattle by death, and he and every one\nelse believed that they had been \u201c_air an cronachadh_\u201d by the woman\nfrom spite.\n\nThere are no symptoms recounted in these general losses.\n\nMore rarely than of cows, we hear of stirks being affected. This is\nrather an old story, and the authority for this is the reciter\u2019s\nfather, who told it of his own father. He was at market in\nStratherrick, and refused to part, after considerable bargaining, with\na stirk he had to a would-be buyer. \u201cBefore the market-day closed, down\nfell the stirk on the ground and nothing could make it get up.\u201d\n\nIn a quite recent case, however, a stirk, said to be affected by the\nEvil Eye, \u201cwas very ill; its horns were quite cold, and it could not\neat anything. The beast recovered.\u201d\n\nBy far most commonly, evil from a \u201cbad eye\u201d comes to cows. A reciter\ntells of an instance that occurred to himself, where in a farm\npreviously occupied, his mother had a particularly good cow. \u201cOne day\nmy sister was in a neighbour\u2019s house, and she was telling the woman\nabout the lot of milk this cow had. The next day when my mother went\nout at the usual hour to milk the cow, she had scarcely begun when this\nwoman passed close to where she was milking. Well, not a drop of milk\ncould my mother get from that cow. The cow became suddenly unwell and\nfell to the ground. The skin came off her udder and not a bit of skin\nwas on it after that. There was not the least doubt but that it was the\nother woman that had injured her.\u201d\n\nA native of Skye, in whose younger days the belief in the Evil Eye was\nvery common there, and who remembers seeing \u201ca general turn up\u201d in the\ntownship in which she was brought up, caused by the alleged effect of\none person\u2019s Evil Eye upon the cattle of the neighbours, tells how\nher father had a fine Ayrshire cow. She was such a good milker that\nit was necessary to milk her three times every day. \u201cAll of a sudden\nher milk left her, and they never could account for it, except on the\nsupposition of the action of an Evil Eye, and in fact were quite sure\nthat this was the case.\u201d\n\nThe reciter of the following says she remembers a Sutherlandshire\nminister telling it to her mother. He said that one time his cows were\nnot giving the right milk. The milk was more like water than milk, and\nas for butter, not a bit could he get, no matter how well it might be\nchurned. The minister here, on the advice of his housekeeper, resorted\nto witchcraft for a cure.\n\nAnother reciter says: \u201cWhen my sister and myself were lumps of lasses\nwe were down the road one day with a cow of my father\u2019s. When we\nbrought her home the milk was running from her, and she lay down on the\nfloor and she wouldn\u2019t rise. When they tried to put her up she would\nmake as if she would climb up the wall.\u201d\n\nIn fact, as another reciter in Rothiemurchus said: \u201cIt used to be a\nvery common experience to have cows going off their milk, and sometimes\ndying from the effects of a person possessed of an Evil Eye looking\nupon them, and it is still believed that cases of this kind happen.\u201d\n\nA cow that was \u201ckicking and would let nobody milk her,\u201d being cured by\none of the processes against the Evil Eye, the cure was understood to\ncertify the diagnosis.\n\nMrs. McN. was milking her cow. A woman passing at the time remarked,\nlooking at the cow the while, \u201cThat is a grand cow, and she gives a\ngreat deal of milk.\u201d \u201cYes, she is a good cow,\u201d replied the owner, and\nthe woman having passed on there was no more about it, until a little\nwhile after the milking was done the cow lay down on the ground and\nbegan to roll in great pain. There never was any doubt but that it was\na case of injury by the Evil Eye. The cow was cured by magic.\n\nAnother cow \u201cgrew to be unwell, and she was rolling herself upon the\nground.\u201d She was so unwell that the schoolmaster, who was a great\nfriend of her owner\u2019s, advised him to send for a man to flay her. She\nrecovered.\n\nOf course a recognised wizard may have the Evil Eye as much as a more\ninnocent person. The reciter of this, a credulous man, no doubt, and\nuneducated, with the gift of the gab and a good deal of natural\nshrewdness, a distillery workman, is detailing his own experience. \u201cThe\ncows were all tied in the byre, and we were looking in the window and\nsaw the _Buidseach ruadh_ (the red wizard) standing at the byre door.\nThe door was in two halves, the upper half was open at the time, the\nlower closed, and he was leaning on it and gazing with all his might\nat one of the cows. The kitchen was at the end of the byre, and they\nalways came straight down from the kitchen when they were going to\nmilk. The women just came down then, and when they came to the cow\nthat he had been looking at, not a drop of milk could they get. When\nthey untied her to let her out she gave a loud bellow, and running up\nby the kitchen door made for the fire and tried to go up by the chain\nthrough the roof of the house. They had nothing for it but tie her up\nagain, and for some days they did not get a drop of milk from her, and\nher skin became so loose on her it looked as if hardly sticking to her\nflesh at all. When the day for churning came they found the butter was\ngone also.\u201d\n\nA Kintyre man recites the following of an authority consulted for\nthe cure of the Evil Eye. \u201cHer cow, put out for the first time after\ncalving, became wild and jumped against everything like to kill\nherself. There was nothing for it but just to put her back into the\nhouse. Everybody was sure the beast had been _air a cronachadh_ by\nsome person\u2019s Evil Eye, or bewitched by witchcraft. When the woman to\nwhom the cow belonged came to know of it she came up, and going up to\nthe cow, gave her a clap or two on the back, said something, and in a\nminute or two the cow was as quiet as she had ever been.\u201d\n\nA farmer of the name of M. had the farm of B., near Campbeltown. He\nhad a favourite cow which he would not part with for anything. Some\ndrovers wished to buy this cow, but M. refused, and though the drovers\npersisted, he would not part with her. They went to the cow and began\nto soothe and fondle her. When they left the cow began to go about in a\ncircle, and could not be got out of that circle. At length the farmer\nwas forced to kill her. This was told by an educated and reliable\ngentleman, without prejudice, so to say, to his belief or disbelief in\nthe origin of the illness.\n\nOne is apt to smile at any one talking of an animal going up the\nchimney by the pot chain; frightened animals do curious things. The\nwriter of this, having opened the window in the parlour widely, the\ndoor being shut to prevent it going into the house, was trying to drive\nout a strange cat. There was a lighted fire in the chimney, but the\ncat, without trying the window, went up the chimney. The fire being\ndamped down and a dustpan put on the top of it, the cat returned to\ncivilisation, and then disappeared through the window.\n\nOne other symptom comes from the Black Isle, Ross-shire. H. says that\nbelief in the Evil Eye was very common in his native place, and has a\ngood hold still on people\u2019s minds. It was said to do injury to beasts,\nin many ways, among others that they could be blinded by it. His father\nhad a striking case while living in the Parish of Redcastle. One of\nhis cows died of what was considered a natural trouble, no Evil Eye\ninfluence being thought of. He had a quey grazing on the farm of a\nfriend on the opposite side of the Beauly Firth, so he went for her\nand brought her home by Kessock Ferry, where some people examined her\nand admired her. She was a dun, and a fine-looking animal. Having\nreached home the quey was tied in the byre, apparently in good health.\nThey however soon noticed that she had a habit of standing back in her\nstall to the full extent of the tether rope, and do what they would\nthey could not get her to stand forward. A woman with knowledge of\nEvil Eye cases was consulted. After examining the beast in the byre\nby herself she told them the quey was blind, because some one\u2019s eye\nhad fallen on her. She recommended the following procedure to cure the\nanimal and find out who had done the injury. She was to be let out and,\nno one going before her or trying to turn her, allowed to go where she\nliked. If this were done she said the quey would, of her own accord, go\nto the house of the person who had made her blind, and that she would\ngo three times round the house bellowing, and then come back to her own\nbyre quite well with recovered sight. This procedure was carried out.\nShe went straight for a neighbour\u2019s house, went round it three times,\nbellowed, and came back quite well and seeing. The reciter added, \u201cNow\nthe woman that could do that and find out things of that kind must have\nhad some power herself, quite as much as the one whose eye had fallen\nupon the heifer.\u201d The reciter of the above is an uneducated man, and\nsuperstitious in other ways.\n\nA believer, a native of Knapdale, tells the following. For a\nconsiderable time none of her cows had quey calves, but at length she\ngot one, a nice beast, of which she was particularly careful. When it\nwas first let out she went herself to watch it. At that time she had\na neighbour who had an ill-will to her, although they were on speaking\nterms, though without having much to do with each other. While she was\nwatching the calf this neighbour came out of her own house, and putting\nher hands on each of her sides, stood and gazed for a few seconds at\nthe calf. While she was staring at it the calf gave a \u2018loup,\u2019 rushed as\nif it were mad through the place, and when, with a deal of difficulty\nit had been caught and put into the byre, it kept leaping straight\nup, and seemed as if it could not rest. The person consulted said he\ncould do nothing in the case, and that it was ill from the other woman\nlooking at it. Subsequently she had two more quey calves of which she\nwas very proud and pleased to have them, and as they were grazing\nin a park near the road, many people admired them. One day the same\nobjectionable neighbour went, and placing her two arms on the dyke,\nstared at the calves for some time. \u201cI saw her with my own eyes and\ndid not like it, but said nothing.\u201d Not long after her daughter came\nin and said that the white calf was lying dead among the nettles. \u201cOn\nhearing this I trembled, but spoke quite calmly and said, \u2018Is it?\u2019\u201d\nOn examination, sure enough the calf was dead, and the other was ill\nalso. She consulted a skilled woman, and the remaining calf got better.\nThis reciter added that since then she had lost beasts through the same\nperson\u2019s Evil Eye, and is in terror when she sees her coming about the\nhouse.\n\nA woman who lived on Loch Awe-side, who was believed to have the Evil\nEye, and whose father was also credited with it, was exchanging brood\nhens with a neighbour. She brought her own hen, and was going to take\naway the one to be exchanged. In the absence of the mistress, the girl\nwho was keeping the house was going to give the cow a drink, and the\nwoman accompanied her. There was nothing wrong with the cow then, but\nlater in the day the cow\u2019s calf died, and the cow herself began to take\nsome kind of fits, and though she lived for a while never got well.\nWhen night came the hens were crowing, and next morning two of them\nwere found dead. The hen that had been brought was put on the eggs, but\nif she was, it was not long that she remained on them. She took to the\nhills and was never caught, and all this was the consequence of the\nEvil Eye.\n\nEven more common than injury to cows and calves is the deterioration of\nmilk. Mrs. McL., appealing to her husband for confirmation, told how\nthat in the winter-time she began to churn sometime after dark. Her\nhusband helped her with it, and they had just finished, and she was\ngoing to stop and take off the butter, when a young man came in. When\nhe went away she went back to her churn, but not a bit of butter could\nshe get. To gather it she took another turn of churning, but the milk\nonly swelled and went over the churn mouth. The butter was all gone. It\nwas this young man\u2019s Evil Eye.\n\nAnother nearly similar case to the above, and they could be\nconsiderably added to, happened to the mother of the reciter, who\nwas churning, and a woman, supposed to possess an Evil Eye, and also\nsuspected of a measure of witchcraft, coming in, \u201cthe butter got\nscattered into a kind of grainy substance, and do what she would the\nchurner could not get it to gather again.\u201d\n\nHorses, of course, are liable to the malign influence of the Evil\nEye. \u2014\u2014 had a nice white horse which he used to lend on hire to\nthe minister. It was much admired, and one day when it came home a\nneighbour, who bore the owner no goodwill, came forward and, standing\nbeside the horse, said in Gaelic, \u201cYou have got fine limbs;\u201d he then\nwalked away. Shortly afterwards the horse threw itself down on the\nground and kicked as if in great pain. It was at first supposed to be\nan attack of colic, and the son walked it out a little, but so soon as\nit entered the stable it fell down and was like to die. A woman with\nskill being consulted, cured the horse and confirmed their suspicion of\nit being a case of Evil Eye.\n\nMinisters\u2019 horses do not escape any more than those of laymen. A Mull\nwoman related the following:\u2014The minister, whose grave you may see\nthere, had a fine horse. His man had it out ploughing, and without\nprevious illness or warning of any kind, it fell down and could not\nplough another furrow. The minister came to see it.\n\n\u201c_A mhinistear, tha an t-each air a chronachadh. Feumaidh mi dhol\nairson eolas a chronachaidh._\u201d\n\n\u201c_Eisd, eisd, cha dean thu sin. Tha fios agad nach eil mise a\u2019\ncreidsinn ann a leithid sin._\u201d\n\n\u201c_Direach falbhaidh sibhse a steach, agus managie mi fein an t-each._\u201d\n\n(\u201cMinister, the horse is _air a cronachadh_, and I must go for _eolas\na chronachaidh_.\u201d \u201cHush, hush, you will not do that; you know that I\ndo not believe the like of that.\u201d \u201cJust you go in, and I\u2019ll manage the\nhorse myself.\u201d)\n\nWe may finish the incident which tells how the minister did as was\nsuggested, and how, as soon as he was out of sight, off the lad set for\nwhat he considered skilled assistance. Having got it, in less than\nthree hours the horse was quite well and ploughing. When the minister\nwas again looking on, the lad remarked on the rapid recovery from the\nprocess used, but the minister was unconvinced.\n\n\u201c_Cha\u2019n eil mi dol a thoirt creideas da leithid sin idir._\u201d\n\n_Thuirt an gille: \u201cWell, tha mi fein \u2018s an t-each a\u2019 creidsinn ann.\u201d_\n\n(\u201cI am not going to give credence to the like of that at all.\u201d The lad\nreplied: \u201cWell, both I and the horse believe in it.\u201d)\n\nA like case. \u201cYou remember A. B. He had a braw mare; everybody was\npraising her, and there wasn\u2019t the likes of her to be seen about the\nplace. A man who was passing waited to look at her, and praised her for\nbeing a splendid beast. But if he did, when she reached home she fell\ndown and would neither rise nor eat.\u201d\n\nMrs. G. said: \u201cOne of our horses, a fine beast, was going past the barn\nwhen all at once it fell on the ground. They got it into the stable. In\na little time it could not move its body, but was tossing its head from\nside to side and seemed to be in great pain. It was striking its head\non the ground so much that we thought it would kill itself.\u201d\n\nA case in which the illness had lasted for some time before skilled\nadvice was got, is the following: \u201cD. D.\u2019s father-in-law had a horse\nunwell and not expected to recover. It was lying in the stable quite\nstiff, and had neither eaten nor drunk anything for some days.\u201d\n\nA farmer who had two fine horses told the reciter to put the saddle on\none of them and meet him on his way home from a visit he had to pay. D.\nMcT., as instructed, saddled the better of the two horses and started\nto meet his father. He was very careful, leading the horse instead of\nriding it. He met his father within three miles of home driving in a\ncart with a neighbour. When they met, his father said, \u201cYou have killed\nthat beast. Why did you ride it so hard?\u201d D. told his father, what was\nthe fact, that he had not ridden at all, but walked all the way from\nhome. \u201cLook at the horse,\u201d said his father, and the horse was pouring\nof sweat and trembling. He turned home, but could not keep up with the\ncart, and only managed to make it crawl back with difficulty. As soon\nas it was got into the stall, it lay down and commenced kicking as if\nin great pain. The horse was cured.\n\nA man of whom we have already spoken as injuring animals with his Evil\nEye unintentionally, as a reciter tells us, \u201cwas at this time threshing\nwith my father. They had no threshing-mill, and did it all with flails.\nOne day my father had been out ploughing, and had the best mare ever\nthey had in the plough. Coming home, he had to pass the barn to go to\nthe stable, and McA., of the Evil Eye, came to the door and looked\nafter the mare. That was enough; before the mare reached the stable\ndoor she began to shake and tremble, and it was with great difficulty\nthey managed to get her into the stall. They knew quite well what was\nthe matter.\u201d\n\nOne other horse case. The reciter says: \u201cOne Sunday I was standing\nthere on the little hill at C., and I saw a man coming towards me from\nGartachara. I knew the man and waited till he passed. He went down to\nC. I never thought of anything being wrong, but when I turned down the\nway the man had come up, what did I find but a beautiful brown horse I\nhad at the time, lying on his belly in the water where the horses used\nto take their drink. He could not stand on his feet, but I got help,\nand we managed to get him into the kailyard, where he lay groaning.\u201d\nThe horse recovered.\n\n * * * * *\n\nFowls are said to be affected. A certain woman had been suspected of\nhindering the butter from coming at a churning. The case was being\nreported to a collector, when a bystander expressed doubts as to the\nexistence of an Evil Eye. The reciter then said that her own experience\nhad proved the truth of the accusation in the case of this individual.\n\u201cShe was living for a year beside me, and all that year, although I had\nmost beautiful hens, they laid nothing but soft eggs. They would be\nfound in the mornings all scattered here and there on the floor. Indeed\nI thought they dropped more eggs than was natural. It was only when\ntalking about the hens to another neighbour that it was suggested to me\nthat her Evil Eye was the cause. Then I knew that there would be no use\nkeeping hens while that woman was beside me, so I sold them all. I got\nclear of her at the end of the year. I never said anything to her about\nit, for I was afraid.\u201d\n\nThe reciter of the following said that he was positively certain that\nthe facts were as stated, though it had not occurred to himself. \u201cA\ncertain man once called at a house, and a beautiful brood of chickens\nwere going about on the kitchen floor. He was not right out when a\nstool fell on them and smothered every one of them. From the kitchen he\nwent to the byre, and saw there a beautiful quey, which he professed\nto admire very much. He was not long gone when the quey became unwell.\u201d\nThe belief was firmly established that the chickens and the quey had\nbeen _air an cronachadh_.\n\nA firm believer gives the following:\u2014\u201cOne time her mother had a brood\nof ducks, and every time Mrs. Mac. came in she praised the ducks, but\nmeanwhile one after another was dying, until at last only one remained.\nOne day this one was in the kitchen when Mrs. Mac. came in, and she\npraised it as usual, but when she was going away she tramped on it and\nkilled it. They were quite sure it was her Evil Eye that had been doing\nthe mischief.\u201d\n\nNot only live fowls but even eggs may be injured. B. S., a respectable\ngirl, a domestic servant, able to read and write, and quite reliable,\ngives this as a sample. She had bought some eggs, and on bringing\nthem home a neighbour woman was in the house and looked at the eggs.\nShe went away, and afterwards some of the eggs were put on to boil.\nAlthough left on the fire for the usual time, it was found they were\nnot boiled enough, and were returned to be further boiled. One of them\nthen cracked and sent the hot water in sparks in her face, and the\nothers were so broken that they were of no use. The people in the house\nattributed the mishap to the woman who had been there when the eggs\nwere brought in.\n\n * * * * *\n\nOn considering the whole of these symptoms, the principal thing that\nstrikes one to be urged in excuse of the faith that is in the reciters\nis that what was wrong came on apparently suddenly, in some cases after\na visit from a person already suspected, but as often as not it was\nthe suddenness of the mishap which gave ground to the accusation of\nsome probably entirely innocent passer-by. Unless faith in the Evil\nEye were already present, there seems hardly ground for any person\nwith experience of cattle and their ailments to evolve a theory of\nthe existence of any such latent power in the individuals accused. So\nlittle critical people became, that everything unexpected was referred\nto the Evil Eye. As a Kintyre man said, \u201cIf anything went wrong with\nthe beef when the winter supply was cured, it was attributed to the\nEvil Eye of some one or other.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n BENEFIT TO THE OWNER OF AN EVIL EYE\n\n\nThough in many cases involuntary, it has been pointed out that some\nbelieve that individuals knowing or professing to know that they have\nan Evil Eye, from sheer devilry, exercise it to the injury of others,\nthough for no visible benefit to themselves.\n\nA reliable and fairly educated woman, whose father began life as a\ncrofter and died what in that class of life is to be considered as a\nrich man, a native of South Uist, relates:\u2014There was a woman near her\nfather\u2019s house believed to have a very bad eye, and to be able to do\nmischief with it. Her aunt was very careful as much as possible to\nkeep out of this woman\u2019s sight, and if she happened to come about at\nchurning time her aunt would put the churn so that the woman would\nnot see it. She would not sell a pound of butter to her for any\nconsideration. The curious thing was that although that woman could\ntake away the produce from other people\u2019s cows, she seemed unable\nto make any profit of it for herself. It was just her envious and\nmalicious nature that made her take it (the produce) from other people,\nalthough it was not going to benefit herself. She was well known by all\nthe people in the district, and they all suspected her of the practice\nof witchcraft. It was on account of this suspicion, selling butter to\nher was objected to.\n\nIt is not necessary that the desire to possess something should be, as\nit were, illegitimate or unreasonable to cause damage. Thus M. MacL.\nwas relating how a neighbour\u2019s horse had died. \u201cPeople say that it was\nblighted by the Evil Eye. One of his sons had his eye _in_ it, for he\nexpected to get it for himself, but it took ill. At first they thought\nit was going to get better, for it was eating its food in the evening,\nbut on the following morning this son went out to the stable when he\nrose, and found it lying down. When it saw him it got up, gave itself a\nshake, and fell down dead.\u201d\n\nThere may be, however, indirect advantages from being credited by your\nneighbours with having an Evil Eye. Mrs. MacE., a cottar, lived on the\nfarm of L. in one of the inner isles. She was believed to have had the\nEvil Eye very strongly, and people would do almost anything rather\nthan offend her, so general was the impression that she could injure\nany person if she wished to do so. The reciter served for some time on\na farm that marched with hers, and he says that when Mrs. MacE. came\ntheir way she could have almost whatever favour she chose to ask, so\nmuch were they afraid of her Evil Eye. He often heard his master remark\nthat he would not incur her displeasure for almost any consideration,\nin case she might do him injury.\n\n\n\n\n DISADVANTAGE TO THE OWNER OF AN EVIL EYE\n\n\nIf in an indirect way, as above pointed out, some benefits may accrue\nto one credited with the Evil Eye, it is also said that they may\npersonally suffer serious loss. An old Islay woman who can read Gaelic\nwell, intelligent and full of information, says she knows for certain\nthere are people who possess the Evil Eye. She believes that it is not\na matter of choice with them, they cannot help it. Some even do harm\nto their own cattle. R., who was at one time in Islay, could not go\ninto his own byre but one or other of the cattle would be ill after\nit. This was so well known that a big dairymaid that he had engaged,\na north-country woman, protested against his coming over the byre\ndoorstep. It was because he had such an envious eye that he did so much\nmischief.\n\nAnother reciter tells us of the same farmer that they kept him in the\nhouse when his own cattle were being taken in from pasture, in case by\nadmiring them he might be the means of doing them an injury.\n\nAnother man in the same island, having got a first-prize animal, said\nto the herd that he would go out to see it. The herd, fearing evil,\ntried to dissuade him, but he persisted in going. Shortly afterwards\nthe animal died. His neighbours used to hurry their cattle out of his\nsight when they saw him coming that way. It was said he could not help\nit.\n\nD. C. had the Evil Eye very powerfully. On one occasion he went to\nexamine some cattle he had newly bought, and when he looked at them\nsome of them fell down as if they would die. The herd ran across the\nhill to a hamlet marching with D. C.\u2019s farm and got a bottle of water\nfrom a skilled person. When sprinkled on the cattle they at once\nrecovered.\n\nA man in Bowmore went into his own byre one night when his cousin, who\nlived with him, was milking his cow. He had a nice calf in the byre,\nand he put his arms round its neck and began to praise it very much.\nHis cousin said to him it was not good to do that. The next morning the\ncalf was found dead, an occurrence credited to his Evil Eye.\n\nA native of Mull avowed her firm belief in the Evil Eye, especially\nquoting what her mother had told her of a large farmer where she had\nbeen brought up who owned a number of cattle, and who had the Evil Eye.\n\u201cEvery time that man went into his own byre the best of his cattle were\nsure to be unwell afterwards, and they were often dying with him. He\ncould not help it. At last he got a dairymaid who, when she had become\nacquainted with his peculiarities, would not allow him to go into the\nbyre at all, or near the cows. She turned him back when she would see\nhim coming.\u201d\n\nExactly the same account of another farmer is given by a reciter in\nRoss-shire in the parish of U\u2014\u2014. She knew him very well by sight,\nhaving often seen him at markets, and many times she had heard that he\nhad the Evil Eye, could not help it, and often hurt his own cattle\n\u201cby thinking too highly of them.\u201d This information was corroborated\nby another, D. McL., who also knew the man by name and sight, having\nserved on a farm in the same district, and he often heard of him\nhurting his own cattle.\n\nOf course the Evil Eye is as lively in Ireland as on this side of St.\nGeorge\u2019s Channel; but the following experience of a native of county\nCork, an educated, reliable woman, the wife of a member of the lower\nranks of the Civil Service, while staying in Jura, is interesting.\nDesiring a drink of water one day she called at a house, the mistress\nof which met her at the door and invited her to come in to have a drink\nof milk. When she went in she found a girl churning. After sitting for\na minute or two Mrs. M. would have left, but was urged to wait for\na little to taste the new butter off the churn on a scone. She sat\na while, and the girl continued at the churn, evidently working as\nhard as she could, perspiring, and yet there were no signs of butter.\nMrs. M. innocently remarked, \u201cDear me, I never thought churning was\nso difficult.\u201d The woman and girl looked at each other, but without\nspeaking. The girl continued churning, until at last her mistress said,\n\u201cYou may put the churn past, you will get no butter off it to-day.\u201d\nShortly after Mrs. M. left without having tasted the butter, but\nbeyond that thinking nothing of the circumstances. About two months\nafterwards, while walking in the same direction, she called at the\nsame house. When going in she noticed the girl again at the churn, but\nmaking a rush with it to the other end of the house. Mrs. M. observed,\n\u201cOh! Mrs. Mac., I hope I am not interfering with your work. I see J.\ngoing out of the way.\u201d\n\n\u201cShe is churning, and is going away with the churn, for the last time\nyou were here she did not get one bit of butter off the churn.\u201d\n\n\u201cI am sorry to hear that; I am sure I did nothing to keep the butter\nfrom coming.\u201d\n\n\u201cI do not know; she got none at any rate, that\u2019s all I can say.\u201d\n\nOf two women living beside each other in Islay, one was credited with\nthe Evil Eye, and supposed to take away the dairy produce from her\nneighbours. One year her neighbour for a whole summer was unable to get\na bit of butter from her churning. Her suspicion rested strongly on the\nother. Her account of it was as follows: \u201cI tried everything. They told\nme to put a horseshoe in the churn, and I did that. Others told me to\nput salt in it, and I did that, but neither did any good. I scrubbed\nand scrubbed the churn and the milk dishes, but it was of no use. The\nmilk would only come up with a hissing sound. I was even afraid to use\nthe sour milk in baking scones, for I was sure there was something not\nright about it. The pig got fat that year, for it was getting the most\nof the milk. At last I consulted a neighbour, and she told me just\nwhat I knew already, that it was a bad woman beside me that was taking\naway the butter. She advised me not to bother any more, and to keep\nchurning, for the woman would stop her mischief by-and-by, and then\nthe butter would come back as it had gone. I did as she told me, and\nthrough time the butter came. I was not speaking about it to any one,\nfor I did not want people to know I believed that she could do so much\nharm.\u201d\n\nA well-educated small farmer\u2019s wife, a woman of five-and-thirty, knew\na husband and wife who both possessed the Evil Eye. They were quite\naware themselves that they did, and could not help it. Passing through\na park where several colts were grazing, one of which took their fancy,\nthey expressed their admiration of it. That evening the colt took ill\nand never recovered.\n\nOne would think that a little consideration would have made it clear\nthat with two in the same house equally unfortunate nothing they had\ncould have succeeded with them, and yet there was no account of this\ncouple being in worse circumstances than their neighbours.\n\nIt certainly is a curious development, the belief already alluded\nto of the injurious action of the Evil Eye of the farmer on his own\nstock. \u201cW. C. was on intimate terms with a neighbouring farmer, whom he\nvisited frequently. It was observed that if at any time he (the farmer)\npraised an animal, something for certain happened to it afterwards. On\none occasion he talked admiringly of the poultry, and shortly after all\nof them died.\u201d\n\nAnother reciter said: \u201cIn our own time a farmer required to be kept\nfrom going among his own cattle, lest by looking on them they should be\ninjured.\u201d These cases respectively were in Islay and Harris.\n\nJudging from personal experience of an old friend addicted to\nprophesying on his first appearance in the morning the sort of\nweather for the day, the result being, as we of a younger generation\nall believed, almost invariably wrong, it seems probable that these\nstories have arisen in connection with men who talked freely, giving\nopinions based upon hurried observation. Where silence would have\nleft no ground for animadversion the wordy man had his sayings\nremembered against him, especially when he was wrong, and the good\nbeasts subsequently turned out failures, as the fine days foretold were\ngenerally wet.\n\n\n\n\n CONSEQUENCE OF DIRECT PRAISE\n\n\nThe mere expression of admiration should be avoided by those who wish\nto escape the accusation of the Evil Eye. A youngish woman says, \u201cYou\nhave seen my cousin J.\u2019s third boy. He was the finest and nicest\nlooking of all the children. When six months old he was a very pretty\nchild. One day a woman came into the house; the baby was on his\nmother\u2019s arm, and the visitor began to praise the child, and praised\nit very much. She was hardly away when a man came, and he began to\npraise the child as the woman had done. After he went away like a shot\nthe baby took ill. They did not know what was the matter with him, or\nwhat to do, for he was growing worse. He continued in that way for some\ndays. At last granny said she was sure he had been _air a chronachadh_,\nand advised the mother to consult a woman who was supposed to have\nknowledge to cure such cases. J. was not willing to go at first, but\ngranny insisted that it would do no harm at any rate to go and speak\nto the woman. She went, but did not tell anybody at the time, for of\ncourse they would be speaking about it. As soon as she told the woman\nwhy she had come, the woman told her that the child had been injured by\nthe Evil Eye, and she described exactly the man and woman who had done\nthe harm, although my cousin had not mentioned man or woman to her. Was\nit not wonderful how she knew the very ones that had done it?\u201d She\ncured the child. The above happened in one of the islands.\n\nThe following is from Ross-shire (Tarbat): \u201cOne of my sisters was\nblighted by a woman who lived beside them. She was well known for her\nuncanny ways. The way the thing happened was this: The little girl was\ntied on an elder sister\u2019s back, and they were sent out for a walk. They\nhad not gone far when the woman in question came forward, and putting\nthe shawl back from the child\u2019s face said, \u2018What a pretty little girl!\nwhich of them is this?\u2019 When the children returned their mother found\nthat the young one was very ill, and on questioning the elder girl,\nshe said that they had met this woman and repeated what she had said.\nMother at once suspected what was the matter, sent for the woman, and\ncharged her with having hurt her child. She protested that she had not\ndone the child any injury, but the elder girl spoke up and said, \u2018Yes,\nyou looked at her and said she was pretty, and did not bless her.\u2019 The\nwoman admitted this, and that if she had done any harm to the child she\nwas sorry for it, but it could be sorted if wrong had been done. She\noperated a charm, and the child was soon as brisk as ever.\u201d\n\nA domestic servant relates that a woman who lived in Kil C. had a\nfirst-rate cow that was giving a large quantity of milk. One evening\nwhen she was milking another woman came into the byre and began\npraising the cow, and expressing her amazement at the quantity of milk\nshe gave. No more was thought of this, till at next milking the cow did\nnot give so much, and continued to get worse. It became evident that\nshe had been injured by the person who had praised her so much.\n\nA Campbeltown man says, \u201cI am sure I do not know about these things,\nfor I have never seen anything of it myself, but I mind my neighbour\nover there, D. M., saying to me one day not long ago, that a woman was\ngoing past some time before that, and she began to praise one of his\ncows, saying what a grand udder she had and such fine teats. No doubt\nthe cow was good, he said, and a fine milker, but after that day her\nmilk went from her.\u201d\n\nA married woman of about forty-five \u201cbelieves firmly in the existence\nof the Evil Eye,\u201d and relates as a proof: Mrs. McD., a neighbour,\ntold her lately that she was churning. The butter was actually on the\nchurn when Mrs. B. came in, and looking into the churn began to praise\nthe stuff, and said how well off she was to be getting such beautiful\nbutter. She just stayed a minute or two and then went away. After she\nwas gone the butter scattered on the churn, and do what she would she\ncould not get it to gather again. All she could get was froth, and it\ncontinued that way with her for several churnings.\n\nA girl of twenty-four, a domestic servant, a crofter\u2019s daughter with\na good School Board education, said, \u201c_Cronachadh_ is still in it. My\nmother was churning not long ago at all, and that woman Mrs. C. came\nin, and looking into the churn said, \u2018Oh! what a lot of butter!\u2019 Well,\nthe butter went off, and though my mother churned and churned she did\nnot get a bit of that churning, nor for a churning or two after that.\nWe believed that the butter had been taken away.\u201d\n\nA woman who admits that she is a firm believer in the Evil Eye, tells\nof the following case within her own knowledge. Two women were living\nbeside each other, and she knew them both personally. Each had a pig,\nand they were striving whose pig should be fattest. One of them had a\ncow, the other had not. The one that had the cow was giving her pig\nlots of milk. It was growing fast and surpassing the other. One day\nthe neighbour came in, and while they were looking at it and saying\nhow well it was thriving, she remarked, \u201c_Cha\u2019n iongantach a mhuc\nagadsa bhi cho math on is e sin an seorsa biadh tha thu toirt dith._\u201d\n(\u201cNo wonder your pig is so good, since that is the kind of food you\nare giving to her.\u201d) After a little while the woman left, but was not\nlong gone when the pig took ill, and when it was apparently getting\nno better they sent to Gortan-na-lag for one living there believed to\nhave knowledge. When he came and saw the pig he said they had been too\nlate in sending for him, and told them at once that it had been _air a\ncronachadh_, and he showed them who had done the mischief.\n\nA _cailleach_, notorious as having the Evil Eye, was calling in the\nhouse of an acquaintance of the reciter, and when she was leaving she\npraised a fine hen that was in the yard. It was one of her best hens,\nand the woman praised it very much. That very day what happened but\nthis hen was taken in dead, and the woman declared she could never get\nout of her mind that it had been a case of Evil Eye blight.\n\n\n\n\n A LOOK DOES IT\n\n\nThe belief in an Evil Eye having arisen, it is perfectly clear that\na mere look, quite unaccompanied by any other action, would soon be\nconsidered a quite sufficient cause of the mischief such an eye would\noccasion. A gamekeeper\u2019s wife, a \u201ccanty body,\u201d as she is described,\ntold how some lads on a Sunday, who had watched a mare and foal grazing\nfor some time, were credited with damaging the foal, because shortly\nafter they left it lay kicking on the ground and would not suck.\n\nA horse going up the main street of Bowmore in Islay was looked at by\na man passing. A few minutes after it fell and could not rise, till\na woman, C. McI., came and did \u201csomething to it.\u201d The horse got all\nright, and the woman consulted maintained that it was a case of Evil\nEye.\n\nA man now resident in Glasgow was visiting some friends on a farm in\none of the inner islands, and a man riding past was observed looking\nrather attentively at the cows in a field beside the road. He was\nsupposed to have paid particular attention to a cow which, shortly\nafter he had passed, was noticed to be unwell. It was treated as a case\nof the Evil Eye, and recovered.\n\nThese cases occurred with persons not notorious. The following is one\nin which the woman who affected the cattle was generally believed to\nhave the Evil Eye. The reciter\u2019s father was driving four cows from\nthe park one evening, and when passing this woman\u2019s house she stood\nat the door looking at the cows. In a moment off they went as hard as\nthey could run. One of them, a handsome beast that had been bought\nfrom a farmer in Gartbreac, when they got them into the byre, was tied\nto a heavy kitchen grate which was there, but she ran out of the byre\nwith the grate hanging to her neck, and climbed up a peat stack nearly\nreaching the top of it. From that day they never got any further good\nof that cow, and were decidedly of opinion that she had been bewitched\nby the woman.\n\nNot the cattle alone but milk also is influenced by a mere look. We\ngive an instance in the words of the narrator:\u2014\n\n\u201c_Bha \u2019n toradh air a thoirt uam fein an uiridh. Mhaistir sinn gus\nan robh Raonull agus Donull agus mi fein a ruith leis an fhallus ach\nged a leanamaid air fathast cha \u2019n fhaigheamaid mir ime. \u2019S an anns\nan t-sabhal bhios sinn a cruinneachadh a bhainne agus thainig duine\n\u2019n rathad latha aig nach eil bo da chuid fein agus dh\u2019amhairc e air a\nbhainne \u2019san t-sabhal: bha sinn a\u2019 deanadh dhe gum b\u2019esan a rinn an\ncron. Bha na cairdean gam\u2019 chomhairleachadh gun a bhi leigeil le daoine\nbhi faicinn a\u2019bhainne ach mi bhi cuimhnicheadh nach eil na h-uile duine\ncosmhuil rium fein. Well, o\u2019n am sin, tha sinn a toirt fanear nach\nfhaigh neach sam bith cothrom air dol far am bheil am bainne agus tha\nsinn a faotainn a nis urrad ime\u2019s bu chor air na h-uile maistreadh._\u201d\n(\u201cThe butter was taken from myself last year. We churned until Ronald\nand Donald and myself were running with sweat, but although we had\ncontinued at it till now we could not get a bit of butter. It is in\nthe barn that we gather the milk, and a man who has not got a cow of\nhis own came the way one day and he looked on the milk in the barn, and\nwe were making out that it was he who had done the harm. The friends\nwere advising me not to be allowing people to see the milk, but that I\nshould remember that every person is not like myself. Well, from that\ntime we are taking care that nobody will get an opportunity to go where\nthe milk is, and now we are getting as much butter as we ought to get\non every churning.\u201d)\n\nThe Isle of Man, from a Gaelic point of view, may be considered\nas likely to be much the same as the islands of Argyll, and a\nlighthouse-keeper, stationed there for some time, tells us he heard a\ngood deal about the Evil Eye, and that belief in it is pretty common.\n\u201cIf a person is seen to look closely at a cow when passing her he is at\nonce suspected, and is likely to be requested by the owner of the beast\nto take certain steps to prevent injurious consequences.\u201d\n\nAs we have seen above, the very natural consequence of this belief in a\nlook doing injury leads to the hiding of things liable to harm.\n\nA somewhat amusing story of the effects of a look is from Arran.\n\n\u201cOne time M. K. and myself were at a meeting, and there was an old\nbachelor there who kept looking at us all the time. We noticed it, but\ndid not think much about it until after we went home, but when we got\nhome both of us began to yawn and rift, and could not stop it. We were\nquite sure that we had been hurt by the \u2018eye\u2019 of the old fellow. M. K.\nmade a drink of salt and water for us, and we took it and that cured\nus.\u201d\n\nEructation in Arran seems to have a special connection with the Evil\nEye and witchcraft. Another reciter remembers quite well a reputed\nwitch going into her mother\u2019s house, and not very long after she left\nher younger sister, a child at the time, became unwell. Her mother at\nonce suspected that the fault lay with the woman who had left, so she\nsent after her and brought her back. The reputed witch \u201cmixed salt and\nwater, drank it herself, rifted fearfully, and in a little while the\nchild got quite well.\u201d\n\nThe use of salt as a \u201cpreservative\u201d is illustrated in the case of an\nArran woman who was a strong believer in and much afraid of the effects\nof the Evil Eye. She had one cow, and it gave her much discomfort when\nshe saw the cow grazing near the roadside, fearing that some passer-by\nmight \u201cput his eye in her.\u201d To keep the milk right, if she gave any to\nbe carried away, or even \u201cto be drunk on the premises,\u201d she invariably\nput salt in it, and that sometimes to excess. The reciter said, \u201cFor a\nwhile we were getting milk from her for a man staying with us who was\nseriously annoyed when the milk was more than ordinarily salt, giving\nvent to his discontent saying, \u2018Why the deuce does she not let us put\nsaut in oor ain milk?\u2019\u201d\n\n\n\n\n AVOIDING THE LOOK\n\n\nThe following recited by a Mull woman is interesting as showing that\nsmiths and Druids, or their modern representatives, have still some\naffinity. The reciter told how her mother\u2019s cow had taken suddenly ill\nas her brother Sandy was starting for the smithy. When he arrived there\nhe mentioned the circumstance to the smith. \u201c\u2018And did your mother no\nsend any message to me?\u2019 said the smith. Sandy said, \u2018No, she had sent\nno message.\u2019 \u2018Well, I think your mother might ken that anything that\nI could do, I would do for her, and she might have sent for me.\u2019 My\nbrother suggested that he had better come away down to see her, so the\nsmith came down and found my mother very vexed about the cow. He said,\n\u2018The cow is bad enough, but it might have been one of the family, for\nthe one that could do this could do the other thing just as well, but\nwe\u2019ll see what can be done.\u2019 Having taken certain steps, he advised\nher also not to allow any one to see the cow on any account, for three\nwould soon pass, he said, and if she would allow them in to see the\ncow, the cow would be gone. The three were strong, and she would need\nto use all her strength to keep them out. He told her that was all he\ncould do just then, but that she must send Sandy over twice to him for\na bottle. When he went away she told the children not to tell any one\nwhere she was, and she went to the byre to watch the cow. Having got\ntubs she filled them with stones and placed them against the byre door\nwith spades and everything she could think of to keep the door from\nbeing opened. She was not long there when a man passed with a horse and\na dog. He came to the kitchen door and asked the children where their\nmother was, but they did not tell him. He then came to the byre door,\nlifted the sneck, and when it did not yield tried to force it open with\nall his might, saying, \u2018_A Cheit nic Iain, am bheil thu ann sud?_\u2019\n(\u2018Kate, John\u2019s daughter, are you there?\u2019) My mother knew his voice as\nthat of a near neighbour, and answered: \u2018_Tha Iain, tha a\u2019 mhart gu\nbochd agus tha i na laidh cul an doruis \u2019s cha \u2019n urrainn dhuit tighinn\na steach._\u2019 (\u2018Yes, John, the cow is unwell, and she is lying behind\nthe door and you cannot get in.\u2019) My mother had to tell the lie, or he\nwould force the door open. The man went away, and these were the three\nthat the smith had said would come the way\u2014the man and the horse and\nthe dog. And it was that man that had done the harm to the cow, but it\nwas found out in time and the cow got better, but it was that very year\nmy two brothers died, and nobody knows whether he had anything to do\nwith their death or no.\u201d\n\nWe include this under Evil Eye, because there is no statement of any\naccusation of witchcraft against the \u201cman,\u201d or for the matter of that\n\u201cof the horse or the dog.\u201d\n\nIn another case, in which a certain George T., by his devices, cured a\ncow of which he had said it was \u201cbitten, wounded\u201d (_teum_), he asked\nif there had been a man with a black head praising the cow. When he\nwas told that they had no knowledge of such a thing, \u201cWell,\u201d said he,\n\u201cit is a man with a black head that has injured your cow with the Evil\nEye, but be under no anxiety, the cow is all right now.\u201d He asked my\nmother if she had shown to any person the whole of the butter that came\noff the churn. My mother said that she was not showing (was not in the\ncustom of showing) the butter to any one. \u201cThat is right, Flora. For\nall you have ever seen, although you would not keep but as much as the\nsize of an egg, be sure that you do not let the whole of the butter be\nseen by anybody.\u201d\n\nAn Islay farmer\u2019s daughter remembers a certain woman who was supposed\nto possess an Evil Eye, and who paid them occasional visits. So\nterrified were they lest she should interfere with their butter, that\nwhenever they saw her coming while they were churning, they would throw\na cloth over the churn and put it out of sight until the woman left.\n\nFrom Stratherrick, Ross-shire, a reciter said, \u201cWhen she heard so much\ntalk about cattle being injured by the Evil Eye, and the substance\ntaken away, she became afraid of this, and especially when churning\ndisliked anybody to come where the churn was, so much so that she used\nto do the churning in an out-of-the-way corner of the house.\u201d\n\nIt is evidently not so easy to protect a horse or a cow from a glance\nof an Evil Eye, but a lady tells how that, visiting at a farmhouse, she\nsaw the old cook, who had been long in the farmer\u2019s service, running\nin great excitement to gather in a brood of young ducklings that\nwere running about the yard. Being a frequent visitor and intimately\nacquainted with the cook, she asked her what was wrong, and why she\nwas hurrying the ducklings at that hour of the day. \u201cOh,\u201d said the\ncook, \u201cMr. A. is coming up the road, and last time he was here I had a\nbeautiful brood of ducklings, and his eye took them and every one of\nthem died, so I am putting these out of sight in case he should look at\nthem.\u201d\n\nAccording to one authority the influence of an Evil Eye does not cease\nat once with the absence of the possessor. \u201cW. G. lived for some time\non a certain farm; she was supposed to be possessed of the Evil Eye,\nand on one occasion it was particularly noticed that certain animals\nshe had praised died. When removed from the farm, the farmer met with a\nsuccession of misfortunes which were credited to W. G.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n CONVERSION TO BELIEF IN EVIL EYE\n\n\nWe have already seen a case, in which a woman on her own showing\ndemonstrates that it was the influence of others which caused her to\nbelieve in the power of the Evil Eye; but conviction has in some cases\nbeen carried to the minds of men as a result of experience. A man\ntaking a valuable horse from the west coast of Kintyre to Tarbert was,\nafter leaving Musadale, offered a considerable sum for it. He said he\nwould not, could not sell the beast, and though the offer was raised to\nsixty pounds, he still refused and went on his way. Before he reached\nTayinloan the horse fell dead on the road. The owner of the horse,\nconsidered to be a religious man, after this incident could not be\nshaken in his belief in the Evil Eye.\n\nIn another case, a woman having got from her mother a hen, a first-rate\nlayer, an acquaintance came in and the conversation turned upon the\nexcellence of the bird, frankly acknowledged by the owner, who added\nher own quota of praise. The visitor was no time gone when the hen\n\u201cclapped her wings, fell down, and died.\u201d Mrs. G. declared that it has\nbeen her firm belief ever since that it was a case of _cronachadh_.\n\n\n\n\n GIVING AWAY MILK DANGEROUS\n\n\nAll have heard of the belief in the power of witches to acquire\nfor themselves, among other things, the milk and butter of their\nneighbours. This apparently requires some deliberate act of magic,\n\u201cdrawing the tether,\u201d as they say in the north of Ireland, or even\nmilking the pot chain, as reported in the Highlands. In only one case,\nas reported, was this danger ascribed to the owner of an Evil Eye, and\nthe writer is still of opinion that his lady friend, who said, \u201cIf\nan evil-disposed person who possesses an Evil Eye gets a little milk\nfrom another, he or she will be able to operate through that to injure\nall the milk that remains, and even the cows,\u201d had not differentiated\nin her own mind the \u201cEvil Eye\u201d from \u201cwitchcraft.\u201d We will repeat the\nincident.\n\nA suspected woman, living near, one time asked her servant if she\ncould get a little milk daily, her own cow giving none at the time.\nThe servant girl told the lady that the woman was asking milk, and\nthen added, \u201cI will not give it her.\u201d Her mistress said, \u201cOh, you may\ngive it; she needs it, and you can spare it quite well.\u201d The girl said\nit was not that, but showed that she was afraid of the woman getting\nwhat she asked, and thus taking their milk from them and perhaps\ninjuring the cow. Her mistress said there was no fear of that, and the\ngirl yielded, adding, \u201cI know what I\u2019ll do.\u201d What she did was to put\npinches of salt and of sugar in the milk the woman was to get that\nevening, and to take the first mouthful (_bolgam_) of it herself. This,\naccording to prevalent ideas in the district, would hinder the receiver\nof the milk having any power to do harm for the remainder of that\nseason. This performance seems a common precaution in cases where milk\nis given to suspected persons.\n\n\n\n\n SCIENCE VERSUS EOLAS\n\n\nIt will be easily understood that to a believer in the Evil Eye mere\nmodern science, as met with in daily life, in doctors, and veterinary\nsurgeons, is of small account. A well-educated lady, a friend of the\nwriter, advised a neighbour whose cow was ill to send for the vet. The\nanswer was: \u201c_Cha\u2019n eil vet a chum feum sam bith, oir \u2019san a tha bho\nair a cronachadh. \u2019S e rud is fearr eolas fhaotainn air a son._\u201d (\u201cA\nvet is no use whatever, because the cow is _air a cronachadh_; the best\nthing is to get _eolas_ for it.)\u201d\n\nIn that case they didn\u2019t even send for the \u201cvet.\u201d In the following\ninstance a certain preliminary confidence seems to have been shown\nin medical men. The reciter gives this as a very clear case of Evil\nEye. A child had fallen sick; two doctors were attending it, but it\nwas getting worse. The parents, having done all that they could think\nof, requested the aid of a woman who was known to deal with _eolas a\nchronachaidh_. The woman went to see the child, and what she did the\nreciter did not know, but, \u201csure enough, she soon cured the child and\ntold its parents that it had been _air a cronachadh_.\u201d This may have\nbeen \u201csure enough\u201d for those immediately interested, others may be\npermitted to doubt.\n\nIn these cases common sense has generally the minister on its side.\nIn a case already quoted, in which the mother\u2019s milk was supposed\nto have been turned into water in her system by the Tiree woman, her\nmother was sent for. This old lady\u2019s granddaughter tells us, \u201cWhen my\ngrandmother came she suggested that a decent man who was living near\nthem, who was used to work with _eolas_ where people or beasts had been\n_air an cronachadh_, should be called in, but she said they would need\nto go to him secretly, for he had promised the minister that he would\nnot make any more _eolas_. My father and mother agreed, but my mother\nrequested my grandmother to go to the man, because she did not know how\nto go about it. My grandmother went and spoke to the man\u2019s wife first.\nThe wife said, \u2018I am sure he will do what he can for John (the child\u2019s\nfather), but he has promised the minister that he would not make any\nmore of that; but come and speak to him yourself.\u2019 My grandmother\nspoke to the man, who said that he had promised to the minister that\nhe would not do any more of these things. He could not go to her,\nbut she might come back to him again the following day. This was a\nWednesday, and there were only two days of the week on which he could\nmake _eolas_\u2014these were Thursdays and Sundays. When she went back the\nfollowing day, he had not got his cure ready yet, he said, but would\nhave it on Sunday. He told her that her daughter would not have so much\nmilk as she had at first, but would have enough to bring up the child.\nOn Sunday he had the thing ready as he had promised, and he made it\ntwice for her afterwards. That is, he made it three times. He correctly\ndescribed the whole appearance of the woman who had taken the milk\naway, although nobody had ever mentioned about the Tiree _cailleach_\nto him. My mother had plenty of milk after that.\u201d\n\nWe can scarcely wonder at the minister objecting to this magical\npractitioner when we consider the nature and the time of his\nperformance. An old Islay man says that when he was a young man he\nwas very intimate with a woman who had knowledge of the curing of\ntoothache (_eolas deide_). She was a relative of his own, and many\na time she offered to teach him the words she used. She could teach\nthem to a male, not to a female. He was young at the time, and did not\nlike to learn them, for some people were saying that it was a sort of\nwitchcraft (_buideachas_), but it was not that, for the words were all\ngood words. They were taught by the Saviour, who taught them first to\nHis mother. Our reciter went on to say that this toothache cure is of\nno use, and need not be tried, in any case beyond a first or second\nattack. It is hard to make it succeed even in the case of a second\nattack, and beyond that it can have no effect whatever. Neither will it\ndo in a case where the sufferer has his tooth taken out.\n\nThese latter confessions were doubtless memories of the instructions\nof the teacher. Our old friend did not repeat the formula, but it has\nappeared elsewhere.[6]\n\nThe \u201csome\u201d who said that _eolas_ was a sort of witchcraft seem\nundoubtedly to be right, unless, of course, we admit that their\naction is based on a scientific understanding. The Evil Eye itself is\nunconscious, and therefore a natural phenomenon like measles or hay\nfever, but its cure is a good deal like that employed for hay fever in\nmany cases, more empirical than scientific.\n\n[6] \u201cGaelic Incantations, with Translations,\u201d W. Mackenzie, p. 55 _et\nseq._\n\nWe are lucky in being able to give in his own words medical science as\nexpounded by a Gaelic-speaking tailor, a simple-minded man of about\nseven-and-thirty, a man who can read and can work, but with no special\naffection for either. He belongs to one of the inner islands:\u2014\n\n\u201c_Tha Eolas nathrach ann, agus tha Eolas deide ann. Tha Eolas sul,\nagus Eolas greim, agus Eolas chronachaidh ann. Eolas gach ni, \u2019na aite\nfein. Ma lotar neach le nathair, faigheadh e Eolas nathrach: agus\n\u2019nuair bhios an deide air duine faigheadh e Eolas deide; agus mar sin\nleis gach ni eile. Is aithne dhomh fhein da neo tri, a fhuair leigheas\nairson lot nathrach. Tha na facail th\u2019 aca airson Eolais greim air an\ntoirt as an Tiomnadh nuadh, pios an so, agus pios an sin; agus iad sin\nair an sgriobhadh air paipear, agus am paipear sin air fhuaigheal air\nan taobh a steach de chot\u2019 an duine air an robh an greim. Cuiridh so an\ngreim air falbh. B\u2019aithne dhomh fhein duine a dh\u2019 fheuch so, agus rinn\ne feum dha. Ach feumaidh duine bhi cinnteach gum bu na facail ceart\naige. Agus tha na facail airson eolas deide air an cuir air paiper,\nagus am paiper air fhuaigheal an taobh a stigh de aodach duin\u2019 air a\ncheart doigh. Ach ma tha na fiaclan air falbh, cha dean e math sam\nbith, ach ma tha iad slan fathast, ni e feum, agus cha tig an deide air\nais tuille._\n\n\u201d_Chuala mi iomadh uair na facail th\u2019 aca airson Eolas sul; ach\nbheir mi dhuibh na chrunas an t-iomlan\u2014ni a thug Mathair da Mac gus\nolc a chumail air falbh, bho\u2019n bhainne agus bho\u2019n chuinneag. So na\nbriatharan:\u2014_\n\n \u2018_\u2019Nuair a ni thu toiseachadh.\n Cuir dorlach math salainn ann.\n Cuir bun \u2019us barr an neonain ann.\n Cuir mionach roin, \u2019us gearr fheidh ann.\n Buain slat de\u2019n chaoran a nall o aodann Eallasaid.\n Snathain dearg le snuim teann\n Air a chuir mu cheann a\u2019 chratachan.\n \u2019S ged a thigeadh buidseach Hendry.\n Cheannsaicheadh am balach i._\u2019\n\n_Tha sibh a faicinn, bha \u2019m buidseach Hendry anns a Bhioball. B\u2019 ise\u2019\nm buidseach bu laidire bha beo riomh; ach nam faigheadh neach sambith\nna nithe sin uile, agus an cuir gu feum, cha b\u2019 urrainn dhise neo\ndo bhuidseach sam bith eile a chron a dheanadh. Chunnaic mi fein an\nsnathain dearg air clann, gus olc a chumail bhuapa._\u201d\n\n(\u201cThere is serpent knowledge (serpent bite) and toothache knowledge.\nThere is eye knowledge and stitch (gripes) knowledge and hurt knowledge\n(by Evil Eye or Witchcraft). Knowledge of each thing in its own place.\nIf any person is wounded by a serpent let him get serpent knowledge,\nand when a man has toothache let him get toothache knowledge, and so\nwith every other thing. I myself know two or three who got a cure for\nserpent bites. The words they have for curing stitch (gripes) are taken\nfrom the New Testament, a bit here and a bit there, and these written\nupon paper, and that paper sewn in the inside of the coat of the person\nwho had the stitch. This will put the stitch away. I knew a man that\ntried this, and it was of use to him. But one must be sure that he has\ngot the right words. And the words for toothache knowledge are put on\npaper, and the paper sewn inside a person\u2019s clothes in the same manner.\nBut if the teeth are gone it will do no good, but if they are still\nwhole it will do good, and the toothache will not return any more.\n\n\u201cI have often heard the words they have for eye knowledge, but I will\ngive you what crowns the whole, the thing a Mother gave to her Son to\nkeep evil away from the milk and from the churn. Here are the words:\u2014\n\n \u2018When you make a beginning\n Put a good handful of salt in it.\n Put root and flower of the daisy in it.\n Put the entrails of a seal and a hare in it.\n Cut a wand of rowan over from the face of Ellasaid.\n A red thread with a tight knot\n Put on the head of the churn staff.\n And should the witch Hendry (of Endor) come.\n The boy would conquer her.\u2019\n\n\u201cYou see the witch Hendry was in the Bible. She was the strongest witch\nthat ever lived, but if any person would get all these things and use\nthem, she, or any other witch, could not do him injury. I have myself\nseen the red thread on children to keep evil from them.\u201d)\n\nThe above is undoubtedly sheer witchcraft, white witchcraft, if you\nlike. It is not then surprising that the evidence is not in favour of\nthese _eolas_ professors being held in much social esteem. A native\nof Harris, talking of one of them, said: \u201cNotwithstanding the wide\nreputation the man had, and the many who went to seek advice, he was\nnot held in high esteem, and this part of his occupation was not\nadmired although so many took advantage of his services.\u201d The reciter\nhimself spoke of him as _bodach granda_ (nasty old man).\n\nA Gaelic-speaking minister gave the following information. It refers to\nArran. He knew several old women who professed _eolas a chronachaidh_,\nbut he did not hold a high opinion of them. One case, however, he\nremembers especially in this connection. A lad was taken suddenly ill,\nsupposed to be a case of _cronachadh_. An old woman, who was respected\nin the district, came to see him, and going above him in the bed, made\nmotions with her hands over him and on her own person, repeating an\nincantation of some length at the same time. The lad recovered. The\nreciter admits the fact, but does not incline to accept the _eolas_\nperformance as having caused the recovery.\n\nA reciter in Mull was telling before her mother of the operations of a\n_cailleach_ of this sort, when the mother added, she herself had spoken\nwith the woman, she was a decent body, and assured her that there was\nnothing whatever wrong in what she did for the cure of cattle when hurt\nby the Evil Eye. The words used were good, and she repeated them, but\nshe added that a great deal depended upon the person who applied for\n_eolas_, and that, unless such a person believed that a cure would be\neffectual, there was little use in what she herself could do, and no\nuse at all in the contents of the bottle which she supplied. It might\njust as well be thrown out on the roadside.\n\n\n\n\n HURTER AND HEALER\n\n\nA farmer\u2019s wife, an old woman, but smart and intelligent, and showing\nno failure of memory, expressed the following opinion:\u2014\n\nThe power to do injury to beast or person, and the power to cure such\nan injury appeared to have been given to different classes of people.\nThose who did injury were supposed to be malevolent, and of course held\nin bad repute, while the curers were looked upon as for the good of\npeople and to be respected. What the one did was called _cronachadh_,\nand what the other did _beannachadh_ (blessing).\n\nTo another, an Islay lady, the remark was made that _cronachadh_ was a\nstrange thing. In answer she said: \u201cYes, but _beannachadh_ was quite\nas strange.\u201d \u201cWhat is that?\u201d \u201c_Fiosrachadh or eolas._\u201d (Knowledge the\nresult of inquiry, and knowledge apparently arrived at in any way, say\nby revelation.)\n\nThat is one side of the picture. We see the other in the following:\u2014\n\n\u201cThere was a lad at service at one time with Malcolm here beside us. He\nwas one of the T\u2019s. He was in the habit of coming to this house, and\nmy father said to myself, I should not have too much to do with him,\nfor that there was something bad in him. It was maintained that his\nfather had _eolas_, and people would be going to him when a beast or\nperson was unwell, but those that have the one thing, the knowledge\nof healing, it is usual for them to have the other thing, knowledge to\ncause injury also.\u201d The reciter believed that this lad deliberately\ndid them an injury, and after recounting the particulars said, \u201cMy\nfather advised us not to show any anger to the lad for fear he might do\nsomething worse to us, if he were to know that we were angry. \u2018That is\nthe way the like of these people have. If they do harm to a person and\nhe shows anger they will do him more harm.\u2019\u201d\n\nA domestic servant, speaking of an old woman that she knew very well,\nsaid: \u201cShe was known as Mairi Siath (Mary of sprains?) and was looked\nupon as one who had a great deal of secret power by which she could do\nboth harm and good. People were afraid to offend her, and would give\nher almost anything she would ask rather than offend her.\u201d The said\nMary, having been consulted about unsuccessful churning, \u201cbrought back\nthe butter every bit that should have been on the churn from the time\nit had been taken away, and there was so much that the mistress was\nafraid to use it in the house, for she said it could not have come in a\nright way. She gave it away, and after that they always got butter on\nthe churn.\u201d\n\nThere is no doubt that the girl who repeated this believed what she\nwas telling as of her own knowledge. The only explanation that occurs\nto one is that the milk, having been for some reason poor for a time\nfrom bad feeding or some such thing, the food having become better and\nricher, the milk was thereby improved to such an extent as to give the\nappearance, especially in comparison with the small yield before, of a\nsomewhat supernatural supply.\n\nThe same belief in the power of hurting and healing being united in one\nperson has been already mentioned in connection with an Arran shepherd\non page 19.\n\nOne other case as reported was that of an Islay farmer who, on one\noccasion riding along the road, passed a man ploughing with a pair of\nhorses. Shortly thereafter the horses lay down, having become to all\nappearance unwell. A messenger was immediately despatched after the\nfarmer, who, hearing what had happened, returned, and at any rate got\nthe credit of curing the animals.\n\n\n\n\n TRANSMISSION OF EOLAS\n\n\nIt has already been mentioned how a woman who possessed a toothache\ncure was willing to impart the necessary formula (incantation) to a\n\u201crelative\u201d who was a male, but could not do it to a female. That case\nwas in Islay.\n\nThe following information from Skye shows the belief that _eolas_ is\nimparted in the same way and under like circumstances there. This\nSkye woman was believed to have the Evil Eye, and to have the power\nof taking away the produce (_an toradh_) from other\u2019s cows. When she\nwas on her deathbed, and when she came very near her end, she said to\nthose about her that she was anxious to see her husband. He happened at\nthat particular time to be out looking after something, and they sent\nfor him, but all the time till he came in she kept crying for him, and\nurging that she wished to see him. When he came in she requested that\nall the others should withdraw, and when they had done so she said\nto her husband to shut the door that there might be nobody there but\nthemselves alone. What took place between them there nobody ever knew,\nbut one thing people firmly believed, that was that she gave the skill\nthat she had to her husband, for after that he could take away the\n_toradh_ from other people\u2019s cows, and did take it away too.\n\nHowever, authorities do not always agree as to changing the sex in the\ntransmission of this magic.\n\nA native of Harris, a woman of about forty, has no English, and can\nneither read nor write. When asked as to her experiences, and if she\nhad ever seen a thread tied round a child\u2019s neck to preserve it from\nthe effects of the Evil Eye, she said: \u201cI did see it; wasn\u2019t there one\non my own child? and that was for A. McE.\u2018s Evil Eye. She has an Evil\nEye (_Droch shuil_), and one day she came into the house and began to\npraise the child greatly. She was only a short time gone when the child\nbegan to vomit. \u2018O Kate,\u2019 said I to my sister, \u2018my child is _air a\ncronachadh_ with the Evil Eye of that woman.\u2019 \u2018If that is all that is\nwrong, we won\u2019t be long putting it right,\u2019 said Kate, and she took a\nred thread, and when she had said the word, she tied the string on the\nchild\u2019s neck, and there was no time till it was quite well.\u201d She was\nasked whether Kate had the words, and she replied, \u201cOh yes, my mother\nhad them and she taught them to Kate.\u201d\n\nThe general trend of belief is that the hereditary transmission of\n_eolas_ is from father to daughter, and from mother to son. A reciter\nsaid: \u201cA woman still lives in the neighbourhood, said to have obtained\nher _eolas_ secret from her father. She is often requisitioned, and her\nskill to cure fully believed in.\u201d\n\nAnother said: \u201cYou know A. McE. His mother had _eolas a chronachaidh_,\nand he said that she left the secret with him before she died.\u201d These\nwere \u201cunprovoked\u201d statements of the reciters, and in the latter case\nthe interest of the story was in pointing out the method taken to\ndetermine whose Evil Eye had affected a sick horse. The owner was told\nto watch the colour of the hair of the first woman that passed the\nhouse, which would be the same as that of the person wanted. The result\nwas given in the following terms, \u201cNow she is blaming Mrs. MacD.\u201d\n\nIn all these cases we see that the _eolas_ was kept in the family, or\nat least believed to be so. The deathbed scene of the wife and husband\nmay be a most uncharitable suggestion of heathenism, but the recital\nwas made in good faith.\n\nThe witch doctor sometimes apparently requires assistance. A horse\nbeing taken ill while ploughing, supposed to be hurt by the Evil\nEye, the farmer refused to have anything to do with these irregular\npractices. The horse died. Not long after a second took ill, and as the\nploughman, the reciter, said, \u201cWe were all about it saying it could be\ncured.\u201d At last the master said if there was any person who could do\nit they might try it, it would do no harm at any rate. There was a man\nthere that had _eolas_, and he took another man out with him, and they\nmade the _eolas_ outside. They did nothing to the horse, but while they\nwere out making the _eolas_ the horse got up, shook itself, and was\nbetter at once.\n\nIn Arran, as elsewhere, _cronachadh_ seems to be regarded as\nhereditary. One reciter said of a man at Loch Ranza that it did not\nmatter what he would look at, his look would _cronach_ it. A lad from\nanother part of the island went to ask a daughter of this man to marry\nhim, and when the nearest neighbour heard of his courtship she became\nexceedingly angry, and protested against any of that man\u2019s daughters\nbeing brought there \u201cto _cronaich_ everything about the place.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n FORMS OF INCANTATION\n\n\nFor specimens of these incantations the reader should refer to \u201cGaelic\nIncantations, with Translations,\u201d W. Mackenzie, Inverness, 1895; and\nto \u201cCarmina Gadelica,\u201d A. Carmichael, Edinburgh, 1900. Above we have\nalready given one as recited, but they are hard to get, there being\nmany reasons why the user is shy of repeating them. One thing is\ncertain, that a complete performance of any of these rites requires the\nrepetition of \u201cwords,\u201d as they say, of some sort. In far the majority\nof cases, the words are what are called \u201cgood\u201d words, having a sanction\nof Christianity about them, being generally invocations of the Trinity\nand of Mary. As a native of Morven said, describing a cure in which\nwater is used at a certain stage, \u201cThe person making the _eolas_ kept\nsaying good words.\u201d Another woman from Mull, describing a cure done by\nherself, said: \u201cI remember a child I cured myself with good words that\nI have. It was very ill, and nearly gone when I took it and placed it\nin my bosom and cured it. I said the words over it, but after curing\nit I was very much exhausted until I got a cup of tea, and then I\nfelt myself getting better.\u201d When requested to repeat the words, she\naffirmed that they were all good words, and that it was in the name\nof the Trinity she did it; but she went over the words in such a low\nvoice, and with so indistinct a pronunciation and so fast, that the\ncollector found it quite impossible to follow.\n\nThe writer was mentioning these circumstances to a lady visiting\nhim who gave the following example, which aptly illustrates how the\nperformance of some ceremony can form a foundation for belief in their\nbeneficial activity. Her sister\u2019s child of three weeks old was lying\nexceedingly ill and two medical men were in attendance, one having been\ncalled in as a consultant.\n\nThey told my visitor themselves that the child could not live. The\nfamily are Scotch, but this occurred in the neighbourhood of London.\nThe monthly nurse suggested and urged baptism. The clergyman was sent\nfor, and while going through the ceremony the child, who had been\nlying motionless, made some slight movement. Within two days that\nchild had recovered, and is at the time of writing this as many years\nold as it was then weeks. The consultant subsequently expressed his\ndissatisfaction with the infant for having belied his prognosis.\n\nIn a case from Mull a servant, having been sent for a means of cure to\na woman supposed to have skill, she found her in bed. She sat up, took\nthe bottle containing water which had been sent for, put the mouth of\nit to her own mouth, and began to say some words over it. The words\nwere spoken in a low tone, but so far as was recognised they were all\n\u201cgood\u201d words.\n\nIn the case of a sick horse already quoted, the man who saw it went at\nonce for G. T., then herding in the neighbourhood. The description of\nthe interview is as follows: \u201cWhen I reached him he said, \u2018Peter, you\nneed not tell me your business here.\u2019 I said, \u2018No.\u2019 We went together to\na little stream, and he said that I might now tell him what had brought\nme. When I told him, he asked me if I had tobacco. They do nothing\nwithout pay; not money, but tobacco and things like that. I knew he\nwould ask for it, and I had it with me, and when I gave it him he asked\nif I had a bottle. I had a good notion of every turn he had, and so had\ntaken a bottle with me, and when I gave it to him he turned his back\nto me and began lifting the water and saying the words. There was not\na bad word in all he said, no, no. He said to me when he gave me the\nbottle and told me how to use it, \u2018Your horse will be all right, Peter,\nas soon as you use it.\u2019\u201d His statement came true.\n\nThings are not, however, always reported as of such an innocent\nand Christian character. A collector happened to be present at a\nconversation between two believers in the Evil Eye. One of them said,\n\u201cThose who are working at such as that, applying _eolas_, are not\nhelped but by the \u2018bad one,\u2019 for if it were that they were doing good\nthey would not need to be hiding themselves when they would be at it.\nP. McL., a decent man, said his cow was injured, and sent for A. T.\nThe cow was in a little hut, and when A. went in where the cow was P.\nput his ear to a little window that was in the wall, and he said, that\nwhen he heard such language as A. had, he would never again send for\nher should every cow he would have be unwell. She put her cap under her\ntwo knees\u2014she was bare-headed and with her knees bare, but kneeling on\nher cap apparently\u2014and she prayed to the vile one. (\u2018_Ghuidh i ris an\nfhear mhosach._\u2019) B. said, \u2018Was that the time she said that my father\u2019s\nbrother injured the cow?\u2019 That was the very time. You were living\nbeside P. then.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n FORM OF PAYMENT\n\n\n\u201cThe labourer is worthy of his hire.\u201d A case has been already given\nwhere the reciter said that nothing was done without pay, but not of\nmoney. We must not generalise in that way. A native of Tiree says,\nspeaking of his experience in the cure of a horse of his father\u2019s, \u201cAll\nthese _eolas_ folk must get a piece of silver. It may be a shilling\nor two shillings. This they say makes the cure more certain, and they\ncannot promise a cure without it. The lad took with him a two-shilling\npiece and went to an _eolas_ man who lived five miles away.\u201d\n\nApparently the silver is given in the form of money as the most\nconvenient medium, though there is good reason for the supposition that\nthe whiteness of silver makes it specially appropriate as a medium of\nremuneration.\n\nThe instance in which the child that was ill is described as if singing\n\u201cdo re do,\u201d the woman who cured it received from the father tea and\nsugar which he had taken with him when he went to consult her; but she\nsaid to \u201cmy man\u201d (it was the mother who recited the incident) \u201cthat she\nwas not wanting anything and would do it for us for nothing, but that\nhe would need to come back with white silver. I sent him back with a\nsixpence to give her.\u201d\n\nAn innkeeper, a well-read, shrewd woman of about five-and-forty, tells\nof a case with which she was well acquainted in which a near neighbour\nconsulted an old man, wanting him to bring back her butter. \u201cShe said\nthat she would pay him if he would bring it back to her.\u201d He said that\nhe did not want payment, but at the same time he could not bring it\nback unless he were paid in silver for doing so; that being so, he\nwould require to take something from her, as otherwise the cure would\nnot be successful. So she gave him the silver and soon had all the\nbutter that she lost.\u201c\n\nAnother reciter having been accustomed to do the churning in his\nfather\u2019s house, after his father\u2019s death, his stepmother sent for him\nbecause she herself could not get any butter from the churn. He did\nhis best, but was unsuccessful. Having had a horse cured by _eolas_,\nhe suggested that the same man should be consulted. The man arrived,\nand the case was explained, the woman stating, \u201c_Feuch gun toir sibh\ndhachaidh an toradh oir tha e air falbh._\u201d (\u201cTry if you can bring back\nthe due produce, for it is gone.\u201d) \u201cI\u2019ll do that,\u201d he said, and he did\nit by his _eolas_; there was plenty butter on the churn. It cost the\nwoman a crown, but if it did, that was better than that the butter\nshould be lost.\n\nA woman who prepared a bottle for a sick cow charged the man who\nconsulted her \u201ctwo shillings for the bottle, and when she took the\nmoney she poured a little water on it and spat on it.\u201d She might, one\nwould think, with advantage have changed the order of her proceedings.\n\nA sick bull which the veterinary surgeon had given up was referred to\nan _eolas_ woman, the principal argument being that her assistance\n\u201cwould only cost a shilling.\u201d She ordered a bucket of water to be\nthrown over the animal, and it recovered.\n\nA Mull woman tells how her grandmother when newly married, after having\nreared calves, could only get butter of such an ugly colour that nobody\nwould eat it, and it was used for greasing wool before carding. She was\nasked by a neighbour for a bowl of butter one day, and accused of greed\nfor refusing it while she had eight cows. She explained the position,\nand was then advised to consult an old man, the neighbour adding that\nshe would be coming back in a fortnight, when there would be plenty\nof butter to give her. The results of the consultation were fairly\nsuccessful, though the _eolas_ man explained that she would not for\nthat year have so much butter as she should have, but that she should\nconsider herself lucky that her cattle had not died. The reciter then\nsaid that her grandmother gave the man \u201cplenty for his trouble, but did\nnot grudge it.\u201d When the old woman called on her way back she said,\n\u201cWell, you can give me the butter now.\u201d To which her friend replied,\n\u201cYes, I am thankful to you that I can.\u201d And she gave her a good bowl of\nbutter.\n\nIn the above case payment seems to have been in kind. A native of\nArdnamurchan tells of a neighbour of her mother\u2019s who had a number\nof cows and lost the due product of the whole of them. Her mother\u2019s\npeople were sitting down to dinner when a beggar woman came and asked,\n\u201c_An sibhse a\u2019 bhoirionnach a chaill an toradh?_\u201d (\u201cAre you the woman\nwho has lost the milk and butter?\u201d) \u201cMy mother was very fond of her\nneighbour, and thinking she might find out on her behalf how the milk\nmight be got back, she answered that she was. The beggar woman said,\n\u2018_Ma bheir sibh dhomh lan meise de mhin bheir mise air ais dhuibh e._\u2019\n(\u2018If you will give me a (wooden) dishful of meal I will bring it back\nto you.\u2019) My mother said that she would give her all that was on the\ntable if she would bring it back, and then ran to the neighbour\u2019s house\nto tell what she had heard. They returned together and told the beggar\nwoman whose cows really had been ill.\u201d They are said to have been\ncured. Here also the payment was promised in kind.\n\nA native of Harris tells us of an old man in Stornoway much consulted,\nwho \u201cwould undertake for so much money to bring milk and butter back.\u201d\n\nAn Islay man gives us \u201c_ni a chunnaic mise mi fein_\u201d (\u201ca thing I saw\nmy own self\u201d). This was the cure of his father\u2019s cow. A certain George\nT. \u201ccame the way\u201d \u201c_b\u2019e duine corr bha ann an Deorsa so, aig an robh\nmoran sgil mu\u2019n chronachaidh_.\u201d (\u201cThis George was a decent man, he had\nmuch skill about _cronachadh_.\u201d) The cure is described, and the reciter\ncontinued: \u201c_Cha b\u2019e duine bha\u2019 n an Deorsa a ghabhadh rud sam bith:\n\u2019se sin cha ghabhadh e pris airson a sheirbhis ann a leithid so do\nni._\u201d (\u201cGeorge was not a man that would take anything for his service\nin such a thing as this.\u201d) \u201cAnd my mother said to him, \u2018Will you take\na cup of tea, George?\u2019 \u2018It is I that will,\u2018 he said, for he had been\nabout the cow a long time. When they were taking the tea they were\nkeeping an eye on the cow now and again. She took a long time that she\ndid not bend down her head, but at last she gave a shake to herself,\nand George said to my mother, \u2018Your cow is right, woman.\u2019 In a little\nwhile she gave the next shake, and again the third shake, and with that\nshe was as well as she had ever been.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n THE NECESSITY OF FAITH\n\n\nA native of Lewis who professed disbelief in the Evil Eye, though she\nknew numbers who did believe, was advised when her cow was ill to send\nfor a skilled woman. She refused. A woman who was in the habit of\nassisting when they were busy, being told she might do as she liked,\nwent to the _eolas_ woman. When our reciter, Mrs. McN., looked into the\nbyre shortly afterwards she found the servant girl and the occasional\nassistant hiding a bottle. \u201cI asked them what they had in the bottle.\nThe woman answered that she had just gone to K. McI. for _eolas_, and\nthat that was what was in the bottle. They had put it in the cow\u2019s ears\nand over her back in the name of the Trinity, and the woman remarked\nthat if it would not do good it would do no harm at any rate. I told\nthem again that I did not believe in it at all, and as it turned out\nI did not need to believe it, for the cow died not long after. But if\nI did not believe the woman did, and so did the person who had made\nthe _eolas_, and they maintained that it was because I did not believe\nin it that it failed to cure the cow, for it is believed the success\nof _eolas a chronachaidh_ in its attempts to cure depends much upon\nwhether it is believed in or not.\u201d\n\nCompare this with the statement of another reciter, who on hearing of\na case of cure said, \u201cWhen I was herding, one of the cows was _air a\ncronachadh_, but the people did not believe in _eolas_, and if it had\nnot been that some of the neighbours went to A. T. the cow was dead.\u201d\n\nIn another case in which the owner of the sick cow said that there was\nmany a thing that might happen to a beast, and that she did not believe\nthat the cow had been hurt by the Evil Eye. A friend persisted in her\nopinion that it was the Evil Eye, and when the reciter\u2019s mother refused\nto send for _eolas_, the woman went off herself and came back with a\nbottle which she sprinkled on the cow, and in less than an hour the\ncow was eating as well as ever, and before the water had been put on\nher she was groaning and would neither eat nor move. The probability\nis, of course, that if no success had followed the application of the\nremedy, want of faith on the part of the owner might have been urged as\na reason for failure.\n\n\n\n\n PREVENTING EVIL BY BLESSING\n\n\nA young man who could read and write, the son of a decidedly\nsuperstitious father, said if any one were praising another person\u2019s\nbeast, and danger was suspected, because praising by one that has an\nEvil Eye is dangerous, if the owners say \u201cGod bless it\u201d that would\nprevent any mischief happening.\n\nA native of Bernera (Harris) mentioned as among the ordinary\nprecautions effective against the Evil Eye a person blessing himself.\nWhile another mentioned the keeping of ripe rowans (_caorain dearg_)\nbeside him, or regularly blessing himself and his belongings, as\nsufficient to prevent any injury coming to him from the Evil Eye or\nWitchcraft. This blessing seems to have been done in quite a formal\nway. An old believer who can read Gaelic remembers having seen cattle\nblessed for the purpose of keeping away evil, and when she was young it\nwas common in the district where she was brought up, when neighbours\nvisited one another, for the visitor on entering the house to bless\nboth the house and the people living in it. In this connection she\ntold the following story: \u201cThere was at one time living in the Harris\ndistrict of Islay a gentleman trained in the knowledge of the \u2018Black\nArt\u2019 (_Sgoil Dhubh_). He visited the Laird of Balinaby and took from\nevery cow on his estate its due produce (_toradh_). He and the Laird\npassed this cow, and the visitor remarked: \u2018You have a witch on the\nestate.\u2019 \u2018No,\u2019 said the Laird. \u2018Oh yes, there is no doubt of it.\u2019\n\u2018Well, if there is, it is without my knowledge.\u2019 \u2018To whom does that cow\nbelong?\u2019 \u2018To a widow that lives in the house over there.\u2019 \u2018Well, she\nmust be a witch, for I can take the produce from every cow on the place\nexcept that one, but I am beat with her.\u2019\u201d\n\nBalinaby called at the woman\u2019s house and asked her what she did\nto protect her cow. \u201cI do nothing,\u201d said the woman. \u201cYou must do\nsomething, for I find that the _toradh_ can be taken from every cow\non the farm but yours.\u201d \u201cWell,\u201d said she, \u201cI am a God-fearing woman,\nand am thankful to have the cow. Every morning I pray that she may be\npreserved, and when I go to milk her I bless myself and the cow. That\nis all I do.\u201d This is evidently traditional, and is quoted merely as an\nevidence of belief in the protection granted to those who audibly place\nthemselves under the protection of the Deity.\n\nIt is a curious fact that Balinaby (the Abbot\u2019s Town), bulks very\nlargely in the supernatural folklore of Islay.\n\nA native of Tarbat, Ross-shire, already quoted as telling of a child\ntaken ill because the visitor had not blessed it, details that\nvisitor\u2019s action for the cure of the child, when taxed with the\ndereliction, as follows. \u201cShe asked a bowl from my mother and a silver\ncoin, which she got. She put the coin in the bowl, and going to the\nbedside where the child was lying, sprinkled the water on the child\u2019s\nface, and wet her lips and the palms of both her hands. While doing\nthis she blessed the child, repeated some words over it, and in a\nlittle while the bairn was quite well and as brisk as ever.\u201d\n\nThe materials used in this cure will be considered in more detail, but\nthe blessing was evidently an important part of it to repair a neglect\nin the first instance.\n\nAn old lady in Arran remembers being told of an older generation who,\ndesiring not to injure their own or another\u2019s beast lest there should\nbe evil in their eye unknown to themselves, always took the precaution\nof blessing the animal before looking at it. The words they used were\n\u201c_Gum beannaicheadh Dia am beathach_\u201d (\u201cThat God may bless the beast\u201d),\nor \u201c_Gum beannaicheadh Dia an ni air am bheil mo shuil ag amhairc_.\u201d\n(\u201cMay God bless the thing my eye is regarding.\u201d)\n\n\n\n\n PREVENTING BY DISPRAISING\n\n\nThe expression of a blessing seems to be merely a preventative, which\nof course is better than curative, if we accept the general proverb.\nAnother preventative, when the expression of praise seems likely to\nbe hurtful, is to miscall the animal spoken of. A man ploughing, who\nthought very well of his horses, said to his master on seeing another\nhe knew approaching, \u201cHere comes \u2014\u2014, and he will ruin both the horses\nif he can, for he has the Evil Eye.\u201d His master said, \u201cI\u2019ll tell you\nwhat you will do, and if you do it he can do the horses no harm. When\nhe begins to praise either or both just begin to run them down, and be\nsure you say as much against them as he shall say for them.\u201d He of the\nEvil Eye came up, and commencing with \u201cWhat a fine pair of horses you\nhave,\u201d went on to enumerate their good points. The servant objected\nthat they looked better than they were, that their looks were the best\nof them, and for every point in their favour the other mentioned, the\nlad said something to counterbalance it. The other began to show signs\nof impatience, and went on his way not very well pleased with the way\nhis opinions of the horses had been disputed. \u201cWell done, you have\nsaved the horses,\u201d said his master. \u201cDid I do it right?\u201d said the lad.\n\u201cYes, indeed, you could not have said more than you have said.\u201d\n\nA native of Campbeltown is the authority for the following. Mrs. M\u2019F.\nfrom Knapdale resided in Glasgow for some time after her marriage. She\nwas standing at the mouth of the close one day with her first child in\nher arms when a little woman whom she had never seen before, and never\nsaw again, as far as she knows, came across the street, and looking\nat the child began to praise it for its beauty. Mrs. M\u2019F. had not the\npresence of mind to praise it above what the other woman said, nor to\nmiscall it. Had she done either it would have prevented mischief. As it\nwas, the child began to cry as soon as the little woman went away. It\ncontinued crying for a day and a half, and never was right afterwards.\nThe child died. Mrs. M\u2019F. was quite certain it had been injured by the\neye of the little woman.\n\n\n\n\n PREVENTING BY ROWAN AND JUNIPER\n\n\nEvery one knows of the value of the rowan tree as a preventative of\nwitchcraft. It is equally effective apparently against the Evil Eye.\nIt is scarcely worth while dilating on this, but it would not do to\nneglect it. A resident in the Chanonry had a near neighbour terribly\nsuspicious of interference with her cow. She would never allow a cow\naway from her own ground until she had first tied a sprig of rowan to\nits tail.\n\nA native of Kintyre, the opposite side of the country, connects this\nobservance with May Eve, on which occasion it was common to tie a sprig\nof rowan to the cattle\u2019s tails. Above we have mentioned rowan berries\nas equally efficacious with a blessing. The rowan is tied to churns\nas well as to cows\u2019 tails. Another reciter mentions a case in which,\nalong with a bottle, a professor of _eolas_ \u201cwent to the back of his\nhouse, taking a thin slice of juniper wood (_iubhar beinne_), which he\ninstructed was to be put between the wood of the churn and one of its\nhoops.\u201d\n\nOne cannot help speculating as to what may have caused the use of\nthese plants. We have a hint from the Chanonry that the rowan tree was\nattached when the cow left her own ground. Now cows leave their owners\u2019\nground solely when sent to the bull. In connection with the _iubhar_,\nattention is called to the curious, incomprehensible shinty formula in\nwhich the word iubhar occurs:\u2014\n\n_Ciod an caman?_ (What shinty-club?)\n\n_Caman iubhair_ (Shinty-club of yew).\n\n_Ciod an t-iubhar?_ (What yew?)\n\n_Iubhar athair_ (Yew of air),\n\nof which another reciter gave the slightly altered pronunciation,\n_iubhar athar_ (father\u2019s yew).[7]\n\nA native of the Lewis says it was pretty common to protect cows from\nevil influences by the use of a charmed _burrach_ (cow fetter). The\n_burrach_ was made of different things, and when a cow calved it was\nfixed on her hind legs.\n\nThe _burrachs_ the writer has seen were made of hair, possibly they may\nhave made them upon occasion of some tough wood.\n\nNote that it was in calving that the charmed _burrach_ was of\nadvantage, and thus the observances for the protection of the cattle\nare solely connected with their increase.\n\n [7] \u201cGames of Argyle,\u201d pp. 33, 34.\n\n\n\n\n PREVENTING BY HORSE NAILS AND SHOES\n\n\nAn Arran reciter said: \u201cI was one time staying with a friend here,\nand I noticed that a horse nail was tied round the churn. I mentioned\nnothing about it till one day when washing the churn I said, \u2018I suppose\nI may take this off,\u2019 but would she let me, though she did not tell me\nwhy it had been put on, but I soon found that out for myself.\u201d\n\nAnother authority mentions not the nail but the whole shoe. \u201cThe\nproduce of the churn may be effectually protected from the Evil Eye by\nnailing the shoe of a colt or of an ass to the bottom of the churn.\nWhere this is done there are not on earth that can do it harm, and many\npeople always took care not to expose their churn without a shoe of\neither a colt or an ass nailed to it.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n PREVENTING BY A SMALL GIFT\n\n\nA well-informed woman, an innkeeper, said that in cases where a person\npossessed of the Evil Eye admired anything belonging to another, no\ninjury could follow if some little present were given to the suspected\nperson on leaving.\n\nAnother, the daughter of a farmer, an office-bearer in the Church,\nin the same island, gave the same information, but quoting an older\nauthority. Beside her father\u2019s house was a woman who firmly believed\nin the Evil Eye, and the power of preventing it by this gift. The\nhouse commanded a view of the road, so that, for the most part, an old\nwoman suspected who lived in the neighbourhood could generally be seen\napproaching. The woman, to whom the latter was a special object of\nsuspicion, never failed to advise our reciter\u2019s people of the visitor\u2019s\nadvent. Her advice was invariably given earnestly and in the same\nform: \u201c_A ghraidh thoir ni eigin dhi, cha\u2019n eil odds cho beag no cho\nsuarach a bhios e, ach thoir ni eigin dhi agus an sin cha\u2019n urrainn i\ndo chron a dheanamh_.\u201d (\u201cDear, give her something, no odds how little\nor how trifling, but give her something, and then she cannot do you an\ninjury.\u201d)\n\nIn the case of churning the small present naturally takes the form of\na drink of milk to be given to any one suspected of the Evil Eye, and\nso a reciter said that one should always, for safety\u2019s sake, give a\nvisitor a drink of milk, and stated further that the beneficial effect\nwas added to if the one who gives it first take a little of it herself\nbefore handing it to the stranger. As an illustrative incident the\nreciter told how Black Colin of Balinaby when out hunting happened to\ngo to Balimony at the milking time. Not one of them offered him a drink\nof milk, \u201c_Ach coma leat_\u201d (But all the same) the following morning\nwhen the girls went to milk the cows not a drop of milk could they get,\nwhile the cows kept running and roaring as if they were mad. At once\nthe man of Balimony, concluding that the mischief had been done by\nBlack Colin, saddled a horse, rode to Balinaby and took all the milk\nfrom the Balinaby cows, transferring it to his own. When Colin saw\nthis he wrote to Balimony to this effect: \u201c_Leig leamsa agus leigidh\nmise leatsa_\u201d (equivalent to \u201cLet a be for let a be\u201d). The reciter\nadded that the milk was properly distributed thereafter, and that the\nincident was one of Black Art.\n\nTo a student of the old Bardic Irish stories the continual mention of\nthose who are recommended for their liberality to the poetic class\nsimply shows how they used their office for their own advantage. The\ntricks of the non-producers continue the same now as they were in the\ndays of Cairbre. A poor Bodach passed the house of the manager of a\ndetached farm. He asked if he could get a drink. The manager\u2019s wife,\nwho was churning at the time, left her churn and gave him a drink of\nwater. The Bodach took his drink and went away, the woman went back to\nher churn, but let her churn ever so much not a bit of butter could she\nget. The milk became merely froth, and swelled up so that she filled\nall her spare dishes. That churning was no good, nor the next, nor many\nsucceeding ones, till she was afraid to look at her churn. So things\nwere when who should appear but the same old man with the same request.\nThe manager himself being in, translated the request liberally and\ngave him plenty both to eat and drink. After resting a little the old\nman rose to go away, and thanking them for their hospitality, added,\n\u201cIf a poor man ask for a drink, do not give him a drink of water.\u201d The\nsignificant tone suggested to the manager to ask him for advice as\nto bringing back the butter, offering him any reasonable reward and\nputting a piece of money into his hand. This he said he would soon do,\nand told him to tell his wife to clean her dishes and put a piece of\nmoney in the churn and churn the next day. The story goes on to say\nthat every scrap that had been lost was got back in one churning.\n\nAs the story is told the product of each churning must have been but a\nsmall matter, but there can be little doubt that this, if not a Bardic\npraise of hospitality, is a beggar\u2019s one, and the story of course no\nbetter than an _ursgeul_. The reciter added a comment of her own:\n\u201c_Anns na laithean sin cha bhiodh daoine a beannachadh an cuid, agus\nle sin bha e furasda gu leor an cronachadh_.\u201d (\u201cIn those days people\nwere not in the habit of blessing their effects, and so it was an easy\nmatter to do them harm.\u201d) No doubt those were the days before the\nexistence of a Free Church, but it is doubtful if there was much less\nexpression of blessings then than in the present.\n\n\n\n\n A PREVENTATIVE BY BURNING CLOTHING\n\n\nAllusion has already been made, on an Islay authority, to the efficacy\nof burning a piece of the clothing to avert injury from any one\nbringing bad news (page 15). A Tiree reciter gives the same information\na little more fully, and says it protects against witchcraft or the\nEvil Eye. \u201cIf any woman comes into a house who is suspected, those\nof the house should try to get a small piece of some article of her\nclothing, without letting her know that they have got it, and throw it\non the fire; that will prevent her from taking anything away with her\nor leave any mischief when she goes away. If they cannot manage to get\na bit of her own clothing, a good plan is, when she is leaving, to burn\na rag of some kind of cloth in the fire and throw it after her as she\ngoes.\u201d\n\n1 Corinthians, iii. 15. \u201cIf any man\u2019s work shall be burnt, he shall\nsuffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n PREVENTION BY SPITTING\n\n\nA native of Ross-shire and a minister gives the following information.\nWhen he was living in K. a woman there had a child of about nine months\nold. Another woman came in, and looking at the child on its mother\u2019s\narm, remarked, \u201c_Tha balach boidheach priseil agad an sin_.\u201d (\u201cYou\nhave a pretty, dear boy there.\u201d) Without more ado the mother turned\nthe child\u2019s face to her and began to spit in it as hard as she could\nto prevent any bad effect from the other woman\u2019s Evil Eye. The reciter\nsaid he has, in several places, heard of this being done with the view\nof preventing harm, and he has often heard a person in the Isle of\nSkye say \u201c_Fliuch do shuil_\u201d (\u201cWet your eye\u201d) when any person praised\nany of his cattle. The idea was that this would put away the chance of\nmischief.\n\nA native of Mull describes the practice as common there, particularly\nas a preventative of injury to young children. Spit on your finger and\nrub an eye of the child to be protected with the moistened finger. This\nwas called _fliuch an t-suil_ (eye wet), and was commonly practised and\nbelieved by many to be a sufficient protection.\n\nA farmer\u2019s daughter, whose people have been for generations in the same\nplace in Islay, tells how she was scandalised by this practice. \u201cWe had\na web of cloth to sew for the boys, and the tailor we took in had the\nname of the Evil Eye. One day he was sitting on the table sewing, and\nmy brother came into the kitchen to wash himself. He was but a boy at\nthe time, and stripped to his waist. C. B. began to say that his skin\nwas very white, and he was looking very well. _\u2018Fliuch do shuil, \u2019s na\ncronaich mi,\u2019 ars H._ (\u2018Wet your eye, and do not blight me,\u2019 said H.)\n\u2018They will be saying, that if a body will say that when any one who\nhas an Evil Eye is praising them, the Evil Eye can do them no injury.\u2019\nWell, when H. said that, my mother did not know where she was standing,\nshe was so much ashamed. You see the man had the name; if it had not\nbeen for that she would not have cared much.\u201d\n\nBut the performance of the full ceremony is still in use, and it is\ninteresting to be able to give the personal experience of my energetic\nco-worker, to whom I am under so much obligation.\n\n\u201cA native of the Long Island was complimented by me (E. M. K.) recently\non the style of her dress, and the smart appearance it gave her, when,\nto my surprise and amusement, stepping forward and wetting the point\nof her finger by putting it on her tongue, she placed the finger on my\nright eye, saying: \u2018_Fliuch do shuil eagal gum bi mi air mo ghonadh_.\u2019\n(\u2018Wet your eye for fear that I may be wounded.\u2019) She did this very\ngood-naturedly, and explained that when one is the subject of what\nhe may suspect to be envious praise, either in respect of person or\nclothing, he may protect himself from consequences that might result\nfrom the Evil Eye, by performing this ceremony on the one who has done\nthe praising.\u201d\n\nIt would appear that this practice is comparable with the quenching of\na cinder in water\u2014by wetting, the fire of the eye may be supposed to\nbe extinguished beneficially for the one on whom it might have an evil\ninfluence.\n\n\n\n\n PREVENTING BY CHURNING\n\n\nIt is specially difficult to distinguish between the Evil Eye and\nwitchcraft in the case of loss of the due produce of cattle\u2014butter,\ncream, &c. Certain preventatives are good for both. When any one is\nchurning and a visitor enters to whom any suspicion is attached of the\npower of interfering with the butter, any such power can be taken from\nher by getting her to do a spell of the churning. A woman, a strong\nbeliever in witchcraft and the Evil Eye, invariably if she happens to\ngo into a house where churning is going on, takes the churn staff and\ngives a pull at the churn, believing, by this means, that she frees\nherself from suspicion if the churning go wrong. This woman, though a\nprofessed believer in witchcraft and the Evil Eye, neither professes\npractising it nor has ever been suspected by others.\n\nAn Excise officer in Islay kept some cattle. The servant was churning,\nbut though there was an appearance of butter, it could not be brought\nto anything. The mistress of the house wondered what had come over the\nmilk, and a neighbour said that a woman who lived in the neighbourhood,\ncredited with the Evil Eye, had been in, and added, the best plan was\nto send for her and get her to take a spell at the churn, which would\nneutralise any bad influence she might have exerted. Acting on this\nadvice, the woman was sent for, and on coming was requested to give a\nturn at the churn. She did not seem to be very willing, but no further\nremark being made, she took the churn staff and churned for a while,\nand the butter was got all right.\n\nAnother woman who was present when this was told doubted it being in\nanybody\u2019s power to do harm in that way, whereupon the reciter declared\nthat she believed it to be quite true and had experienced it with the\nsame woman, and then detailed how she had caused the fowls to drop\nsoft-shelled eggs, already quoted.\n\nA domestic servant, speaking of this churning difficulty, said that\nwhen she went into houses where they were churning they would not mind\nher. \u201cMany a time,\u201d she added, \u201cthey have asked me to give them help\nwith the churn.\u201d She apparently had not appreciated the reason of her\nassistance being asked.\n\nThe explanation suggested for this procedure is, that if one does not\nwant the churning to be successful they will not do anything to assist\nit; and, _vice vers\u00e2_, if they do give their help it is considered as\nevidence of their desire to bring it to a successful termination.\n\n\n\n\n PREVENTION BY PECULIARITY IN CLOTHES\n\n\nWhen speaking of the liability of nice-looking, well-dressed children\nsuffering injury, the prevention by turning an article of clothing\noutside in was mentioned. The authorities in these cases are from\nHarris and from Islay. To show further the extent of this belief, a\nRoss-shire man says a thing he has often seen done for the prevention\nof evil influences was to turn a child\u2019s coat or other garment wrong\nside out, because: \u201cIt is believed that a witch is rendered powerless\nin respect of any person who happens at the time when they might be\ninjuriously affected to be wearing any article of clothing wrong side\nout.\u201d\n\nAnother preventative in connection with clothing also comes from\nHarris. When a dress is put on for the first time a small burning peat\nor burning stick is waved over it, inside and out, and this is believed\nto be an efficient protection of the wearer from an attack by the Evil\nEye. This is evidently the purification by fire already alluded to.\n\nAttracting the Evil Eye by a piece of cloth also appears in the\nfollowing from a farmer and office-bearer in the church, a man of about\nseventy, but an undoubted believer in what we may call superstitions.\nWhere he was brought up a rag was put in a _bruchag_ (cranny) of the\nwall at the head of every milk cow in the byre as a protection against\nthe Evil Eye.\n\n\n\n\n TAR AS PREVENTATIVE\n\n\nThe application of hot pitch to open wounds in ancient surgery is a\nwell-known fact. It may have acted as an antiseptic, and like its\ncongener tar applied for skin eruptions, may have so got into popular\nuse as a preventative of evil. In the island of Islay tar was well\nknown as an application against the Evil Eye, but its use seems to have\nbeen restricted to Beltane night, May Eve. One of our reciters, a man\nnow of about fifty, when herding cattle as a boy remembers how all the\ntime he was on the farm of C. at a fixed hour on _Oidhche Bhealtuinn_\nhe went to the byre with the farmer and his son. They took with them a\nsmall pot of tar and a bit of stick, little larger than an egg-spoon.\nOur reciter held the dish while the son took hold of the ears of each\nof the cattle in turn and the old man put a little tar into each ear\nwith the stick. If any words were spoken the boy did not hear them.\n\nAnother old man, a man of eighty, can neither read nor write, without\nany English, adds to the putting it in the ears that it was also put on\nthe noses of the cattle for the purpose of \u201cpreventing injuries from\nthe Evil Eye.\u201d\n\nAnother, a woman of about fifty-five, says her father was regular in\nthe habit of putting tar on the horns of his cows on May Eve to protect\nthe beasts from the Evil Eye.\n\nA fourth reciter says he has often seen it put on the horns and ears,\nand also rowan berries tied to the cows\u2019 tails on the same occasion,\nand adds that this was usually accompanied with the repeating of some\ngood words to protect the beasts from being hurt with the Evil Eye.\n\nThe germicide powers of tar products seem to have been further\nreaching, and even more highly appreciated in those days than they are\nnow.\n\n\n\n\n NICKING THE EAR\n\n\nThe ears, we now see, played a prominent part in the treatment of\n_cronachadh_, and we learn on the authority of a minister how that\nin the case of a quey supposed to be affected by the Evil Eye, the\nowner loosed it from its stall, cut a slit in its ear, repeating some\nincantation the while.\n\nFrom a man of about fifty-five, a joiner, we have confirmation of this.\nHe remembers of a beast dying where he lived when he was a boy, and of\nseeing the woman to whom the animal belonged and another _cailleach_\nsitting over the dead beast cutting a piece out of its ear. They kept\nthe piece they cut. On asking why the women were handling the dead\nanimal, he was told that the piece cut from its ear would prevent an\nEvil Eye affecting the rest of the cattle.\n\nWeak or unhealthy eyes are in popular belief cured by piercing the ear\n(and wearing earrings).\n\n\n\n\n URINE AS PREVENTATIVE\n\n\nThe detergent, and let us say with all gravity, the cleansing power of\nstale urine, is well known, and it is hardly to be wondered at when we\nfind this used to clear away, as it were, evil influences.\n\n\u201cThere was at one time a farmer in Gruinart who used regularly to\nsprinkle his cows when putting them out with the contents of the\nchamber pot. This was with the view of protecting them against\nwitchcraft, and I have done that myself.\u201d\n\nOur informant for this was a woman of about sixty. This is supported by\nanother reciter in Islay, who said it was done in the morning.\n\nTwo other reciters tell that it was done in spring, or the early part\nof summer, when they were put out on the grass \u201cfor the first time that\nseason.\u201d The sprinkling was done with a broom from the chamber pot as\nthe cattle were passing out of the byre.\n\nWhat was good for cows was also considered good for horses; they\nalso got their share of attention. Finally, in this particular, an\nintelligent crofter\u2019s wife who can read, and is of about seventy years\nof age, informs us that it was customary to collect the bedroom slops\nfor a day or two before the birth of a child. So soon as the child\nwas born, to prevent any mischief from _cronachadh_, the house was\nsprinkled both outside and in. She saw this done in her mother\u2019s house.\n\nThe remark that this sprinkling was done when the cattle were first\nturned out, and of a statement that it was common among farmers to\nhave the services of a man believed to have _colas_ to notch the ears\nof cattle on May Eve against witchcraft, have to be taken together,\nMay Day being supposed to be a specially active moment for the witch\nsisterhood. Two reciters mention this sprinkling with \u201csalt\u201d and\n\u201curine\u201d in connection with each other. That they were looked upon\nas having somewhat the same action there can be no doubt, whatever\nanalogy drawn between the two may have existed in the mind of the\nreciter. One of the two reciters gave an instance which, though\nundoubtedly unperceived by the narrator, throws a sidelight upon the\nideas connected with it. The mother of our reciter consulted an _eolas_\nman for the bettering of defective churning. He gave her a bottle,\ndirecting her to hold it in her hand all the way on her journey home,\nand on no account to let it touch the ground. When she got home she was\nto sprinkle some of it on the cow and the outside of the churn, and\nround about it. On her way home she rested for a minute, and forgetting\nabout the instructions, put down the bottle. Sprinkling the cow did\nno good, and the scientist was again consulted. _\u201cLeig thu leis fheum\na chall,\u201d ars S._ (\u201cYou allowed it to lose its usefulness,\u201d said S.)\n\u201c_Rinn i gair bheag ag\u2019radh gun do leig i sios e car mionaid._\u201d (\u201cShe\nsmiled, saying that she had let it down for a minute.\u201d) \u201c_Chaill thu\ne mata._\u201d (\u201cYou have lost it, then.\u201d) Now comes the incident mentioned\non page 119 of his retiring to the back of the house and giving his\nconsulter the slip of _iubhar-beinne_ (juniper), the flavouring matter\nof gin, the most diuretic of stimulants.\n\nPutting all this together, it is not difficult to see why part at least\nof the magic fluid would lose its effect if it touched the ground,\nthe place it most naturally reaches, if we accept Burt\u2019s statement,\nin Highland houses, and even in a recognised house of entertainment.\n\u201cBut I had like to have forgot a Mischance that happened to me the next\nMorning, for rising early, and getting out of my Box pretty hastily, I\nunluckily set my Foot in the Chamber-pot, a Hole in the Ground by the\nBed-side, which was made to serve for that Use in case of Occasion.\u201d[8]\nWhen the next bottle reached the house and not the ground, the effect\nwas quite satisfactory. The reciter of this openly professed belief in\nthe whole story, even to the recovery of the missing butter.\n\nMany will rise up in arms against my suggestion that the water to be\nused, and which was used, and which is called water, was in many cases\nand in its origin urine. In the Clonmel witch-burning case in Ireland\nin 1895, Mrs. Cleary, the victim, had \u201cwater\u201d thrown over her, fetched\nby her cousin from an adjoining room. This was brought three or four\ntimes, and the process of sprinkling lasted at intervals over a period\nof ten or twenty minutes. This water, according to the _Cork Examiner_\nand other reports, was called \u201ca certain noxious fluid.\u201d According\nto accounts given by Leitrim people, the most effective way of\ndisenchanting folk was to throw over them a concoction of strong urine\nand hens\u2019 excrement. Compare with this the Arran man\u2019s charm against\nthe Evil Eye mentioned on page 18.[9]\n\n [8] Burt\u2019s \u201cLetters from the North of Scotland,\u201d vol. ii. p. 65.\n\n [9] See \u201cFolk-Lore,\u201d vol. vi. p. 378.\n\nThe general protective power of stale urine is curiously illustrated\nin the following from a Mackay. The reciter said when he was young it\nwas a general custom throughout the Reay country to have a tub of stale\nwash placed at the door cheek with a little stick always standing in\nit. The stick was preferably, if it could be got, of blackthorn\u2014sloe.\nThe object of this was that visitors might stir up the contents of the\ntub before going into the house, a process intended to protect the\nhouse and its inmates from being injured by any bad luck or misfortune,\nor evil of any kind, that otherwise might accompany the visitor. To\ncomply with this condition was reckoned a sufficient passport for any\ncaller, and no matter who he was, or on what business he had come, he\nwas expected to do the stirring before crossing the threshold. The\nreciter said that he had done it himself regularly in his youth.\n\nThe conclusion arrived at that the water supplied in some cases, and in\nany case what ought to be supplied by the practitioner of _eolas_, was\ndiluted urine, seems to get important endorsation from the following\non the authority of John Kerr, LLD., late her Majesty\u2019s Inspector of\nSchools:\u2014\n\n\u201cA man had a child suffering from water in the head, and carried him\non his back in a blanket from Lochcarron to Lochbroom and back\u2014over\na hundred and twenty miles\u2014to see a man who professed to cure such\nailments. He got a bottle of water, a spoonful of which was to be given\nseveral times a day. The doctor found the water absolutely putrid.\u201d[10]\n\n [10] \u201cMemories Grave and Gay,\u201d John Kerr, LLD., p. 323.\n\nDr. Kerr having this from a medical man, one is inclined to fancy\nthat the description of the dose is given in a method corresponding\nto an ordinary prescription; spoonful doses remind one of the regular\npractitioner. The diagnosis \u2018hydrocephalus\u2019 is the doctor\u2019s; the man\nconsulted was not a curer of water in the head, but of the results of\nwitchcraft or the Evil Eye. This, there can scarcely be any doubt of,\nor that that also was the father\u2019s idea of the cause of the child\u2019s\nillness\u2014it had been _air a chronachadh_. Here the important point is\nthe putridity of the water. If it had been pure water it might have\nbeen vapid enough, but we may be certain that no licensed practitioner\nwould have said that the fluid was absolutely putrid without sufficient\ncause. The diagnosis is that its putridity was occasioned by containing\na greater or less quantity of stale urine.\n\n\n\n\n A BURNT OFFERING\n\n\nThe following is vouched for by an intelligent and educated young lady\nresident in Orkney, though as it is from a non-Gaelic island it takes\nus to a different people from those we have been occupied with.\n\nIn one of the islands there a farmer was losing his cattle one after\nanother. The general opinion, in which the farmer himself concurred,\nwas that the fatality arose from some person\u2019s Evil Eye having lighted\non the stock. It was also considered, as the best means of putting an\nend to this, to burn one of the remaining animals alive. This was done,\nand report has it that everything went well enough after that. This\ncase seems sufficiently notorious, though no more exact information has\nbeen procured; but the Evil Eye is strongly believed in in Orkney, and\nour informant herself knew a man who, on finding things \u201cgoing back\u201d\nwith him, as they say, confidently attributed his unprosperity to some\none having put his Evil Eye in his effects. Many of his neighbours,\nknowing the circumstances, were of the same opinion as himself.\n\n\n\n\n CHARMS. (STRING)\n\n\n\u201cNo Christian shall attach short strings to the neck of women or of\nanimals, even if you see this practised by churchmen, and they should\ntell you that this custom is a pious one.\u201d Such was the pronouncement\nof St. Eloi of the Abbey of Luxeuil, in the seventh century, the\nsuccessor of Columban, as reported by St. Ouen (Audoenus) in the \u201cNos\nOrigines.\u201d[11]\n\n [11] _Les Influences Celtiques_, by Charles Roessler, p. 59.\n\nSo far we seem to have seen that the damage done by the Evil Eye was\na malign dispensation of Providence, for which the owner was only to\nblame to the same extent that one is to blame for a natural defect,\nbut the processes of cure being the result of science, so to say,\n_eolas_, _fios_, are in reality magic processes. One of the most common\nof the preventive charms is something to be worn by the person to be\nprotected, and one reciter, an elder in the church, assures us that he\nknows a family every member of which wears such a charm suspended round\nthe neck.\n\nThis must have been something of the nature of an _ubag_, a thing which\ntakes the form generally of what, referring to American Indians, is\nspoken of as a \u201cmedicine bag,\u201d but which the Dictionaries translate as\na charm\u2014an incantation. A much more common protective is the _sreang a\nchronachaidh_, or _snathainn cronachaidh_ (string or thread of hurting).\n\nThe form that this took differed considerably. One reciter says it\nwas made of different colours of yarn, an incantation was said over it\nwhile being made, and when finished it was tied round the child\u2019s neck.\nShe has often seen these in use, and did not think that it mattered\nanything what colours were used, provided that there were different\ncolours in it.\n\nAnother reciter says that the strings before being put on were soaked\nin something, but does not mention if they were coloured, while two\nothers mention the fact, of their personal knowledge, that the threads\nthey had seen worn were red.\n\nIn one of the last cases the thread had been put on to cure a child\nsupposed to be already suffering. In the other, while the thread\nwas used as a protection, the reciter mentioned as a curative where\nsomething had gone wrong with the first child of a marriage, especially\nif there was any suspicion of _cronachadh_, that some article of\nclothing which had been worn by the mother on the first night of\nmarriage, was put round the child three times, and \u201cThere are some,\u201d\nsaid he, \u201cwho take the precaution to do this as a preventative even\nwhere no injury is suspected as having already taken place.\u201d\n\nOne of our reciters quotes the following verse of a song as an\nauthority for the efficacy of the red thread:\u2014\n\n \u201c_Snathainn dearg, is snuim air,\n Bi sud air ceann a\u2019 chrandachan;\n Ged thigeadh Buidseach Henderson,\n Cheannsaicheadh Ailean e._\u201d\n\n (\u201cA red thread, and a knot on it,\n That will be on the top of the churn staff,\n Though Henderson the _witch_ should come,\n Allan would subdue him.\u201d)\n\nThere can be no doubt that it is our old acquaintance the Witch of\nEndor who here again appears as Henderson.\n\nThe following is the account given by a man suspected of the Evil Eye,\nwho watched secretly through a chink in the door the performance by a\nprofessor of _eolas_ who was supposed to have inherited his skill from\nhis deceased wife. The Evil Eye doctor went direct to the churn, which\nstood very much on the middle of the floor, and walked round about it\nseveral times, \u201csix or seven,\u201d says D. McF. Then taking a ball of yarn\nfrom his pocket he wound it round about the churn-staff, putting a\ngood many turns on it. This done, he gave the staff two or three turns\nas hard as he could, as if churning. He then came out, but in a short\ntime returned, and D., securing his point of observation, saw him take\nthe yarn off the churn-staff and wind it round the churn itself. Again\nhe gave a few turns at churning, and finally left. The reciter was\nuncertain whether or not any benefit accrued to that churning itself.\n\nThe following method in the case of a lad on the one hand, and of a\ncow on the other, demonstrates pretty fully the method of using the\nred yarn in Harris. The skilled woman, having assured a sick lad that\nshe knew what was wrong, and that it could soon be put right, having\nrequested all present, except of course the patient, to leave the room,\nprocured a ball of _three-ply_ yarn and wound it round the points of\nher thumb, middle finger, and ring finger of her left hand, holding\nthe thread between the thumb and mid-finger of the right hand. Having\ndone this she took a small piece of burning stick and passed it three\ntimes through the circle formed by the thread on her fingers. She then\nput a knot on the cord, bringing it close to her mouth, and repeating\na lengthy incantation commencing, \u201c_Ni mi an obair so_\u201d (\u201cI do this\nwork\u201d), in which were references to the \u201ceye.\u201d The knot having been put\non and the incantation finished she took the yarn off her finger, and\ncommencing at the crown of the head, she rubbed him with it in a round\nand round way all over. At this stage there was a knock at the door to\nwhich the performer replied: \u201cYou are there, I know you,\u201d and without\nopening the door, put the knot into the fire, saying, \u201c_An galar \u2019s\ncaslainnte chuirinn air mulach an teine_.\u201d (\u201cThe disease and the\nillness I would put on the top of the fire.\u201d) She repeated this three\ntimes, and on the third occasion, instead of putting the thread in the\nfire (it would appear from this that she had made three knots, and not\none as the description would lead us to suppose) she tied it round the\nlad\u2019s neck. The thread is always tied, said the reciter, where it will\nnot be seen, but it must be on the skin. Some wear such a thread as a\nprecaution against the Evil Eye. It was explained that the knock at the\ndoor was done by the individual causing the illness.\n\nThe following is the information as to the conduct of the operation\nin the case of a cow, and our reciter saw this herself. The _eolas_\noperator first asked for yarn in which alum had been used in the\ndyeing. Our informant explained that it was necessary that any yarn\nto be used should have had alum applied to it, and as alum is always\nused in dyeing red (as a mordant), red is very generally what is taken\non such occasions. Having got the little ball of red yarn, the thread\nwas wound round the fingers as above described, and here we learn\ncategorically that the forefinger must not be allowed to touch the yarn\nthroughout the performance. There was no burning stick here used, but\nhaving taken the yarn off her finger, a knot was put on the thread, the\nknot put to her lips, and an incantation alluding to the eye muttered\nwith it in that position. This winding, muttering, and knot-tying was\ngone through altogether three times with equal care. Commencing then\nwith one of the horns of the animal, she rubbed the cow down with a\ncircular motion all over till she came to the other horn, and then\ntied the first knot on the cow\u2019s tail, taking care to have it out of\nsight, the three knots being tied one after the other to the under\nhairs of the cow\u2019s tail. When the cow showed signs of improvement the\nfirst knot was taken off and burned with the words used above. The same\nperformance being carried through with the second knot, but the third\nknot was allowed to remain on the cow\u2019s tail. This woman refused to\nimpart the incantation formula to any but a member of her own family,\nand it is believed that the greater the admiration of the operator for\nthe person affected the more effectual the cure.\n\nA native of South Uist said that while different methods were employed\nto cure the Evil Eye, the most common, so far as she could judge, was\nthe _Snaithnean_ (thread). This was so well known that when the Evil\nEye was suspected in the case of an animal, _faigheamaid snaithnean\ndhi_ (_dha_) (get a thread to it), and away they would go to an _eolas_\nperson. The snaithnean is simply a red woollen thread four or five\ninches long. The giver of it says some good words over it, hands it to\nthe messenger with instructions to go straight home and tie the thread\nround the animal\u2019s tail till it recovers. In more important cases the\nprofessor may deem it advisable to fasten the string on himself. The\nreciter, though not admitting belief in the charm as such, has seen\nthis done several times with good effect.\n\nThe above statement was thoroughly corroborated by another from the\nsame locality, who \u201chas often seen the red thread on beasts\u2019 tails.\u201d\nShe spoke of the injury as _gonadh_ (wounded).\n\nAn Islay woman remembers as a girl, in the case of a cow of her\nmother\u2019s, where a string was put on the cow that was ill, but as they\nwere all turned out of the byre she does not know what else was done.\n\nAnother reciter in the same island, in the case of one of his own\nhorses, which was said to have been injured by the evil eyes of\ndrovers, had it cured by a woollen thread being tied round its tail.\n\nBefore leaving the red thread, a reciter in Islay, whose aunt lived\nnext to a professor, said that when this woman was consulted in cases\nof Evil Eye, she took a bottle containing a red thread and water, and\nfor the purpose of discovering the cause of the animals\u2019 illness she\nclosed her eyes and repeated an incantation. This done she would open\nher eyes, and the first living creature bearing any burden or weight,\nthat weight, whatever it might be, she maintained she saw pressing upon\nthe animal. A case in point is the following. Having gone through her\nperformance when consulted about a sick cow, on lifting up her eyes\nthey rested on a man carrying a horse collar. She told the owner of the\ncow that the spirit of that man with the collar was pressing on the\nanimal, and would continue so until the water which was in the bottle,\nover which she had repeated the incantation, was sprinkled on her. If\nafter that the cow shivered all over she would not get better, but if\nshe merely shook her ears she would be all right. The people about, the\nreciter added, had great confidence in this woman\u2019s professions.\n\nAnother reciter said that when a child was not thriving a red thread\nwas tied round its neck and allowed to remain on night and day. He has\nseen this where he knew both the child and its parents very intimately.\n\nIt must not, however, be supposed that red thread alone was used.\nAnother Argyllshire reciter has seen on Hallowe\u2019en different colours of\nworsted thread tied on cattle as a prophylactic.\n\nThe mother of the child, in which the symptom of injury by the Evil Eye\nwas its seeming to sing \u201cdo re do,\u201d gives the following account of the\nthread tied on it which cured it. His father went to an _eolas_ woman\nand told her his business. She took some lint that she had ready to\nbe put on the spindle and twisted a little bit into a thread. It must\nalways be green lint that is used for these threads. She made a string\nthat would go three times round his neck, and getting the man\u2019s knife\nshe wound the thread round the steel, and handing it to him ordered\nhim to hold it in his hand all the way home, and not to open his hand\nor speak to anybody till he would reach home. He was then to put the\nstring three times round the child\u2019s neck, and as he was getting better\none string at a time was to be taken off and thrown into the fire. This\nwas all done as directed, the \u201chumming\u201d stopped, and the child got\nquite well.\n\nA native of Strontian gave the following as his own experience of the\nuse of a green thread. When a boy he had a \u201cfallen\u201d uvula, and was sent\nto a woman who was said to be able to \u201clift\u201d it. She took him into\na corner of the house and commenced manipulating the outside of his\nthroat and below his chin, speaking all the time as if to herself. At\nall events he could not follow what she said, though he heard the words\n_Sheumais, Eoin, \u2018s Pheadair_ (James\u2019, John\u2019s, and Peter\u2019s) frequently.\nHaving done this some time, she tied a green thread about his neck and\nsent him away, saying it would be all right. Mr. McD. added the remark\nthat he had nothing to give the operator, though it is essential that\nsomething pass from your hand into theirs. A reason for this was given\nby a native of Fort William, that \u201cunless the curer got something for\nputting the trouble away the trouble would go on him- (her) self.\u201d\n\nA curer of cases of Evil Eye in the neighbourhood of Ballachulish,\nthough her method of treatment was not wholly known to the reciter,\npart of it consisted in giving water and two threads (three articles),\none black and one white. The threads were to be twisted in a prescribed\nmanner round the person or animal affected, and if the threads showed\nany tendency to knot, it was taken as a sure sign that it was a case of\nthe Evil Eye, _i.e._ apparently if they formed _eyes_ on the thread.\n\nLigatures other than thread were used. A native of Easdale tells how\nhis grandaunt used to tell him of a relative who lived with her father.\nHe was a farmer, and losing his cattle, and believing that they were\nbeing affected by the Evil Eye, took his courage in both hands and\nmarched off to consult Campbell of Skipness, distinguished for his\nskill in such cases. Having told his errand, Campbell took him into the\nbarn and, excluding all light, made the people\u2014that is, the Evil Eye\npeople\u2014pass before him, and he recognised them quite well. Campbell\nthen gave him a _gisreag_ (charm) made of a straw rope, and requested\nhim to take it home with him and throw it into the fire as soon as\nhe reached his destination. This was to protect him against further\ninjury. The man burned the _gisreag_ on reaching home, and from that\nday his cattle throve quite well.\n\nAnother reciter remembers that her brother having gone to consult a\nprofessor of _eolas_ on account of serious losses to his stock, while\nhe was away a new horse, bought to take the place of one that had died,\nwas taken ill between the plough chains. Well does she remember, on her\nbrother\u2019s return, seeing him take the tether with which it had been\ntied, and waving it three times over the horse, it got up at once, took\nthe food offered it, and was soon all right.\n\nFrom Tomintoul, Banffshire, we hear of one who had a wide reputation\nfor skill in these matters, who was said to perform his charms by means\nof a bridle that was in his possession. We have no further particulars,\nbut it is not impossible that the bridle was a rope one.\n\nThere has been mentioned the case of a young horse where the result of\nthe Evil Eye was to make it pour of sweat and tremble. Having got it\nback into the stable, a recognised practitioner of _eolas_ was sent\nfor. Among his questions was one whether the lad who was leading it\nhad, or had not, met any one on the road. He then asked for the halter\nwhich had been on the horse, and it having been brought him he said\none or two words which nobody present seemed able to catch, after\nwhich, waving the halter three times over the animal, he said, \u201cRise\nand eat.\u201d At once the horse got on its feet, began to eat, and was\ncured. McA., the _eolas_ man, now said it was a case of _cronachadh_,\nand offered to tell who had done it. They assured him they did not wish\nto know. But the reciter made the na\u00efve remark that \u201che knew already,\nfor he knew who had met him on the road.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n UISGE A\u2019 CHRONACHAIDH (WATER OF INJURY)\n\n\nWe have already mentioned, as one of the results of the Evil Eye, a bad\nattack of yawning. Here is the account of the sufferer\u2019s cure in the\nwords of the reciter. \u201c_Chuir iad airson sean-mhathair Sheumais Ruaidh\nso agus nur a thainig ise rinn i eolas le beagan uisge agus facailean,\nagus cha robh a chaileag tiota an deigh sin gus an robh i cho mhath\n\u2019s bha i riamh. Dh\u2019innis a bhean a leighis i ra mathair gur h-ann air\na cronachadh a bha i._\u201d (\u201cThey sent for this Red James\u2019 grandmother,\nand when she came she made science with a little water and words, and\nit was but a short time till the girl was as well as ever she was.\nThe woman that cured her told her mother that she had been injured by\n_cronachadh_.\u201d)\n\nThe water used here was what has been called in Arran at any rate\n\u201c_uisge a\u2019 chronachaidh._\u201d\n\nOne other account of this Evil Eye water we will give in the words of\nthe reciter, an old man speaking of his daughter:\u201c _\u2018Nuair a bha \u2019m\nbas ag\u2019oibrich rithe thainig i dhachaidh an so agus bha e soilleir gum\nb\u2019ann air a cronachadh a bha i. Nis chuala mi fhein daoine ag radh nam\nbiodh neach air a chronachadh agus nam biodh bonn airgeid air a chuir\nann am bowl uisge a bhiodh air a thoirt a tobar o\u2019n taobh deas, nan\nleanadh an t-airgiod ri grunnd a\u2019 bhowl, nuair a dhoirte an t-uisge\ndheth, gun cuireadh an t-uisge sin an cronachadh air falbh nam biodh\ne air a chrathadh air a\u2019 neach a bha fo\u2019n chronachadh. Well, chaidh\nmi fhein gu tobar a bha ris an taobh deas de\u2019n tigh agam agus chuir\nmi bonn se sgillinn an an lan bowl-de\u2019n uisge ach nuair a thaomadh an\nt-uisge dheth, cha do lean am bonn ris a bhowl. Ach co dhiu chrath\nmi \u2019n t-uisge oirre ach ged a chrath cha d\u2019rinn e feum sam bi, \u2019s\ncha deachaidh i riomh ni b\u2019fhearr. Ach bha daoine ag radh nan robh\nan t-airgiod air leantuinn ris a\u2019 bhowl gun deannadh an t-uisge an\ncronachadh a thoirt air falbh._\u201d (\u201cWhen death was working with her she\ncame home here, and it was clear that she had been blighted. I myself\nheard people saying if any one were blighted and a coin put into a\nbowl of water, which would be taken from a southern well, if the money\nstuck to the bottom of the bowl when the water was poured off it, that\nthat water would put away the injury if it were sprinkled on the person\nharmed. Well, I went myself to a well that was on the south side of\nmy house, and I put a sixpenny piece in a bowlful of the water, but\nwhen the water was poured off the piece did not stick to the bowl; but\nhowever, I sprinkled the water on her, but though I did sprinkle it it\nwas of no use whatever, and she never got any better. But people were\nsaying, had the money stuck to the bowl the water would have caused the\nblight to be removed.\u201d)\n\nThe methods of preparation of this water undoubtedly vary, not merely\nbecause the reciters do not give the particulars, but because the\noperators make differences. A messenger being sent to a woman for\n_eolas_, we are told \u201cshe gave the one that went a bottle of water with\ndirections that it was to be thrown on the cow.\u201d\n\nAnother reciter said that a woman being brought to see a sick cow (D.\nMacC.\u2019s grandmother), \u201cwhen she came she took a cog with water and\nwent in to where the cow was. She was a decent woman, and whatever she\ndid to the cow she got better.\u201d\n\nIn another case the local practitioner, when sent for, walked round\nthe cow three times, and our reciter said, she may have done something\nmore, but in any case she failed to do any good, and the cow continued\nill. They then sent a messenger to another woman of the same sort, but\nof greater repute, and who lived at a greater distance. This woman gave\nthe messenger a bottle of something like water, with instructions that\nit was to be sprinkled over the cow. When the messenger returned home\nand the stuff in the bottle was sprinkled on the cow, she got up, shook\nherself, began to show signs of recovery, and in a short time was all\nright.\n\nIn another case the woman sent for, \u201cwhen she came said it was a case\nof injury by _cronachadh_, and having repeated some words over the cow,\nshe sprinkled water she had prepared upon her with the result that the\ncow soon got well.\u201d\n\nA male professor made up a bottle for a shepherd whose cow was ill,\nand instructed him on reaching home to sprinkle \u201call that was in the\nbottle\u201d on certain parts of the cow. It is not advisable to take too\nliterally statements which apparently are very exact; \u201call the water\u201d\nin this case may simply mean the water that was in the bottle more\nor less in its totality. Or it may have been the instruction was so\nworded that if some of the water, even a drop or two, might be supposed\nnot to have got on the cow that the charm would be ineffective. The\ndestination of the water for particular parts of the animal was\nundoubtedly a usual proviso.\n\nSo far the information might lead one to suppose that an incantation\nsaid over water was sufficient in the beliefs of the operators. This\nis however not the case, and there can be little doubt that to make\nthe incantation effective the water should have been in contact with\nsilver. A native of Harris said that he has heard of the \u201cwater of\nsilver\u201d as a cure for people and beasts affected by the Evil Eye, and\nalso as a preventative of such injury if apprehended. In one instance\nwhich came under his own observation, a respectable and intelligent\nwoman, to protect her cow and the milk and butter, first time she went\nto milk the cow after calving, put a half-crown piece in the bottom of\nthe pail and drew the milk on to it. A friend who accompanied her saw\nthe whole performance.\n\nA native of Islay informed us that for curing eyes of those suffering\nfrom _cronachadh_ you should put \u201cthree bawbees in the water\u201d; while a\nnative of Oban says that in all cases of _cronachadh_ where water is\nused as a cure it must be poured on silver.\n\nA clergyman living in Skye recently heard of a case in the parish of\nKildonan where water in which silver had been immersed was sprinkled\nupon a cow which was unwell. The further information in this case was\nthat the woman in the district specially referred to was exceedingly\nsuperstitious, and expressed her belief that she would become a bird\nafter death. She always repeated a rhyme when operating upon cattle.\nShe had died shortly before our reciter went to Skye.\n\nA school teacher, a native of Skye and carrying on her occupation in\nArgyllshire, confirms the strong belief in the Evil Eye in certain\nplaces. A few years ago in D\u2014\u2014 a young woman was driving her cow to\npasture when the cow fell. Her owner turned towards a neighbour\u2019s\ndaughter who had been looking at them passing and scolded her for\nthe accident, finishing by stating that the onlooker was \u201cmad.\u201d The\nretort was that that affliction was hereditary with the cow\u2019s owner.\nThe interchange of compliments got the credit of curing the cow, which\narose and went its way. The cure, according to this reciter, for any\nsudden sickness in cattle was to take a threepenny bit, or any small\nsilver, and ask a blessing on it in the name of the Father, place it\nin a basin, pour water on it, and dash over the cow in the name of the\nFather, Son, and Holy Ghost.\n\nIn the following case the operation, though carried out by\nGaelic-speaking Highlanders, was conducted in the Lowlands. A child was\nsupposed to be the victim of _cronachadh_, and the operator was the\ndaughter of a woman who had practised _eolas_. A fellow-servant of the\noperator was the reciter. \u201cWater was procured from a running stream,\nit being necessary that the person bringing the water should have a\npiece of bread of some sort in his possession at the time. A silver\ncoin was put in the dish in which the water was, and the operator waved\nthe dish in a particular manner and then sprinkled some of the water on\nthe child. The remainder was then dashed against a large stone. Stress\nwas laid on the necessity of this part of the performance, it being\nessential that the stone was immovable. A solid wall, for instance the\ngable of a house, was said to be equally efficient.[12]\n\n[12] If, as the writer believes, the original fluid was that mentioned\nin 1 Kings xiv. 10, xvi. 11, the deduction is that it should be that of\na male, not a female.\n\nBrought up in a Presbyterian community, the writer has little knowledge\nof the man\u0153uvres of traditional Episcopacy or Romanism, but while\nspeaking of this a friend, whose niece was being baptized in a hurry,\ngives the following information. Though the child was supposed to be\ndying, the officiating clergyman had first to array himself in his\nofficial costume, and then, producing a small alabaster font, prepared\nthe water of baptism in that. Having performed the ceremony, he\nturned to the infant\u2019s aunt and requested to be taken to the garden,\nto which he himself carried the water and emptied it on the ground.\nOur informant, herself a Presbyterian, was speaking of the matter\nafterwards to the certificated nurse. She said the performance was\nnot new to her, and told how in a like case the clergyman, not being\nprovided with his own font, and asking for a basin, was given a nice\nS\u00e8vres bowl. After the ceremony he also proceeded outside, and not only\nemptied out the water, but deliberately smashed the basin to prevent\nits subsequent use for any other purpose.\n\nA variation in the ceremony occurred in the following case, the\noperator being a Lewis man. He had a nice foal which had been a good\ndeal admired, and he was desirous of protecting it from the Evil\nEye. Putting a silver coin in a dish he poured water on it. He then\npoured off about half of the water, apparently making a libation, and\nthe other half he sprinkled over the foal. After this treatment he\nconsidered it would be difficult for any Evil Eye to injure it.\n\nA native of Bernera, Harris, who can neither read nor write and has\nno English, shortens the process. \u201c_Tha rathad eile anns an gabh\ncronachadh bhi air a chuir air falbh. Nan gabhadh neach bonn airgeid\nann a\u2019 laimh agus uisge dhoirteadh air an t-airgiod agus an sin a lamh\nfhliuch a shuathadh air aodan an leanabh. Dheanadh sin e._\u201d (\u201cThere is\nanother way in which _cronachadh_ can be cured. If one takes a piece of\nsilver in his hand and pours water on the silver and then rubs his wet\nhand on the child\u2019s face. That would do it.\u201d)\n\nIn tracing the accounts we have received of this Evil Eye water we\nstarted with those which seemed to deal with plain water, then with\nwater in which one coin, and that necessarily of silver, had been\nplaced, and now we will consider those cases where more than one coin\nhas been used. The number seems always to be, in this case, limited\nto three. A native of Sutherlandshire, now resident in the mainland\nof Argyle, remembers as a boy accompanying an old woman to a certain\nwell near his native place for water to be used to cure a sick child,\nbelieved to have been _air a chronachadh_. The woman had a tin can with\nher into which she put a sixpence, a threepenny bit, and other coins,\nsaid our informant, all silver. Before setting out he was warned that\nhe must not speak a word, but forgetting himself he began to talk. The\nwoman instantly stopped him, insisting that he must return home at once\nif he uttered another word. He kept silence after that, and when they\nreturned with the water the woman whom he had accompanied sprinkled it\non the sick child.\n\nA native of Lochaber gives the following as the result of his own\nobservation there. He saw different coins used, but understood that,\nat any rate, there should be silver. The description was given in\nconnection with the use of the water as a diagnostic of _cronachadh_,\nand was as follows: The coins were put into an empty dish\u2014a wooden\none\u2014and the water poured upon them was well water, preferably from a\nspring. The operator then tilted the dish over and observed whether\nthe coin adhered to the bottom or fell away. The reciter disclaimed\naccurate knowledge, but said he believed if the coins adhered it was an\nindication of _cronachadh_, but if they fell away the illness was from\nsome \u201cnatural\u201d cause.\n\nA diagnostic point with this coin water, over which however an\nincantation had been repeated, the words of which had not been\nunderstood by the bystanders, was made by a male practitioner of\n_eolas_ who, sprinkling the water on some sick cows they immediately\nbegan to bellow, said that beyond doubt they had been afflicted by\n\u201cwitchcraft.\u201d He inquired if any milk from the cows had been supplied\nto others not on the farm, and when told the name of a woman so\nsupplied, at once said that it was she who had done the mischief. Again\nrepeating a word formula, whether the same or not, the reciter did not\nknow, he sprinkled the rest of the water on the cows, and thereafter\ntheir milk was believed to have been quite normal.\n\nA native of Morven giving her account of the practice there, and being\na firm believer in the Evil Eye, said that the water had to be taken\nfrom a well facing the south, and the silver coin being in it, the\nwater had to be poured into a bottle from the original dish, and the\nsticking of the coin to the bottom was a sign of the probable recovery\nof the animal for whom the water was intended.\n\nAbove it was said that three coins seemed to be the essential number\nwhen more than one was used, and we give here on the authority of a\nclergyman, his report of information derived from the late Mr. Stewart,\nthe minister of Nether Lochaber. When a person is out of sorts and all\noverish, as they say, he is considered a proper subject for the silver\nwater cure. A female well advanced in life is usually the operator,\nand she produces from her store a silver coin, the larger the coin the\nbetter, a crown piece for choice, but if it is to be had, a silver\nbrooch with silver interlacements is even better. Getting a wooden\nbicker, or earthenware bowl, she goes to the nearest running water and\nfills her vessel from the stream to the depth that when she dips her\nmiddle finger straight down in it the water will be as high as the\nsecond joint of the finger. Having got the water she drops the coin or\nbrooch into it, and then makes as straight a course as she can towards\nthe place where the one is upon whom the charm is to be wrought. She\nmust take great care that she does not spill a drop of the water by the\nway, and this being accomplished, the straighter the course followed\nthe greater the omen of success. The one to be cured is now made to lie\non his back\u2014chest and neck bare\u2014while the woman stands over him with\nthe bowl of silver water in her left hand. Having dipped the forefinger\nof her right hand in the water, she makes the sign of the cross upon\nhis forehead and in a low voice repeats an incantation. During the\nincantation, with her right hand she sprinkles the water on the patient\nseven times and as rapidly as possible. There is then only enough water\nleft to cover the coins; this the patient is made to drink till the\nlast drop, the bowl being tilted over till the coin touches his lips.\nThe patient being now assured that he has been cured, is made to rise\nand resume his usual occupations. The words of the incantation as\ntranslated are:\u2014\n\n\u201cTrinity, and might, and mercy, Holy and most merciful to human\nsuffering and sorrow: Ever Blessed Father, loving Son of Mary, and Oh\nkindly Spirit of health and healing. Expel the demon of despondency and\nfear out of this Thy servant who believeth in Thy word.\n\n\u201cHoly Apostles, twelve, and Mary mother, and meek Saint Bridget, and\nSaint Columba too, exquisite singer of holy hymns, good and wise,\nintercede for him with intercession of efficacy and power. Let relief\ncome now, and health and peace.\n\n\u201cLet the evil that afflicted him be driven by the winds afar: And let\nhim arise in strength and hope and joy, to magnify the goodness of the\nmost High.\n\n\u201cWith water of silver, from swiftly running stream I sprinkle Thee.\nArise and be well.\u201d\n\nUnfortunately our informant was unable to give us the Gaelic words.\nThe ceremonies here, probably having been performed in Lochaber where\nthe Romish faith is still strong, point them back to Roman influences.\nThere is an accuracy of description and attention to detail suggestive\nof the literary man very rarely to be got from popular reciters. We\nhave however quoted our authority, one well known throughout the\nHighlands.\n\nIn the above there is no question of prognosticating, and the choice\nof the heaviest silver coin or of a silver brooch, which might be\nthe size of a saucer, militates entirely against the chance of its\nsticking, even to the bottom of a wooden vessel. We are able to\ngive a quite unembellished account of the same process from the same\ndistrict by a native. \u201cI mind one time the best cow I ever had was\n_air a\u2019 cronachadh_. I went for an old woman I knew who could cure\nbeasts. She was a decent woman, and when she came she had water with\nher in a dish she had brought. She put a shilling in the dish, and then\npoured the water into another dish and turned that in which it had been\nupside down, but the shilling stuck to the bottom and did not fall.\nShe struck the dish on the bottom three times with her hand, but still\nthe shilling held on, and I had to pull it away with my fingers. The\nwoman said that was clear enough proof that the cow had been injured\nby somebody\u2019s \u2018eye,\u2019 and she went on to heal her. She put the water on\nthe cow\u2019s head and horns, sprinkled some all over it, and put some down\nits throat. In a short time the cow was all right.\u201d Compare it with the\nfollowing account by a native of the parish of Urray, in Rosshire, who\nhas seen this \u201csilver cure\u201d as she calls it applied both to people and\nbeasts. She explained that it did not need a professional to do it,\nany one can do it for another. Here, then, we see that the virtue lies\nin the silver itself apparently. \u201cWater must be taken in the name of\nthe Trinity from where the living and the dead pass. When the water is\nbrought home, silver, gold, and copper are put in a dish and the water\npoured on their top. Usually coins are used, but a gold ring or earring\nwill do as well. The person or beast that is to be healed should be\nmade to drink a mouthful or two of the water, and should be sprinkled\nall over with the rest of it. That is all that is needed for the cure.\nWhen one desires to find out if it is a case of hurt by the Evil Eye,\nthe dish in which the water and the coins were is carefully turned over\ntill it is mouth downwards. If the coins left in it stick to the bottom\nit is a sign that it was the Evil Eye that caused the trouble; if they\nfall away the trouble was a natural one.\n\nHere we see a distinct reference to the Trinity, and we also notice\nthat if we were to take that reciter\u2019s account of it all the three\nrepresentatives, apparently, in order to settle the diagnosis would\nrequire to stick to the bottom of the dish.\n\nBut another reciter from the same county, but from the parish of\nTarbert, makes it clear that if the silver sticks the question is\nsettled. When the reciter\u2019s son was a baby she was living with her\naunt, and one day the child began to scream as if in great pain.\nNothing tried seemed to give relief, and her aunt, suspecting Evil Eye,\ntook the reciter\u2019s marriage ring, a sixpence, and a penny, and putting\nthem into a dish, poured water on them and then poured the water slowly\noff into another dish. She then turned the dish upside down. The ring\nand the penny came out, but the sixpence stuck, and although the bottom\nof the dish was struck with her hand outside, the coin still remained.\nThis confirmed her aunt\u2019s suspicion. She said, \u201cSee you that? The child\nwas hurt by some one envying it.\u201d The reciter added, \u201cHe was a very\npretty child at any rate.\u201d The aunt gave the baby (some of?) the water\nto drink, and he soon got better.\n\nA man and his wife, natives of Kinlochbervie in Sutherlandshire,\nseparately interviewed, agree as to the common belief there in the Evil\nEye and _cronachadh_ generally. Mr. G. himself when a boy, being taken\nill somewhat suddenly, his mother, suspecting that he had been _air a\nchronachadh_, got water, into which she put a gold, a silver, and a\ncopper coin, and sprinkled the water on his face.\n\nMrs. H. said she has often seen it done both to cattle and people,\nand that it was, as well as a cure, a preventative where no suspicion\nof evil had already occurred, but only when it was dreaded, as, for\nexample, in the case of young persons of prepossessing appearance.\n\nFrom Back in Lewis we have evidence to the same effect, the belief\nin the Evil Eye being very common, and the cure by sprinkling water\noff the three metals usually resorted to. The reciter had seen it\nfrequently done in the case of animals, on one occasion to a child.\nApplication was here made to an _eolas_ woman. She had water for the\npurpose brought from under where the living and the dead pass, put the\nthree coins in a dish, poured the water on the metal, and sprinkled the\nchild with the water.\n\nThe belief in the Evil Eye no doubt is pagan, though believed to be\nsupported by Christian dogma, and seeing the importance attached to\nthe rite of baptism in the name of the Trinity, it seems hardly to be\nwondered at that some equivalent ceremony should have been evolved for\nthe cure of so mystic an influence as the Evil Eye. The writer would,\nhe believes, be the last person to insinuate anything derogatory to one\nChurch more than another; but using all honest material, the following\nstatement must not be passed over.\n\nA native of the north of Ireland, admitting the common belief in his\nown district in the Evil Eye, there called, as we have already stated,\n\u201cblinked,\u201d informs us that the services of the priests are in demand in\nsuch cases, and it is currently reported that priests do give bottles\nof fluid to be sprinkled on the animals affected, with what is believed\nto be satisfactory result. He added that there was a story told of a\nman damaging his cow by using another bottle containing vitriol instead\nof that given by the priest. If such a thing did happen it was the\nman\u2019s fault, and in no way affects the question under discussion.\n\nIn reciting their incantations the practitioners also vary. The\nperformance, as described by an eye-witness, in one case was that the\nwoman consulted put something in a bottle, put the bottle to her mouth,\nspoke something into it, and then threw what was in the bottle over the\ncow to be cured. The result in this case was quite satisfactory, almost\nimmediate.\n\nIn an Islay instance the woman consulted \u201cwent down to the little river\nthat was below the houses. She had a wee dish with her, and she went on\nher knees and said some of the good words that she had while she was\nlifting the water. She took the water to where the mare was and said\nmore of the words, and sprinkled the water over the mare.\u201d The result\nin this case was that the mare got better, but was never so sound as\nshe had been before, and once she got out of the stable she never could\nbe either forced or coaxed to enter it again, do what they would, and\nthe attempt was frequently made.\n\nIt seems possible that the account given by one reciter of the\npreparation of _uisge a chronachaidh_, in which he stated that the\nperformer takes the water to be used into his or her mouth, and from\nthe mouth puts it into a bottle to be sprinkled from the bottle upon\nthe person or beast to be cured, may have been a conclusion formed from\nthe incantation process being carried on over the mouth of the bottle.\n\nThe following account, however, by a Mull woman of her own experience\nshows that spitting into the healing water has actually been practised.\nThe reciter\u2019s aunt, suspecting that a cow which she had was suffering\nfrom _cronachadh_, sent her to the _eolas_ woman to tell her about\nthe beast. She found the professor in bed ill, but after giving her\nmessage the woman sent her for water to be taken from under a bridge\nin the neighbourhood. The living and the dead pass over this bridge,\nand it was always from this place that healing water for _cronachadh_\nwas taken. While repeating the incantation she would now and again spit\ninto the bottle, which she gave our reciter to take to her aunt. The\nwater was sprinkled over the animal, which recovered.\n\nBefore considering water as a curative which had been in contact with\nother things than coin, the importance attached to silver will be\nmade more clear by the belief put in practice that a silver coin in\nthe pail at milking time will prevent any one taking the butter away\nby witchcraft. This was first noticed by a native of Ayrshire, and is\npractised in Islay also.\n\nAn Islay farmer and his wife being from home, the niece in charge\nduring their absence found the churning had gone wrong. It was\nsuggested to her to put a silver coin under the churn to counteract\nthe action of any Evil Eye. What the result was in that case could not\nbe found out; but recently a cow having calved, to prevent any ill\neffect from the Evil Eye, a silver coin was put in her first milk,\nwhich was given to the cow herself to swallow, as soon as drawn from\nher.\n\nThroughout the country at large the water prepared upon coin is\nundoubtedly generally known as \u201csilver water,\u201d though we have shown\nthat gold as well as copper\u2014but gold more frequently\u2014is associated\nwith the silver. It is interesting to notice that in one account from\nSutherlandshire the silver cure is described as being done with \u201ca\ngold ring, and a silver coin put in a dish of water. The best dish is\na wooden one with wooden hoops and no nails or iron of any kind about\nit.\u201d The silver coin should be \u201ca shilling for a man, but if it is for\na woman a sixpence will do.\u201d\n\nFrom West Ross-shire, and from it alone, has information reached us\nof the use of the title \u201cgold cure.\u201d Our informant says, \u201cI went to\nsee a child that was unwell, and its mother told me that she believed\nthat it had been hurt by the Evil Eye. She said she was going to try\nthe \u2018gold cure\u2019 for it, but she had no gold of any description in the\nhouse, and she asked me if I had any about me that I could lend her for\nthe purpose. I had none at the time, so I could not oblige her, but\ninquired of her how it was to be used. She said she would put it in a\ndish of water and wash the child with the water.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n STONES AND WATER\n\n\nAbove it was indicated that the water was put in contact with other\nthings besides coins. In the case of the Mull woman already quoted, who\nhad to use her butter from its unpleasant appearance for wool-greasing\nand such like, the _eolas_ man whom she consulted put things right by\ngetting water \u201cand some kind of stones from a particular burn which\nhe put in the water. It was necessary,\u201d said the reciter, \u201cthat the\nstones should be taken from a particular burn.\u201d She was unable to state\nwhat were the peculiar conditions which made that burn essential.\nThe collector, who got this information in speaking to another woman\nin Tobermory and who believed that _cronachadh_ was quite common,\nremembering the previous case, and hoping to draw information,\nsuggested that certain stones were used for curing in Evil Eye cases.\n\u201cYes,\u201d said the reciter, \u201cbut there is nothing so good as three pieces\nof silver, three silver coins of any kind. If the water is poured on\nthree silver coins, and the words said over either beast or body, it\nwill cure them.\u201d\n\nThe following is a fairly circumstantial account from the parish of\nClyne, Sutherlandshire, of the performance with stones and silver\nof a strong believer. She had a delicate daughter, and believed if\npeople, especially strangers, looked at the girl she was sure to be\nill after it, and often she would be so bad that she had to go to\nbed. The mother then tried the following cure, believed by many to be\nsuccessful. She took a basin and put a silver coin into it, and went\nto a running stream near her house. From the bottom of the stream she\nchose seven small stones, which she put in the basin along with the\ncoin, then dipping the basin in the stream so that the water ran into\nit on the top of the silver and the stones till slightly more than\nhalf full. She then went home, gave her daughter a little of the water\nto drink, and sprinkled a little of it on her. She kept the remainder\nbeside her, and whenever there was any suspicion that an Evil Eye had\nagain fallen upon her, the same process was carried out. Unfortunately\nthe cure failed, the girl having died. It is more than probable that\nthe weakly girl, imbued with her mother\u2019s superstition, suffered when\nlooked at by strangers, or when she thought she was regarded with\ncuriosity; if she had merely been nervous she would probably have been\ncured.\n\nA native of Jura told how, when living with her sister there, one of\nthe children becoming unwell an _eolas_ woman was sent for, who got\nsome stones, a darning needle, water, and other things, and with these\ndid something to the child, but it did not recover. Our informant\nsaid they were strong in the belief that the child had been _air a\ncronachadh_.\n\nAnother account of the use of the darning needle comes from Ardrishaig.\nOur informant\u2019s grandmother had a cow grazing at the roadside, and\na woman, suspected of having an Evil Eye, passing, said, \u201c_S mart\nbhriagh thu, ge bi leis thu_\u201d (\u201cYou are a bonnie cow, to whomsoever you\nbelong\u201d). Shortly after the cow was found \u201clying rolled up in a lump.\u201d\n\u201cMy grandmother went with a luggie for water and put a darning needle,\nsilver, and copper into the water. She then poured some of the water\ndown the cow\u2019s throat, rubbed her horns with the water, and sprinkled\nthe rest all over her. In a little the cow was all right.\u201d\n\nThe same reciter mentioned another case, in which the operator was\nher mother. A calf became ill, and the owners were in doubts what to\ndo with it. \u201cMy mother, remembering my grandfather\u2019s cow, put spring\nwater in a luggie (it must be spring water) and a silver and a copper\ncoin and a darning needle. She forced some of the water down the calf\u2019s\nthroat, and sprinkled the rest over it. The calf recovered, and the\nfarmer\u2019s wife was so pleased and said to my mother, \u2018Well, well, Mrs.\nS., I never saw the like of you, you can do anything.\u2019\u201d\n\nNo detailed description was given of the stones used, but as\n_clach-na-s\u00f9il_, the stone (apple) of the eye, is common Gaelic, they\nwere doubtless of a sort more or less representative of eyes.\n\nFrom Kintyre, the following information in the words of the reciter\ngives us some indication. \u201cThey used tae hae a bunch o\u2019 sea-shore\nstanes wi\u2019 holes in them hanging up at the door tae keep awa\u2018 witches.\u201d\nThe collector had seen such stones in a house in Kintyre, but at the\ntime did not know their purpose. They were of the honeycombed sort that\nmay be found on shores where there are quantities of shingle. There\nwere six or seven tied on a string hung above the inside of the inner\ndoor; they were of different sizes, guessed at from fourteen to sixteen\nounces in weight.\n\nFrom the island of Lewis we have another indication. There, there is\na considerable amount of superstition connected with what is called\n_a\u2019 chlach nathrach_ (the serpent\u2019s stone). The reciter, who had seen\nseveral of them, said they were usually round with one hole through\nthem, though there may be two in some cases. The popular account of the\ninformation given was as follows: A number of serpents congregating at\ncertain times form themselves into a knot and move round and round on\nthe stone until a hole is worn. They then pass and repass after each\nother through the hole, leaving a coating of slime round the hole,\nwhich by-and-by becomes hard. It is this slime that gives to the stone\nthe healing properties it is supposed to possess. The principal use of\nthe stone was as a cure for the Evil Eye. Water is poured on the stone,\nand the person or beast affected is caused to drink the water, or has\nit sprinkled on them; sometimes the application is both external and\ninternal. These stones are much prized by their possessors, who are\nvery unwilling to part with them, and would not even willingly show\nthem, or even acknowledge that they possessed them.\n\nStories of the knot of serpents being seen are still told. A very old\nman, a labourer, without English, and who can neither read nor write,\ngives the following account:\u2014\n\n\u201cAll the serpents in the country round about gather together to one\nplace on one day every year, where they have a day\u2019s play. The play\nconsists in rolling in a lump on a stone and running through a hole\non the stone one after another. One time Georsa Cailean\u2019s wife (the\nwife of George, the son of Colin) was going home to her father, and\nwhen she was just beside a beautiful green spot near _Beinn Tartbheil_\n(Islay), she noticed that it was covered with serpents as thick as they\ncould lie on the top of one another. They had gathered there that year\nfor their play. She got a fright and ran, but if she had gone among\nthem she would have got the serpent\u2019s stone.\u201d\n\nA strong endeavour was made to acquire one of these stones, said to\nhave been found in a serpent\u2019s den, but negotiations came to nothing,\nas the owners believing that it was good as a cure, especially for\nserpents\u2019 bite, refused to part with it.\n\nIt is not necessary here to discuss St. Fillan, but it is a well-known\nfact that the three stones, supposed to have been in his possession\nand kept in the meal mill at Killin, were supposed to impart healing\nefficacy to water in which they were steeped, and which recently, at\nany rate, was given to diseased cattle as a curative.\n\nThe stones principally used then are stones with an eye or eyes in\nthem\u2014compare usual description of the hole in the top of a needle, the\neye of the needle. The stones of St. Fillan seem the nearest symbolical\nequivalent we have to the protruded fingers of southern Europe, which\nagain is nearly identical with the one-eyed Fachan\u2014the _Direach glinn\nEiti_ (Straight of the downy glen?) of I. F. Campbell,[13] and with\nwhich we may connect the protruded forefinger which was not to touch\nthe yarn, mentioned on page 145.\n\n [13] \u201cWest Highland Tales,\u201d iv. 326.\n\n\n\n\n IRON AND WATER\n\n\nAn Islay woman tells the following of her mother. \u201cShe was telling\nme how one time the butter went away from their milk, and for a good\nwhile they could not get a bit of butter. She was advised to go to that\nwoman, and she went. When she told her that she could get no butter the\nwoman took an iron and put it into the fire until it was red-hot; she\nthen took it out and put it into a stoup of water, repeating some words\nat the same time. Some of this water was given to my mother to put into\nthe churn, and would you believe it, the butter came back, and not only\nthat, but with the very first churning there was a great quantity,\nequal to all that had been lost since things had gone wrong.\u201d\n\nThe reciter was a woman of about five-and-thirty, now a small farmer\u2019s\nwife, and well educated for her station.\n\nThe iron in this case was heated, but in another instance, in which a\nhorse belonging to the reciter\u2019s grandfather was supposed to be injured\nby the Evil Eye, the _eolas_ professor, a woman, having got water,\ndipped a bunch of keys into it and then hung the keys round the horse\u2019s\nneck, and sprinkled the water over the animal, repeating words which\nthe reciter could not catch. The horse got well.\n\nThat for the cold iron, and now for the heat. \u201c_Nan tigeadh neach a\nsteach gus an tigh againne \u2018nuair a bhitheamaid a\u2019 maistreadh dhe nach\nbiodh m\u2019athair ro chinnteach, ghabhadh e eibhleag as an teine agus\nchuireadh e ann an soitheach uisg\u2019 e, agus ghleidheadh sin an toradh._\u201d\n(\u201cIf a person of whom my father would not be quite sure would come into\nour house when we would be churning, he would take a live ember from\nthe fire and put it in a dish of water, and that would preserve the\nproduce.\u201d)\n\nAs a mere suggestion, a guess for what it is worth, knowing that\nthe old process of preparing hot water by immersing heated stones\nin it was practised by Highlanders, we here may have the ordinary\nmethod of scalding the churn and dishes, at one time common, become a\nsuperstitious formula.\n\nThe power of iron as protective against witchcraft, fairies, and all\nsupernatural powers is too widespread to need special consideration.\nWe must not however always conclude that when what is used as a means\nof cure is composed of iron that the iron is the principal matter. A\nreciter near Campbeltown gave the following information:\u2014\n\n\u201cMattie Lavarty used to be going about the country here makin\u2019 _eolas_.\nI mind yince a coo belongin\u2018 tae yin Neil R. took ill before calfing,\nan\u2019 they sent for Mattie Lavarty. She worked aboot the coo wi\u2019 water,\nan\u2019 said her paternoster or somethin\u2019 else o\u2019er\u2019t an left a horseshoe\nin front o\u2019t. But the next mornin\u2019 whan Neil gaed intae the byre the\ncalf was lyin\u2019 deed in the greep (byre gutter). That pit Neil frae gaun\nnear Mattie or the like o\u2019 her ever after.\u201d\n\nOur business here is not with Mattie\u2019s success or failure, but with\nthe subject matter used in her attempted cure. The illness of the cow\nwas probably a protracted labour, and Mattie put before it what was\nsymbolical of a free passage for the expected calf. It was no mere\nplacing of something for luck, but a use of the symbol of reproduction\non an appropriate occasion.\n\n\n\n\n WOOD AND WATER\n\n\nThe reciter in this case was a native of Tarbert, Kintyre. Believing\nhis cow to be suffering from the Evil Eye, he sent for a practitioner\nof _eolas_. When she arrived, the first thing she did was to procure\nvarious kinds of wood and \u201cdifferent kinds of water.\u201d She made circles\nwith a stick, repeating \u201cwords\u201d the while. This done, she requested\nthe owner to go out of the byre, she remaining alone in it for a\nconsiderable time. She put the water in which the wood had been steeped\non the cow. The animal recovered.\n\nIt seems reasonable to conclude that the _iubhar beinne_ (the\njuniper) would be one of the woods used, but no exact information was\nobtainable. (See page 119)\n\n\n\n\n SALT AS CURE AND PREVENTATIVE\n\n\nSalt is employed as a cure and preventative. The following experience\nof a Kintyre farmer\u2019s wife, recited by herself, gives considerable\ndetail of the process carried out. \u201cI mind yin o\u2019 oor ain coos was ill,\nan\u2019 I sent for M. McC., that was a woman beside us that had _eolas_. As\nshune as she seen the coo she said M. McS. was here. That was a woman\nfolk didna\u2019 like, for they thocht she had a bad e\u2019e. Says I: \u2018Ay, she\nwas here.\u2019 \u2018Weel, she did harm to the coo.\u2019 She gied to the march burn\nand lifted water oot o\u2019t in three pairts. The first she lifted in the\nname o\u2019 the Father, the second in the name o\u2019 the Son, and the third\nin the name o\u2019 the Holy Ghost. Then she got salt and did the same wee\nhit. She pit the first taitie intae the bottle in the name o\u2019 the\nFaither, the second in the name o\u2019 the Son, and the third in the name\no\u2019 the Holy Ghost. She then gied tae a corner o\u2019 the byre and prayed\nsome prayer. When that was finished she pit the water in the coo\u2019s ears\nand some on her back, an\u2019 then said, \u2018She has plenty noo.\u2019 The coo\nshune got better. Peter, Paul, and Mary\u2019s names war in the prayer. She\noffered to learn me that _eolas_, but I didna want tae learn\u2019t.\u201d\n\nFrom an Islay reciter who saw the performance we have the operation\ndescribed as follows. She (the professor) first went on her knees and\nrepeated words, then put salt on a paper. This salt she measured with\na thimble painted blue in the inside. She then put it into a cloth,\npoured water through it into a bottle, after which she repeated words\nover it and gave the bottle to the man who had come to consult her\nabout the cow.\n\nThe salt seems sometimes to be used dry. We have mentioned George \u2014\u2014,\ndescribed as a worthy man, who was consulted to cure a cow so ill that\nthe schoolmaster had already advised its owner to send for a man to\nflay it. George required that it should be put in the byre, and it had\nto be pulled in by main force with a rope round its horns. This being\naccomplished, he told the boys that they might go now and he would do\nthe rest himself. He then asked my mother if she had salt, and when\nshe replied that she had, he ordered her to give him the full of her\nhand. She gave him that, and said if there was anything he would like\nto have one of the children would go for it. But he answered, \u201cThis\nwill do my business.\u201d He went back to the _bothan_ (byre), and he began\nto work the salt in the palm of his hand. After a good while he came\nout and said to my mother, \u201cYour cow is dressed now, Flora.\u201d They then\nwent to take her out of the _bothan_, but still she would not walk, and\nthey had to drag her out and leave her again on the green. With this\nmy father was after coming back, and a man along with him, to take the\nskin off the cow. George advised her to let her alone, for she would be\nall right yet. The cow recovered.\n\nThe use of urine as a preventative has been considered already. The\nfollowing from an intelligent woman of about fifty, a farmer\u2019s wife in\nKintyre, a well-read woman who takes an interest in things which she\nadmittedly does not believe in, tells that when she was young, in one\nfarm in Kintyre where she was in service, her mistress was regularly in\nthe habit of sprinkling urine (house slops) on every cow after calving,\nand before she was allowed to go out, the intention being to protect\nthe cow from the effects of the Evil Eye.\n\nIn another farm, however, in Kintyre, at the same time and for the\nsame purpose, salt was sprinkled on every cow\u2019s back as soon as she\nhad calved. It was an encouraging sign if the cow licked off the salt,\nwhich was specially sprinkled on either side of the rump.\n\nIt seems quite fair here to consider the salt as a more civilised\nrepresentative of the other fluid, though in fact the latter is of\nconsiderable value as a cleanser under certain circumstances.\n\nAnother native of Kintyre informs us that it was a common custom\nat farms when the cattle were being put out on the 1st of May for\nthe mistress to stand and throw a handful of salt on each as they\npassed out of the byre. She saw this done in a farm in the parish of\nCampbeltown, and was well aware of it being a common practice. It was\navowedly done against _cronachadh_.\n\nThe writer having no skill in churning, has no knowledge what result\nwould come from putting of salt in the churn, but an Arran woman is\nresponsible for the statement that she had herself often seen salt put\ninto a churn as a protection against any evil influence.\n\nA careful observer in Islay tells how that at one time their butter\nhaving left them and they had got none for some weeks, they sent for\na woman, a professor in the neighbourhood. When she came they had a\nchurning ready to commence with, but on examining it she advised that\nit should be thrown to the pigs, and added that they must clean and\nscrub well all the dishes used for gathering the milk, and that she\nwould return on the next day they were ready for a churning. That day\nhaving come, the _eolas_ woman returned, and the first thing she did\nwas to sprinkle a little salt on the bottom of the empty churn. The\nmilk was then poured in and the churning commenced, with unexpectedly\nsatisfactory results. The practitioner here was an _eolas_ woman\nof a very good sort, and set about her operations in a manner well\ncalculated to be successful. On the farm, however, they regarded that\nbutter with suspicion and sold it.\n\nTo judge from what we are told in the following as having occurred in\nthe north of Ireland, so strong is the action of salt that it will put\nmatters right with a bad churning, even though it neither touch cream\nnor churn. Failing one day to get their butter properly, the reciter\u2019s\nmaster sent for an old woman in the immediate neighbourhood. When she\ncame she just glanced at the churn, and seeing at once what was wrong,\nshe said to the farmer, \u201cIf you like I will show you the one who has\ndone the harm.\u201d He assured her that he did not wish that, but would be\npleased if she could do anything with the churning. Without more ado,\nso far as W. could see, she took a handful of salt, which she threw\ninto a pot boiling on the fire. She then gave a turn or two at the\nchurn, and sure enough the butter came all right.\n\nWe have already mentioned the use of salt in connection with sugar as\nput in milk given to a woman suspected of influencing her source of\nsupply, and from which the dairymaid took the first mouthful as a sure\npreventative of evil, not only for the quantity immediately given, but\nalso for any that would be supplied subsequently during the season.\n\nOne other instance of the use of salt we give on the authority of an\nArran man of about sixty-five years of age, a shrewd business man, but\nof whom the collector says that to judge from appearances he thinks his\nknowledge of the island and his family connection with it extends about\nas far back as the origin of the island itself.\n\nHe said his father was a great believer in the Evil Eye. One day a\nneighbour, walking with him while ploughing, had spoken in praise of a\nbrown horse that was in the plough. His acquaintance had hardly left\nwhen the horse turned ill, and lay down and kicked and groaned. It was\nunyoked and taken home, and the Evil Eye being suspected N. R.\u2019s wife\nwas sent for. She came and got a mixture of salt, soot, and a lot of\nother things which she rubbed on the horse. She felt it all over with\nher hand to find out the particular spot where the eye had struck.\nWhatever did it, the horse recovered and was quite well afterwards.\n\nThe passing the hand over the animal to feel for material damage is\npeculiar. This is a usual proceeding in cases of elf-shot, but not of\nthe Evil Eye; however, of course the woman was thoroughly entitled to\nmake her own diagnosis in her own way.\n\n\n\n\n MOST SUITABLE WATER\n\n\nIn the course of the preceding, various sources for water used to cure\nEvil Eye have been mentioned. \u201cA certain well.\u201d This may have been a\nholy well of some sort, consecrated by traditional connection with some\nsaint, though after all it may have been chosen merely to fulfil the\ncondition mentioned elsewhere that a spring is preferable. A narrowing\nof the choice of springs from which water could be taken was shown in\nthe case where one of our reciters told us that, believing the water\n_a bhiodh air a thoirt a tobar o\u2019n taobh deas_ (should be taken from\na south well), he proceeded to take it from a well south of his own\nhouse, while another mentioned that the water required to be taken from\na spring facing the south.\n\nWhile roughly one-half of our reciters have expressed a preference for\nwell or spring water, the other half prefer running water. One said\n\u201cit should come from a march burn,\u201d and two mentioned \u201cthat it should\nbe from a running stream,\u201d not mentioning any advantage to be derived\nfrom its dividing two properties. One pointed out that a piece of bread\nmust be in the possession of the taker. In two other instances the\ninformation was given that it must be taken where the living and the\ndead pass. The condition further annexed that it must be from under a\nbridge is probably merely an expression of the reciter\u2019s own for this\nsame idea. He would probably have considered stepping-stones, or a\ncommonly used ford which led to a burial-place, as equally effective.\n\nThe specified qualifications really cover all the usual sources from\nwhich water can be drawn. From a native of Kintail, we hear of a case\nwhich was considered the result of the Evil Eye, though she spoke of\nthe patient, a boy, having been \u201cinjured by some spell.\u201d He was quickly\ncured by the sprinkling of water from a \u201ccertain well.\u201d\n\nAn Islay reciter was very clear upon the necessity of choosing \u201c_uisge\nfior_\u201d (spring water).\n\nFrom the same island, in a case where a cow was said to be suffering\nfrom \u201c_buidseachas_\u201d (witchcraft), which in this case seems to mean\nEvil Eye, the water was taken in a small tub from the Saligo River.\nThe cow recovered, so if there is any doubt in any one\u2019s mind as to a\nproper source of supply, he can always procure it in the river running\nfrom Lochgorm to the west of Islay.\n\nAnother reciter said that water would be more efficacious if taken\nfrom a point where three parishes touched each other, or failing that,\nfrom a spot from which three parishes could be seen, and that he knew\nof water being frequently taken from a spot which answered these\nconditions for healing purposes of the sort we are considering. This is\nagain an invocation of the Trinity by suggestion.\n\nA woman who herself practised _eolas_, when asked whether it mattered\nwhat sort of water she used, said \u201cOh yes, it must be water from a\nmarch over which the living and dead pass.\u201d The use of this water need\nnot apparently be accompanied by incantations and other formul\u00e6.\n\nA reliable informant mentioned a case which came under her own notice\nof a Skye woman living at Kenmore, who, having taken it into her\nhead that a passing tramp had injured her child with the Evil Eye,\n\u201churriedly bundling up her child, went with him to a little river near\nher house, and washed the boy under the bridge which was on the main\nroad there, and the regular thoroughfare, alike for ordinary passengers\nand funeral processions.\u201d In fact, a running water over which the\nliving and the dead passed.\n\nFor dwellers in towns these instructions, if carried out, might mean\nconsiderable trouble, but in one case at any rate, in Campbeltown,\nKintyre, a firm believer in the Evil Eye, with a view to her own\nprotection, \u201cused to stand over the water tap in her own kitchen and\nallow the water to run while she repeated some words over the running\nwater.\u201d\n\nThe position of some wells undoubtedly makes them fashionable. One\nof our informants who has lived at Crianlarich says that within the\nlast thirty years she has known people come considerable distances\nto take water from a well between the old Priory and the Kirkton\nburying-ground, over which the \u201cliving and the dead\u201d were wont to pass.\nIt was taken for the purpose of curing cattle injured by an Evil Eye.\nA silver coin was generally in the vessel in which they carried away\nthe water. The efficacy of this cure was commonly, if not universally,\nbelieved in by the people of the place.\n\n\n\n\n TABOO WHEN IN POSSESSION OF WATER\n\n\nIn accordance with all the traditions of magical observance, we must\nexpect to find the use of this curative water made dependent upon the\nobservance of certain rules laid down by the professor. In one case\nalready cited, a young person going with an old woman to a well for\nwater, was ordered to keep silence, even though he himself was not\ncarrying the water; and this was insisted upon rigidly. This was in\nSutherland.\n\nThis insisting on silence is a very common taboo in other cases.\n\nFrom an Arran reciter, in the case of an unmarried woman being sent\nfor the _pisearachd_, as it is there called, the professor instructed\nher to go straight home, no further particulars being mentioned. This\ndaughter of Eve and Adam sat down at the roadside and indulged her\ncuriosity in examining what she had got from the _eolas_ woman. Our\nreciter said, \u201cAfter this, of course, it was of no use; for anything\nthese _eolas_ people give for curing should never be opened till it\nis going to be used. If it is opened before that, it will lose its\nvirtue.\u201d At any rate in this case it did no good, for the cow died.\n\nAnything approaching careful reasoning in folklore matters is not to be\nexpected, as in religion, faith takes the first place, and reason, if\nadmitted at all, quite a back seat. Sometimes, however, things occur\nwhich tend to diminish superstitious faith and reassert the advantage\nof applied reason.\n\nIn Arran, a horse was supposed to be suffering from _cronachadh_.\nThe farmer sent a woman to get the advice of a professor, W. She had\nto take care of a young child at the time, and probably it was not\nconvenient for her to leave the child at home, anyhow, she took it with\nher in a shawl. Having told her errand to the _eolas_ man, he gave her\na bottle with instructions how to use it. On her way home, constantly\nhitching up the child on her back, the cork came out of the bottle, and\nall that had been put in it was spilled. When she found this was the\ncase she was in a \u201cgreat stew\u201d and wondered what she should do. She\nmade up her mind that she would fill the bottle from the burn and say\nnothing of what had happened on reaching home if the horse did not get\nbetter; if it did she could tell the truth. She refilled her bottle,\nretailed the _eolas_ man\u2019s instructions, the water was applied to the\nhorse in accordance with these, and recovered. The woman now let out\nthe secret, which, as may be supposed, somewhat shook the confidence of\nthe public in the powers of that individual professor of _piscarachd_.\n\nWe have to take these stories as we get them. Cross-questioning the\nreciter has various results, from complete silence and a consequent\ndrying-up of all information, to an acquiescence in anything they think\nwill satisfy their interrogators. One is inclined to believe that in\nthe following case a cracked bottle was deliberately given to the\nmessenger so as to lead up to what happened. Our reciter said, \u201cIt was\njust last week I was speaking to R. G. about the man in R. One of his\ncows was ill, and a boy was sent to a man who cured cattle that had\nbeen _air an cronachadh_. The boy got a bottle with instructions, and\nwas told, \u201cI am not sure whether you will get back in time, but if the\nbottle does not break on the way and you can reach home before the cow\ndies, this will cure her.\u201d The boy went as fast as he could, but when\nalmost home the bottle broke in halves, and all that was in it was\nlost. He turned back and went as quick as he could to the _eolas_ man,\nwho told him: \u201cI knew the bottle would break, but I will make another\nthat will not break, only I\u2019m afraid you will not be in time.\u201d The boy\nhurried home to find the cow dead.\n\nOne would have supposed that any one not a fool would have looked upon\nthis as a trick, but the reciter, a tradesman who can read and write,\nreally an intelligent man and shrewd in other matters, added, \u201cWas it\nnot wonderful that he knew the bottle would break?\u201d The collector asked\nhim what he supposed had caused it to break. \u201cOh, just the strength\nof the evil that was inside it. One evil trying to beat another evil;\nthe man that gave the bottle, you see, was a strong wizard.\u201d Asked to\nexplain his idea as expressed by the one evil trying to beat the other,\nand was not the man who professed to cure as bad as the one who had\ndone the harm, he explained his position by saying: \u201cWell, no, it is\nright to do good and to beat the wicked one.\u201d\n\nThe spilling of the water, and consequently the impossibility of\nrecovering it from the ground, would naturally put an end to any hope\nof cure from it, but it would appear that even laying it down while in\nthe bottle deprived it of its virtue, as already pointed out.\n\n\u201cWhen myself and my father,\u201d said a reciter, \u201cwere in service at E\u2014\u2014,\nI was the herd, and one of the milch cows was attacked and not a drop\nof milk was left with her, but there was nothing to be seen wrong. We\nhad a suspicion of what it was, and I went up to a worthy, clever man\n(_duine corr gasda_) that would be at work curing beasts that were _air\nan cronachadh_. When I told him what was wrong he took a bottle from\nthe corner, while I sat by the fire. It is not known what he said on\nthe bottle, but when giving it to me, he said: \u2018_Air na chunnaic mi\nriomh gun am botal a leigeil ris a ghrunnd gus an ruiginn dhachaidh_\u2019\n(\u2018Upon what I had ever seen not to let the bottle touch the ground\nuntil I would reach home\u2019), and upon reaching to put what was in the\nbottle in the cow\u2019s two ears, and he said that this would make her that\nshe would have plenty of milk that same night. When I got home we did\nexactly as he had said, and the creature had plenty milk after that.\u201d\n\nThe above occurred in Islay, but the same taboo was laid on the\ncarriage of a like medicament in Rothiemurchus. The reciter said: \u201cMy\nmother was for a while that she could not get any butter. Whenever she\nwould try to gather it, it would run like sand. At last her suspicions\nfell on a woman in the neighbourhood believed to have the Evil Eye. My\nmother was advised to consult a woman supposed to have skill in these\nthings, then resident in the parish of Rothiemurchus. When she spoke of\nit to my father he did not object, and said he would speak about it to\nthe woman\u2019s husband, both being at that time at work about the laird\u2019s\nhouse. Next day the woman\u2019s husband promised my father that he would\ntell his wife, which he did, and she made something. I remember quite\nwell being sent to the woman\u2019s house for the thing that was to cure the\ncow; my sister was with me, and the woman gave us a bottle, and what\nwas in it was just like clear water. When giving it to us she cautioned\nus to be careful of it, for it must not be allowed to touch the ground\nuntil it would reach the cow; and I remember how very carefully we\ncarried it home, and how feared we were for it. The cow was made to\nswallow it, and whether it was that that did it, I cannot tell, but I\nknow they believed it was. In any case, after that the butter came all\nright.\u201d\n\nThe reciter of this, a woman aged about thirty-eight, was a crofter\u2019s\ndaughter, fairly well educated and more than usually intelligent.\n\nA very full account of the taboos to be observed by the carrier of an\n_eolas_ cure comes from a reciter at Whiting Bay in Arran.\n\nTwo men, each having but one horse, were in the habit of doing their\nploughing by uniting the pair in one team. One day both horses took\nill and the Evil Eye was diagnosed. One of the owners sent for _eolas_\nand his horse began to recover; the other man, who at first expressed\ndisbelief, seeing his neighbour\u2019s horse improving while his own did\nnot, sent his niece, on the \u201csly,\u201d to the same practitioner, Bean A.,\nfor _pisearachd_. It is the niece who gives us the information. \u201cWell,\nI went, and I told her my errand. I had a shawl on my head. When she\nheard my errand she went and put her hand up the lum and took something\nfrom there, and then she went into a corner and took out three wee\npokes as black as soot and took something out of them. She was in the\ndark, but I knew that there were stones in the pokes, for I heard them\nrattling. She then gave me a paper with something in it, and told me\nthat I was on no account to open the paper or let light or air into\nit till I would reach home. As soon as I would reach I was to tell my\nuncle to put what was in the paper into a bottle of water, and that\nhe was to sprinkle the water over the horse, repeating its name three\ntimes while sprinkling it. He was then to pour a little into each of\nits ears, and the rest, if there should be any over, he was to put in\nits food. These were her directions, and I went away with the paper;\nbut two people met me on the road and spoke to me. I did not answer\nthem properly, for I was afraid, but just said I \u2018_iim_,\u2019 keeping my\nmouth shut all the time. I had a strong wish to see what was in the\npaper, but was afraid if I would let in light or air it might be of\nno use. I resisted the temptation till I was nearly home, and then,\ngetting behind a dyke, I put the shawl over my head in such a way\nthat neither light nor air could get into the paper, as I thought.\nWhen I opened the paper what I saw were three wee black balls, black\nas soot, just like balls of soot. I never let on at home that I had\nopened the paper, and my uncle did all as he was ordered to do, and\nafter a while the horse began to get better. I do not know whether it\nwas the bottle that cured it, but it took a good while before it came\nto be quite well. People used to say that when a beast or body was\n_air a\u2019 cronachadh_ it would take as long to complete the cure after\nthe application of the _eolas_ as had been between the injury and the\napplication of the cure. Bean A. assured my uncle afterwards that it\nwas a person of the name of Stewart that had done the harm, and there\nwere only three of that name in the place at that time. Suspicion fixed\non one of them, and by-and-by they began to cast it up to her. She got\nangry and went to check my aunt for reporting a thing of the kind about\nher. This was the first my aunt had heard of the cure, for my uncle\nwanted to conceal it from her, and she was very angry with him for\nhaving sent to the _eolas_ woman.\u201d\n\nIn the above an express proviso was that while sprinkling the water\nover the horse its name was to be repeated three times. The necessity\nfor this was expressly laid down by a Sutherlandshire reciter who said,\n\u201cThe person or beast to be cured is made to drink some of this (silver\nwater), and is also sprinkled all over with some of it. The sprinkling\nis done in the name of the Trinity, and the name of the person or beast\nbeing operated upon must also be mentioned. This is all that is needed\nif it is a case of Evil Eye.\u201d\n\nOf course there is a certain amount of pure swindle in some of these\nperformances.\n\nA lad was sent some miles in Islay for _eolas_ for a sick cow. He gave\nhis account of the case to the man, who then promised him a bottle.\nHaving got the bottle and directions for its use, the messenger put it\nin his pocket and took his way home. Before he had got quite half-way,\nhe fancied he heard a \u201ccommotion\u201d in the bottle, which was still in his\npocket. He then discovered that the bottle had burst (?) and what had\nbeen in it had all gone. Thinking this was not as it should be, after\nstanding for a minute or two wondering what he should do, he made up\nhis mind to go back and tell the scientist what had happened. Back\nhe went, made his report, and the man said to him: \u201cDid they manage\nto do that to you? I\u2019ll give you a bottle they cannot break.\u201d He got\nanother bottle ready, waved his hands over it before giving it to the\nlad, saying as he did so, \u201cHere, _they_ cannot break this one, but\nthe cow will not be saved.\u201d He told the boy who had injured the cow.\n_They_ were the doers of the evil, evidently supposed to be acting with\nintention to do injury; so this case might be considered as one of\nwitchcraft by those concerned in it.\n\n\n\n\n WATER, WHERE APPLIED\n\n\nThere has been already occasion to mention that the instruction given\nwith the healing water was to make the animal swallow some of it,\nbut yet more frequently to sprinkle it on the beast. The most usual\nlocality, however, to which it is ordered to be applied is that of the\nears.\n\nA reciter\u2019s father-in-law had a sick horse which was supposed to have\neaten or drunk nothing for some days. A woman in the neighbourhood was\nconsulted, who, when she came into the stable, put some water (?) in\nthe ear of the horse, saying some words at the same time. The horse,\nwhich was lying down, rose to its feet, began to eat, and recovered.\n\nAnother reciter told of her own husband, who got something in a bottle,\nwhich he was ordered to put a portion of in the horse\u2019s ears, and to\nsprinkle some all over its body. As soon as he came home he did what he\nhad been ordered, the sick horse rose to its feet, began to eat, and\ncompletely recovered.\n\nIn another case the reciter\u2019s father had a grey horse which he\ndescribed as not being _uamhasach bochd_ (frightfully bad), but it\nwould not eat. To tempt the horse it was allowed in among their\nstanding oats, but it would not bend its head to eat a bite. His\nfather, taking the advice of another, went to J. R.\u2019s grandmother and\ntold her how the matter was. She assured him she would not be long\nin giving him what was wanted; she then gave him a bottle with the\ninstruction, \u201c_A chuir a cheud da spuit dhe na bha \u2019sa bhotal, aon\nanns gach cluais dhe \u2019n t-ainmhidh, agus an corr a chrathadh sios air\na mhuidh, agus air a dhruim agus leigeil leis sruthadh sios air_.\u201d (To\nput the first two spouts of what was in the bottle one in each ear of\nthe horse, and to sprinkle the remainder down on his mane and on his\nback, and allow it to run down on him.) In this case also the horse\ngave himself a shake, began to eat, and recovered.\n\nThe same formula was applied to cattle. A Kintyre farmer had a sick\ncow, and was advised to consult an _eolas_ woman in the neighbourhood.\nHaving no faith in that sort of thing, it was some time before he\nconsented, but he did at last on the plea that it could do no harm.\nThe woman being sent for, procured water and salt; these she put into\nthe cow\u2019s ear, reciting some unintelligible form of words. The cow\nseemed to brisk up at once, and the result was so satisfactory that\nthe owner\u2019s sister-in-law, who was present at the performance and had\npreviously taken up a position of unbelief, said to him, \u201cI think, J.,\nthere is something in it after all.\u201d\n\nWe have already given the particulars of how two beautiful quey calves\nwere affected by the Evil Eye of a woman who stared at them over the\nfield dyke. One died, but the other was cured by what appeared to be\npure water which the owner was told to put in the ear of the sick calf.\nWhen this was done it shook its head, got on its feet, and recovered.\n\nThese cases all get the credit of being recoveries. But a\nDumbartonshire case was less successful. When the reciter was in\nservice one of the cows took ill, and old J. W., who was always in the\nbyres and well acquainted with cattle, insisted that the beast was ill\nfrom the influence of some one _aig am bheil droch shuil_ (who had an\nEvil Eye). Nothing would satisfy him till a woman, A. T., was sent for.\nShe did not find it convenient to come herself, but sent a bottle with\nwater in it, instructing the messenger how to put it in the cow\u2019s ear.\nThe instructions were carefully carried out, but the cow died.\n\nAny person who had been made to shudder by the inside of the ear being\ntickled, would see at once how the animal was recalled to activity.\n\nThe following, from a native of Tiree, shows either that he had\nforgotten the instruction given to put the water directly into the\nears, or the professor, while still remembering the shaking of the head\nas sign of returning activity, had contented himself with the simple\nsprinkling. It was the reciter\u2019s cousin who went to the _eolas_ man,\nand who, having \u201cmade up a bottle,\u201d told him to sprinkle it on the\nhorse when he would reach home; and if it would shake its ears when the\nstuff would go on it, he said it would live, but if not they need do\nno more, for it would die. Our information was that the thing was done\naccording to the directions given, as soon as the horse felt the water\nit shook its ears, and as the _eolas_ man had said, recovered.\n\n\n\n\n ODD CURES\n\nThere are some odd cures mentioned in individual cases.\n\n\n HONEYSUCKLE CURE\n\nFrom a good correspondent in the North of Argyllshire comes the\nfollowing account of a clerk in a factor\u2019s office. He complained at\ntimes, and certainly did not look very well, but not much attention\nwas paid to him, as any illness he had did not seem serious. \u201cA frail\nold woman came into his parents\u2019 house one evening as the lad returned\nto supper. She looked at him keenly, waited till he went out, and\nthen asked, \u2018What is he complaining of?\u2019 His mother was surprised,\nbut answered that he was feeling the confinement in his office a good\ndeal, but that there was not much wrong. \u2018You need not tell me that,\u2019\nsaid the old woman, \u2018I can easily see there is something very real\nthe matter with him. Some one has laid their Evil Eye upon him. I\u2019ll\ntell you what you should do. Go to the woods, get a good long bit of\nthe _iadh-shlait_, take it and twist it this way round his whole body,\nrepeating the following words, and you will see your son hale and\nhearty soon.\u2019 The lad\u2019s mother did not believe in the cure and did not\ntry it, nor could she give the words recommended to be used.\u201d The plant\nhere is the honeysuckle, the Gaelic name given being used for it alone\nin the district. Dictionaries, however, say that it is also used for\n\u201civy,\u201d which in those parts as elsewhere is called _eitheann_.\n\n\n CAT CURE\n\nThe reciter, a probationer of the Free Church and well up in folklore\nmatters, when in Harris, of which he was a native, heard of the\nfollowing. A man\u2019s cow was taken suddenly ill, and the only conclusion\nthey could come to was that it was a case of Evil Eye. The owner of the\ncow, acting on advice, took a cat and rubbed it on the cow. The cow\nrecovered.\n\n\n RUBBING HAIR THE WRONG WAY\n\nThe reciter\u2019s grandfather was a Stratherrick man (Loch Ness), and when\nattending the market there, was approached by another man to sell him a\nstirk. There was a good deal of bargaining. No agreement was come to,\nthe offerer leaving as if dissatisfied. Before the market closed the\nstirk fell to the ground and could not be got to rise. F.\u2019s suspicions\nof course fell upon the rejected offerer. An acquaintance who also was\nattending the market, and was supposed to have eolas, happened to come\nabout, and seeing F. in distress reassured him: \u201c_Cha\u2019n eagal do\u2019n\nbheachan a laochain_.\u201d (\u201cNo fears of the beast, my lad.\u201d) He then drew\nthe palm of his hand up the stirk\u2019s back against the hair, repeating\nwords which the reciter, however, had never heard. The stirk got on its\nfeet and was soon brisk and well.\n\n\n CHANGING THE FIREPLACE\n\n\u201cThere was a man living in Machri whose cattle and horses were dying,\nand things generally going against him. He knew quite well it was the\nEvil Eye, so he consulted a _buidseach_. The _buidseach_ told him to\nchange his fire to the other end of the house. Having done this his\ncattle recovered, and he was prosperous ever after.\u201d\n\nUnfortunately this is the whole information available. The cattle not\nimprobably were housed beneath the same roof as himself; but it would\nbe of no benefit speculating as to the effect of changing the fireplace\nnearer to or farther from his stock. All that can be said is that the\nchange of position of the fireplace was credited with a change in the\nman\u2019s luck.\n\n\n THE POWER OF A CHILD\u2019S MUTCH\n\nWhether the child in this case was suffering directly from the Evil Eye\nthe reciter was not prepared to say.\n\nIn the neighbourhood of Tayinloan, Kintyre, there were several women\nwho professed to be able to cure sicknesses arising from the Evil Eye.\nOne of these women was sent for in the case of a child thought to be\ndying. When she arrived the household were gathered round the child,\nthinking he was approaching immediate death. When the woman looked at\nhim she said nothing, but asked for a child\u2019s mutch (close cap), and\nwhen it was given her she went outside, repeated a charm over it, and\nreturning, put the mutch on the child\u2019s head and said he would soon be\nwell. In a little while he kicked and stretched himself, and it was not\nlong till he was all right.\n\n\n WHISKY CURE\n\nIn only one case have we heard of this universal solvent of misfortune\nbeing used as a cure for the Evil Eye. The churning was unsuccessful;\nthe dairymaid was convinced that it was a case of Evil Eye, and advised\nthat a glass of whisky should be put in the churn. The advice was not\ntaken, so we have still to learn the effects of whisky in like case.\nThis was in Caithness-shire, where belief in the Evil Eye is very\ncommon.\n\n\n LEAD DROPPING\n\nWe have already considered the reference of the diagnosis to the augury\nof a piece of silver sticking to the bottom of a dish. All sorts of\nprognostications are got by pouring albumen of eggs into water as well\nas melted lead; the latter was used in the following instance of what\nit disclosed as a case of Evil Eye.\n\nThe reciter was a well-educated sick-nurse, of middle age and\nthoroughly reliable. A girl had taken suddenly ill. A young man in the\nneighbourhood was desirous of marrying her, but the suitor was not\nacceptable, and the girl took every opportunity of letting this be\nseen. A neighbour, supposed to have special skill and whose method of\nhanky-panky was the dropping of melted lead into water, was consulted.\nShe went through her performance and showed the lead, part of it at\nleast, in the form of a heart with a hole through it. She explained to\nthe sick girl, \u201cLook at that, his eye is in you and you are far better\nto take him.\u201d The match was made, and the girl recovered her health.\nThe same woman, going through the same performance with reference to a\nsick lad, showed to his aunt and sister some of the lead in the form of\na coffin, and from that pronounced the case hopeless. The lad shortly\nthereafter died.\n\nIn the case of the pierced heart, there is no doubt, the idea on the\npart of the reciter was that actual illness was brought on by the\ndesirous eye of the young man, not merely that the lad had an eye to\nher as a satisfactory partner.\n\n\n\n\n AN EYE FOR AN EYE\n\n\nWe have pointed out that the belief in an Evil Eye is founded upon\na literal acceptance apparently of the validity of the commandment\n\u201cThou shalt not covet.\u201d To the writer this seems the hardest of the\nDecalogue. It forbids thoughts which pass involuntarily through the\nmind. A person to whom Nature has given an ambitious and acquisitive\ndisposition breaks this commandment necessarily, however openhanded\nmay be his practice. With all reverence, the commandment seems to be a\npushing into the region of thought what has been forbidden in practice\nby the commandment \u201cThou shalt not steal.\u201d No doubt to covet means\nmore than a simple liking to possess, and it is the inordinate, the\nexcessive desire which is forbidden. The theory of the Evil Eye as\ndemonstrated in the beliefs of the West Highlanders shown here may have\nsprung entirely, and owe their origin to, if not the tenth commandment\nof the Decalogue, an acceptance as valid of the instruction therein\ncontained. The acceptance of this commandment as binding, demonstrates\nthat there is a power for evil in thought alone. The covetous man\u2019s eye\nis \u201cin it,\u201d let him do as he likes. This power is shown vividly by the\nbelief so often expressed that admiration of one\u2019s own possessions will\nresult in evil to them.\n\nTo counteract this deleterious result the possible sufferer has to\nbe put under the protection of a higher Power, and so, if the person\ncoveting remembers, a simple \u201cGod bless\u201d will ward off evil. But the\nEvil Eye is not the sole property of the active-minded Christian, and\neven when it is so it is not necessarily a simple matter to suggest to\nhim that he is breaking the tenth commandment; in fact there may be a\ndifference of opinion on the matter, and it will not do to leave to the\nother\u2019s goodwill your security from loss and damage. A curative ritual\nhas been excogitated. In these ceremonies the Trinity is frequently\nmade, or, let us say, called on to take a part. The curative water is\nprepared on three metals\u2014gold, silver, and copper\u2014the magic thread has\nthree knots on it, and sickness thus divided into three is destroyed,\nsay by burning two portions, one in the name of the Father, the other\nof the Son, while that given over to the influence of the Holy Spirit,\nwhich may be naturally supposed to counteract the covetous instinct,\nremains attached to the sufferer in the third and unburned knot.\nTo show that this symbolism is carried out fairly consistently, we\nwould call attention here to the use of the three-knot charm in the\nprocuring for sailors of a favouring breeze. Readers must take it on\nour authority that there are numberless accounts of the giving of a\nthree-knotted thread for this purpose, and the usual instructions for\nits use fully bear out our contention. After starting one knot is to\nbe unloosed, and the breeze will be favouring and probably gentle. To\nexpedite matters the second knot may be untied, and the result will be\nincrease in the force of the favouring wind, but on no account must the\nthird knot be interfered with, or the breeze will rise to a gale, and\nnone will be able to answer for the effect. Compare the above statement\nwith what appears in the Gospel of St. John iii. 8: \u201cThe wind bloweth\nwhere it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not\ntell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is\nborn of the Spirit.\u201d Add to this Genesis i. 2: \u201cAnd the Spirit of God\nmoved upon the face of the waters.\u201d\n\nThis is not to be considered as a reasonable deduction from the texts\nquoted. It merely shows that the authority may seem to give support to\na connection being suggested as existing between the Spirit of God, and\nthe Holy Spirit of the Trinity, and the uncertainty and force of the\nwind which is put under its governance.\n\nBut when we come to symbols and metaphors we open a wide field which\nneed not be restricted by what is within the domain of the Church.\nThe fact stares us in the face that the _uisge a chronachaidh_ (the\nwater of (against) injury) is more frequently prepared from one\nmetal\u2014silver\u2014even than from three. It is in fact frequently called\nSilver Water. There can be here no traceable connection with a Trinity.\nThe idea seems to be that the white metal represents an eye. Seeing\nthat the principal medium of exchange among the people is silver, as\nthings go, it is not very far fetched to make a silver coin stand\nfor what is acknowledged to be hurtful from the point of view of\ncovetousness, seeing that St. Paul tells us, 1 Timothy vi. 10, that\n\u201cthe love of money is the root of all evil.\u201d Having this in mind, we\ncan easily see how the adherence of a silver coin to the bottom of a\nwooden or other vessel comes to be relied on as settling the cause of\nan illness, whether it be the Evil Eye or something else. The round\nwhite coin staring at you, as it were, from the bottom of the cogue\nsays \u201cEye\u201d as distinctly as it is possible. If it does not adhere no\nsuggestion of an eye is made, consequently the sickness in question\narises from something else. We do not hear of a copper, and very rarely\nof a gold coin being used by itself. We hear of gold being used in the\nform of the marriage ring, but the symbolism here is the same as in the\nserpent stones and the honeycombed stones in Kintyre, it represents an\neye by its form.\n\nA reciter from the Chanonry, Ross-shire, says he has frequently seen\nwomen take the ring off their finger, and hurriedly putting water on\nit in a dish, dash the water over their children if they saw a person\ncoming to call about whom they had any suspicion. This was with a view\nto prevent _cronachadh_, either witchcraft or the Evil Eye.\n\nThis connection with an eye explains also how the giving away of a\ndarning needle means the giving away of one\u2019s luck. This seems somewhat\npeculiar to the island of Arran. We give the following as a sample:\u2014\n\nAn Arran reciter said: \u201cBettie many a time tells me of a woman they\nhave beside them who never darns stockings or anything else. One day\nthis woman came in and asked Bettie for a darning needle. Bettie\nsuspected it was for no good end she wanted it and would have refused\nit, but the woman having seen it went and took it with her. For some\ntime thereafter Bettie was very unlucky. Things were going against her,\nand one night she dreamed that somebody came to her and said, \u2018Why\ndid you give away your darning needle? You have given away your luck\nwith it.\u2019 When she got up in the morning she just went into the woman\u2019s\nhouse, and seeing the darning needle stuck in a pincushion, she went\nand took it with her.\u201d\n\nBettie here had given away the magic eye of its owner, which acted as\na counter charm to the Evil Eyes of others. The above is not the only\npower inherent in a darning needle in Arran. There, stuck in the cap\nor bonnet, it is as complete protection against the under-world as\nrepresented by fairies, as elsewhere a knife is frequently quoted as\nbeing.\n\n\n\n\n SHOWING WHO IS THE MISCHIEF MAKER\n\n\nWe are so easily content to waive aside these superstitions when they\ncome in our way, as if they were the unconsidered dreamings of the\ninsane. Not one of them but has its origin, generally no doubt in\na misguided fancy, but still based on something real enough to the\nmind of the believer, even if it be a mind of childlike simplicity.\nBut when _eolas_ men and women take on themselves to find out for\nthe instruction of their clients to whom the Evil Eye damaging them\nbelongs, one begins to doubt but that there is more of the wisdom of\nthe serpent than of the simplicity of the dove in this part of their\nperformance. We have already mentioned a case in which the _eolas_\nwoman described to the reciter\u2019s cousin \u201cexactly\u201d the man and woman who\nhad harmed her child, though neither man nor woman had been mentioned\nto her, and the reciter expressed wonder at the knowledge so displayed.\n\nThis spotting the doer is evidently a little more difficult of belief\nto many than the other notions they entertain about the Evil Eye. Thus,\na reciter says that one professor confirmed the owner\u2019s suspicions, a\nfact openly admitted, but added, \u201cIt was said that she told them whose\neye had taken the milk away.\u201d In another, \u201cIt was believed he could\nalso tell who had done the mischief?\u201d\n\nBut in some cases the individual is straightforwardly given. Five\nreciters at least mentioned that, and in one of these the reciter\naccepted the nomination as indubitable because they had met \u201cthe very\nman she mentioned on the road.\u201d\n\nThere can be no doubt that some of these _eolas_ people have\ndeliberately offered to disclose the personality of the one doing\nthe harm. The owners of the sick animal have refused to have such\ninformation given them, stating that they would be entirely content\nwith a cure without knowing any ill of a neighbour. Refinement of\nfeeling of this sort is foreign to many, however, and indeed it is to\nbe excused in a thorough believer, if for no other reason than the\nwell-known principle that \u201cprevention is better than cure.\u201d Some of the\nindications are particularly vague.\n\n\u201cHe asked if a dark-haired man had been praising the cow, and when they\nsaid that they didn\u2019t know, \u2018Well,\u2019 said he, \u2018it was a man with black\nhair (_ceann dubh_) that injured your cow, with the Evil Eye!\u2019\u201d\n\nIn another case the identified doer, as previously mentioned, had brown\nhair.\n\nIn some cases, though no names are mentioned, it is quite clear that\nidentification was intended. Thus, in one of the cases cured by a cord,\nthe professor stated that the child had been injured by a mother and\nher daughter. \u201cMy man said that that was quite true, but that they had\nno ill-will to us, and why should they do that?\u201d To that the woman\nsaid, \u201cThat it was likely that they did not know themselves that they\nwere doing it.\u201d\n\nIn another thread-cured case, the man operating said that it had been\ninjured by drovers who wanted to buy the animal in question. We\nmay conclude that the _eolas_ man knew that drovers had been in the\nneighbourhood.\n\nSimilar cases have already been mentioned, the particularity of the\ndescription pretty clearly demonstrating that the professor would have\nbeen more candid if, instead of asking whether a dark and a fair woman\nwith a blue shawl had been calling, they had said there had been, and\nthat they were responsible.\n\nBut this describing the individual without naming him is evidently a\ntrick of the trade. A farmer\u2019s wife consulting an _eolas_ man without\nat first the consent of the farmer, the professor described to the\ncouple the appearance of the man who had done the mischief. We then\nlearn that from the description they knew at once who the man was, and\nalso that he had been in the byre shortly before the cow had taken ill.\n\nIt was probably a safe enough decision to credit strange drovers with\nan injury of the sort, their stay in the district being of course but a\ntemporary one; but one suspects local jealousy in the following case,\nwhen a woman, desirous of getting back her vanished butter, was told\nthat those doing the injury were not a musket-shot from her house. This\nwas in Islay, and some Jura people staying in the neighbourhood, it was\nconcluded they were those pointed at.\n\nA parallel appears in the case already mentioned, where all Tiree\n_cailleachs_ are slumped as dangerous. One suspects that in the\nfollowing case an undesirable neighbour had been suggested.\n\nThere were three farmers side by side in the parish of Kilbrandon. The\none in the centre was not nearly so successful as his neighbours. The\nunfortunate farmer went to A\u2014\u2014 to consult a certain _eolas_ man. By him\nhe was told it was no wonder he was not getting on, for he had on each\nside of him \u201cthose who were doing him harm, and until he would remove\nhe would never get on.\u201d Taking the hint he looked about him, removed to\nanother farm, and succeeded very well.\n\nWhen in doubt, the professor, in some cases at any rate, acquires by\nexamination assurance of the presence of an individual to accuse.\nHaving put the string on a sick cow and the cow being cured apparently,\n\u201cshe (the _eolas_ woman) came to the lassie that had been herding the\ncow and said to her: \u2018You saw a man among the cows to-day, and you\nheard him saying that that cow was a good one.\u2019\u201d The girl said, \u201cYes.\u201d\nThe woman then said: \u201cThe man was J. G.,\u201d and the girl again said,\n\u201cYes.\u201d The woman then told them that it was the said J. G. who had\ndone the harm. They all knew him quite well. \u201cAnd now,\u201d added Mrs. M.\nin telling her story, \u201cif that woman had no knowledge, how could she\nhave known who had been among the cows on that day, or who had done the\nmischief.\u201d\n\nIn some cases a description is given of a method of identification of\nthe owner of the Evil Eye. Formerly we described how a woman consulted\nshut her eyes, and opening them after an interval, informed her\ninterrogator that anything she saw of the nature of a burden was what\nwas pressing on the sick animal. In that instance it was said to be a\nhorse collar.\n\nProbably in this case the woman satisfied herself of the gravity of the\nillness by comparing it with the relative weight of the burden.\n\nIn another case in which Thursday and Sunday were said to be the lucky\ndays for the preparation of the _uisge a chronachaidh_, and it took\nfrom Wednesday to Sunday to prepare the stuff, the blame was at the\nend of that time laid to the charge of a stranger from Tiree. One\ncan scarcely doubt that in that case the time was utilised to make\ninquiries.\n\nIn addition to these more crude methods there are indications of the\ndark-room business carried on in more civilised places almost to the\npresent day. There was a man who lived at Balloch in the island of\nLewis much consulted, and believed to be specially skilful in dealing\nwith cases of the Evil Eye. \u201cFor a consideration he would produce the\nlikeness of those who had done the harm, showing it to the injured. He\nwould take them into a little room he had, where he would show them the\nlikeness of the owner of the Evil Eye.\u201d\n\nAnother traditional method of identification was \u201cto make some one\npass before the inquirer, and the one who had done the harm would be\nof the same name.\u201d We say traditional in this case, because we have\nno information about smoke-raising, crystal balls, or anything of the\nkind, and are therefore inclined to refer it back to the Biblical\naccount of Saul\u2019s interview with Samuel.\n\nThat the story of the magic mirror has found its way into the Western\nHighlands, however, is made clear by the following. A lighthouse-keeper\nis our informant.\n\nFive men meeting his neighbour outside the lighthouse stopped him and\ninformed him that having left their boat on the beach, when they went\nback to it they found it had a hole, and they wished to see in the\nlooking-glass who had done the mischief. When the lighthouse-keeper\nassured them that he had no such looking-glass, and expressed\nastonishment that they would believe in such nonsense, they seemed\nsomewhat displeased. In recounting this incident afterwards the\nlight-keepers learned that an impression had gone abroad in the place\nthat there was a particular mirror at the station that had the property\nof showing who those were that had taken part in cases of witchcraft.\nIt is easily comprehensible how the reflectors in a lighthouse might be\nspoken of as of peculiar efficacy, with the usual \u201cThree Crows\u201d result.\n\nThe difficulty of course is to distinguish between claims advanced\nof the possession of a power, of which, under the circumstances, a\ndemonstration cannot be demanded, and the actual carrying out of some\nimpressive hanky-panky. The following is an illustration:\u2014\n\nA messenger being sent for a cure, and having received it, the\nscientist told him that if the cow had been his own she could make the\nshadow (_faileas_) of the one who had done the mischief to pass before\nhim, or, if the woman who was the owner of the cow had come, she could\nhave done it for her.\n\nOne can scarcely be accused of a want of Christian charity if he\nsuggests that if the professor had had the owner before him he would\nnot have claimed the powers he did.\n\nIn the story already related of Campbell of Skipness showing the\ninjurious one in a carefully darkened barn, the reciter, also a\nCampbell, had all the appearance of believing in the story, but as it\nwas told of a relative of his great-grandfather\u2019s, no one can say what\nare the accretions time has added to the facts of the case.\n\nWe have pointed out that even the Church has been brought in contact\nwith the Evil Eye scientist, and the following information from a\nwell-informed, clever, middle-aged lady, the sister of a clergyman\nwhose father took an interest in traditional Gaelic matters, as she\ndoes herself, was heard from a Sutherlandshire minister who recited\nit to her mother. The milk of their cows being unsatisfactory, the\nhousekeeper asked leave to consult an _eolas_ man. The minister was\nvery angry, but the housekeeper stuck to her text and carried out her\npurpose, telling the minister, \u201c_Na gabhadh sibhse gnothuch sam bith\nleis, agus chi mise de ni mi_.\u201d (\u201cTake you nothing to do with it, and\nI\u2019ll see what I\u2019ll do.\u201d) She got the _eolas_ man, and he asked for a\nbasin of the sort of watery stuff they were getting instead of milk.\nWhen he got it he closed up every hole and crevice, even stuffing up\nthe key-hole. Then he put the milky water on the fire, and when it was\nhot he took a knife and began to cut with it through the pot of milk.\nWhile at this work a woman came to the door, screamed, and wanted to\nget in; but he cried to her that he would give her plenty of it, and\nhe continued cutting away through the milk. Still she screamed and\nbegged him to let her come in, but he said he would not until she would\npromise to give up her wicked work and give the _toradh_ back to the\nminister\u2019s cow, all the time continuing cutting with the knife. She\nanswered she would promise everything he wanted, for every cut of the\nknife was going through her heart. The man then opened the door and\ntook the pot off the fire, and from that time the supply of milk, both\nfor quantity and quality, was satisfactory. In this case also, though\nthe authority is thoroughly respectable, it is impossible to say what\nactually took place. In fact it may be that our informant may have\nmistaken a traditional recitation as the experience of the reciter\nhimself. Though told \u00e0propos of the Evil Eye, looking at the story in\nall its bearings, it looks as if it had been, if it happened at all,\na case of pull devil pull baker between two witches, one of whom was\nsupposed to be taking the minister\u2019s milk.\n\nBut your witch, male or female, still exists, and his presence probably\ndoes not conduce to harmony in his neighbourhood. Two brothers lived\nbeside the father of our reciter in J\u2014\u2014. They had a bit of land between\nthem, and their dwelling-houses stood end to end under one roof. The\nwife of the one brother suspected the wife of the other of injuriously\naffecting her dairy products by the Evil Eye. She persuaded her husband\nto take her part, and he crossed to I\u2014\u2014 to consult one having the\nreputation of witchcraft there. The witch resolved to go in person to\nexamine into the matter, and he accompanied the man home, where he\nassured the couple who considered themselves injured that he would\nbring the injurer crying to their door. The suspected woman, already\nmuch annoyed, sent for the reciter\u2019s mother to come to her, who found\nher sitting in tears. The visitor encouraged her, told her it was\nall nonsense and advised her not to be downcast, and returned home.\nShortly thereafter she had a visit from the woman complaining, who\ntold her with glee that the man consulted had put them on a plan for\nfinding out who was injuring their milk. The mutual friend received\nthis information coldly, and proceeded to point out that there were\nno grounds for suspecting any one outside her own house, and advised\nher to go home, well clean her dishes and keep her eye on her daughter,\nassuring her that if she did that she would probably have satisfaction\nwith her milk and cream. The result was quite satisfactory, as it\nturned out to be as suspected, that the daughter helped herself in her\nmother\u2019s absence.\n\n\n\n\n PUTTING ELSEWHERE\n\n\nThe procedure of the _eolas_ woman in Bernera (Harris), given above,\nburning two of the knots of the charmed string to carry off the\ndisease, stating as she put each knot in the fire, \u201cThe disease and the\nsickness I would put on the top of the fire,\u201d it is evident that the\nevil was treated as something capable of being destroyed, in that case\nby the action of fire. The same idea appears in the following:\u2014\n\nThe reciter remembered when misfortune came to their cattle. One cow\nafter another died, and then a horse died, and her brother, a good deal\nolder than herself, saying he could stand it no longer, went to consult\nan _eolas_ man. The latter professed to understand the case, said it\nwas an Evil Eye that had done the mischief, and offered there and then\nto make the individual appear before him so that he would know who it\nwas. Her brother refused to accept this offer, and the proposition made\nto him then was that the illness should be transferred to the cattle\nof the wrong-doer. This also met with disapproval, and then it was\nproposed that the illness should be thrown in the sea. The cure in this\ncase was connected with waving the tether over the sick horse.\n\nIn another Islay case where the _dosgach_ was supposed to have come\nto the locality with a newlymarried wife of one of two brothers,\na reputed curer was consulted. He made out that it was a case of\n_buidseachas_, and he offered to put the _dosgach_ on any of the\nconsulters\u2019 neighbours\u2019 cattle. This did not meet with the farmer\u2019s\napproval, as he was unwilling that his neighbours should suffer, so\nhe declined to mention any name, but recommended that the evil effect\nshould be put in the sea. One can scarcely doubt that, there being\ncattle sickness in the district, the chances were in favour of the\ncattle of any named person being affected, so that even if the offer\nhad been accepted and the farmer committed himself as desiring harm\nto his neighbour, the _eolas_ man\u2019s credit or discredit would have\nbeen maintained. He must by this time have had a fair idea of the\ndisposition of the man he was dealing with, and probably expected that\nhis offer next made to show him for half-a-crown the individual in\nfault would be refused. It was so, and the reciter gave the reason for\nthis refusal, viz. that it would be _an t-aibhisdear_ (the adversary,\nthe devil), who would appear in the likeness of a man. This explains\nsufficiently the reason influencing those who refuse such offers, even\nif one did see an appearance which was recognisable. The evidence\nthat the individual shown did it was unreliable. The devil has been\na deceiver from the beginning, and if the vision was that of him\nmasquerading, doubtless for his own purposes, he might be deceiving the\ninquirer.\n\nThe above story was told by the daughter of one of the two brothers\nconcerned, and she vouches for the truth of it, having heard her\nfather and uncle talk of it often and often. She added a curious\nincident, which seems to have had something to do with the diagnosis\nof the case. The man consulted the \u201cRed Witch,\u201d as he was called,\nand sent the farmer back \u201cfor the twelve points of the sick cow.\u201d It\nwas explained that this meant the tips of the horns, ears, hoofs, &c.\nThese were examined, and the opinion expressed that the cow could not\nbe cured, for the mischief had got too near her heart, but it could\nbe lifted from all the rest, so that it would not trouble them any\nmore. She further explained that they were led to understand that it\nwas two brothers who were doing the harm, and we notice that it was\ntwo brothers who were consulting the witch doctor. She said that the\nsickness was put into the sea.\n\nFrom another case we get information of how this could be done. \u201cA\nstirk of my father\u2019s was ill, and we sent to a man for a cure. He sent\na bottle with instructions that part of it was to be sprinkled on the\nstirk, and the rest thrown into the sea. As soon as what was in the\nbottle went on the beast, its horns got warm. We threw the rest of the\nstuff into the sea as ordered, and after that the stirk got quite well.\u201d\n\nIt has been pointed out already that there is no witchcraft necessary\nto the Evil Eye, but that the processes for its cure undoubtedly are\nwitchcraft. The following will show the idea prevalent as to the powers\nof transferring illness.\n\nThe reciter, an Islay woman, said: \u201cThere was a lad at service with\nMalcolm here beside us. He was one of the T.\u2019s. He used to come our\nway, and my father said to me not to have too much to do with him, for\nthere was something wrong about him (hereditary witch power). Well,\nwhile that lad was beside us every foal that we had died. One day\nmy father went towards the march between ourselves and Malcolm. It\nwas pretty early, and he noticed the dog sniffing between two little\nhillocks there. He went over to see what the dog was at, and what did\nhe find but a foal\u2019s head buried under the ground. It was the head of a\nfoal of Malcolm\u2019s that had died, and the lad had buried it at our march\nto put the trouble upon us. My father was terribly angry (_fuasach\nangrach_), for he would not do the like to another man. He lifted the\nhead and threw it into a drain, where it would not do any harm and away\nfrom every man. _Ach coma leibh_ (but all the same), the time of one\nof our mares was out, and when she cast (her foal), what was there but\ntwo heads on the foal.\u201d The reciter went on to say that that lad left\nMalcolm and went to Fair Peter, but Peter got his burning with him, for\nwhile he was with him the foals were dying on him, Besides the harm\nthat was done to what belonged to his master, he (the lad) got a piece\nof a dead calf and put it on a neighbour\u2019s land, and with this that\nneighbour\u2019s calves \u201cbegan to go on him.\u201d\n\nThis story was told apparently with full belief, and the only\nconclusion we can draw from it, seems either that some cattle sickness\nprevailing in the neighbourhood was credited to the unfortunate lad,\nor else that for some revengeful or other purpose of his own he had\ndamaged the stock of his master.\n\nWe have another account of the same belief from a native of Kilbrandon,\nSeil Island, where a belief in the Evil Eye was exceedingly common. He\nsaid: \u201cWhen a beast dies, there being a suspicion that the death has\nbeen caused by such an Eye, the owner buries it stealthily, not on his\nown ground, but on the ground of some other person, the idea being\nthat if buried on his own ground the influence of the Evil Eye would be\nlikely to remain, and he might lose still more beasts, but by burying\nthe animal on the ground of another he transfers the evil from himself\nto the person on whose land it was buried.\u201d The reciter knew of the\nfollowing instance of this:\u2014\n\nA very superstitious family, who believed in and were much afraid of\nwitchcraft and the Evil Eye, lost some of their beasts and were quite\nsure that the Evil Eye was the cause of death. The head of the family,\nwatching a convenient opportunity, went at night and buried them in the\ndunghill of another man who lived a distance of about two miles from\nhim. No one knew this at the time, and it was only when putting out the\nmanure they found the remains of the beasts and came to know that they\nhad been buried there.\n\nIt would be unfair to encourage the belief that the professors of\n_eolas_ always give themselves to spreading evil reports of neighbours.\nOne being called in where the butter supply was unsatisfactory, after\nadvising the use of earthenware dishes in preference to wooden ones for\ngathering the milk, the dairymaid asked if she could tell her who had\ntaken the _toradh_. The answer was, \u201cIs not your name A.?\u201d On being\nanswered that that was so, the _eolas_ woman said, \u201cIt may have been\nyourself.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n APPENDIX\n\n\nAn attempt has been made to give an honest account without literary\nvarnish of the present-day influence of the belief in an Evil Eye\nin the Gaelic-speaking districts of Scotland. It is difficult to be\ncertain that nothing of moment has escaped observation. The influence\nof Bible texts, no doubt used divorced from their contexts generally,\nas well as the protective power of the Divinity, have been pointed out\nas influencing the superstitious. One other instance we would give from\nthe island of Luing, which has been handed in since the rest has been\nin type.\n\nThe reciter said: \u201cI knew a real good woman who always, when the first\nmeal of the season was got from the mill, sent a pitcherful of it here\nand there to the poor people round about. But there were some to whom\nshe would give none, because she suspected them of having evil in\ntheir hearts, and that if they got a pitcherful they could take all\nthe strength out of what she kept for her house use. You see, Hezekiah\nshould not have shown the King of Babylon all his treasures.\u201d Compare 2\nKings xx. 12-19, and Isaiah xxxix. Evidently the idea was that the King\nof Babylon was envious of Hezekiah\u2019s possessions, as the others might\nhave been of the good lady\u2019s meal.\n\nMention has been made of the belief that the Evil Eye could split the\nrocks themselves. A traditional account of such an incident comes\nfrom the island of Coll. \u201cOne time a man was carrying a quern (hand\ncorn-mill) on his back in a poke, and was met by a servant of St.\nColumba. Thinking the quern was a cheese, he coveted it, and when the\nman came to take it out of the bag he found it in two. Columba said of\nit, \u2018_B\u2019e farmad na suil a bhris a\u2019 chlach_.\u2019(\u2018It was the envy of the\neye that broke the stone.\u2019)\u201d The same story reached us at the same time\nfrom a Breadalbane source. A local laird who hurt his own cattle, and\nwhose dairymaid had to slam the byre door in his face, met a girl on\nher way home from the shieling. The girl had a quern (_muileann brath_)\nin a bag on her back. When she passed the laird looked after her, and\nsupposing what she was carrying was a _ceapag caise_ (a small cheese),\nhe put his eye in it. When the girl reached home the mill-stone was in\nhalves, his Evil Eye had broken it.\n\nSome verses describing the powers of a certain Macandeoir, give us a\nlesson in popular comparative philology:\u2014\n\n \u201c_A Mhurach biorach lom na suil olc.\n Gonadh thu maigheach\u2019s a fhiadh.\n Gonadh thu \u2019t-iasg a bhiodh \u2019san loch\n Nuair a shealladh thu orra gu dlu.\n Latha caogda thu d shuil a bha olc,\n Cha bhiodh luathas \u2019nan cleith\n \u2019S bhiodh gach creutair dhiudh na\u2019n corp.\n A Mhurach Macandeoir\n Gonadh thu Para Caimbeal\n Gonadh thu\u2019 shleisdean \u2018sa chnamhan.\n \u2019S d\u2019 fhag thu e bioradh fann._\u201d\n\n (\u201cOh Murdoch, piercing, bare, of the bad eye,\n You would wound hare and the deer.\n You would wound the fish that would be in the loch\n When you looked closely at them.\n The day you cocked (winked) your wicked eye\n There would be no motion (quick movement) in their bosom\n And each creature of them a corpse.\n Murdoch Macandeoir\n You would pierce Para Campbell,\n You would pierce his thighs and his bones\n And you left him wounded, weak.\u201d)\n\nThe respected correspondent who sends this and the writer differed as\nto the word here translated \u201cwound.\u201d The original spelling suggested\nthat _gonadh_ was the word, and it corresponds with the other\ninformation received in like cases, but the reciter explained, and\nsticks to it, that it means \u201cto covet.\u201d Now the word _gionach_ means\n\u201cgreedy\u201d \u201cgluttonous,\u201d and _gonadh_ means \u201cwounding\u201d \u201cbewitching,\u201d\nthus, _gonadh ort_ is a form of imprecation. The philologist will tell\nus they have nothing to do with each other, and this may be admitted\nfrom his point of view, but not from the popular one.\n\nMurdoch here immortalised was credited with the power of destroying\nthe winter supply of beef, even after the slaughter of the animal.\n\u201cWhen I was a little lad, my father and my uncle William bought a cow\nfrom him in winter. It was customary to buy a fat cow, kill it, and\ndivide it so as to have a cheap and good supply. The beast was killed\nand hung in the barn. The same day Murdoch passed, and they knew that\non returning he would call to see how the animal bought from himself\nturned out after killing. They were in a fix to prevent his seeing her\nwithout offending him, and the plan they took was to close the barn,\nlocking the door and giving the key to some one who, if inquiries were\nmade, would not tell where it was. Murdoch called, asked if the cow\nwas killed, and said he wanted to see her. They then proceeded to the\nbarn, but of course could not get in. An apparent search was then made\nfor the missing key, which naturally they could not find. Murdoch was\ndisappointed, but asked if she had killed well. They said she had, and\nexpressed regret that they could not let him see her. So they prevented\nhim laying his eye upon her after killing; before that, while she was\nhis own, of course his eye would not harm her.\u201d The latter remark is\nnot in accordance with the belief in other places.\n\nA native of Bute enables us to give another illustration of care taken\nto keep an Evil Eye from dead meat. A woman of whom, as our reciter\nsaid, there could be no doubt she had a \u201cbad eye,\u201d asked some fishers\nto take her along the coast in their boat. Not liking to refuse, they\nagreed. They had a fine catch of salmon with them at the time, which\nshe praised loudly as they lay in the net at her feet. \u201cWell, for many\na day after that we got no good from that net. We might every bit as\nwell look to the hills for fish as to it, and were quite sure it was\nthat woman that had taken its luck from it with her \u2018bad eye.\u2019 Many a\ntime after that we had to try to keep things out of her sight, and it\nwas not easy; she would be up and out as early as ourselves, no matter\nhow early we would be. I have seen us up at four in the morning, and\neven at two, trying to get the salmon boxed before she would get her\neyes on them.\u201d\n\nWe must add one other protective formula from the neighbourhood of\nArdrishaig. \u201cThis,\u201d said the reciter, \u201cis a good protection against\ninjury by an Evil Eye. I used it always with reference to the young\nchickens, and found it kept them from being hurt by any greedy\nperson.\u201d The words are: \u201c_Beannachd Dhia air do shuil; sop muin mu do\nchridhe._\u201d (\u201cThe blessing of God on your eye; a splash of urine about\nyour heart.\u201d)\n\nThe translation is given as received, but a \u201csop \u201d is a \u201cwisp,\u201d\n\u201ca loose bundle,\u201d \u201ca cowardly fellow.\u201d Attention has been called\non pages 119 and 136 to the _iubhar_, and on 171 to the _Fachan_.\nCompare the darning needle\u2019s use and its one eye to the following\nfound among the Wallons of Belgium. \u201c_Li bwegne_, le borgne. Cette\nsinguli\u00e8re appellation s\u2019explique par la ressemblance vague que le\ngland et ses levres presentent avec un \u0153il et ses paupi\u00e8res. Expression\npopulaire: _sain-ni s\u2019bwegne_, saigner son borgne, c\u2019est-a-dire [Greek:\npisser].\u201d[14]\n\nThe same significance is applied to the same thing in the same way in\nArabic, _El aaouar_ (The one-eyed).[15]\n\n [14] \u201cKruptadia,\u201d viii. p. 24.\n\n [15] \u201cThe Garden,\u201d p. 138. Sheikh Nefzaoui. Paris 1886.\n\nThis is \u201ca word to the wise\u201d which cannot here be considered further\nin detail, but undoubtedly has much to do with the preventative of the\nEvil Eye mentioned, and further explanation of much before alluded\nto will be evident to the one who can read between the lines when we\nmention that _maistir_ is in ordinary Gaelic urine, and _maistrich_ is\na verb, to churn, to shake together.\n\nOne other hint. A native of Garmouth on Spey said, \u201cI have often heard\npeople saying that one peacock feather given away to a person is\nunlucky to the one that gets it, but that more than one is all right.\nOne time Sandy took one to his landlady\u2019s little boy. He noticed that\nthe landlady looked displeased, and it soon disappeared. When he was\ntelling me about it, I said, \u2018Why did you not take two to her?\u2019 He\nreplied he would have done so, but he did not want to yield to her\n_freits_ (superstitious fancies).\u201d\n\nCompare this with what immediately precedes it, and notice that the\noffering of a single eye\u2014a single feather\u2014of the bird in question\ncarried with it an evil influence.\n\n\n A CHRIOCH\n\n\n _Le durachd do\n E. M. K.\n mo leth-shuil\u2019s mo dha chluais!_\n\n\n\n\n INDEX\n\n\n _Acallam na Senorach_, 3\n\n Acquaintances, divided into two classes, 46\n\n Admiration, expressions of, to be avoided, 76\n\n Albumen, 198\n\n Alum, 144\n\n _Amhairc, droch_, 5\n\n Animal, 110, 140, 145, 146, 150\n\n _An t-olc_, 11\n\n Antiseptic, 132\n\n Augury, 198\n\n\n Bad e\u2019e, 2\n\n eye, 25, 30, 43, 54, 207, 208\n\n One, held by the, 106\n\n Bardic Irish stories, 123\n\n Bawbees, 154\n\n _Beannachadh_, 98, 116, 124, 208\n\n _Dia_, 116\n\n Beliefs, 23\n\n _Bhioball_, 95\n\n _Bhuidseachas, sgil mu_, 13\n\n Biblical account, 214\n\n Bitten, 85\n\n Black Art, 114, 123\n\n pokes, 189\n\n thorn, sloe, 138\n\n Bless, 77, 115\n\n Blessed, 115\n\n Father, 160\n\n for the purpose of keeping away the Evil Eye, 114\n\n Blessing seems merely preventative, 117\n\n Blight, 45, 152\n\n by the Evil Eye, 69, 79\n\n Blinked, 45, 164\n\n _Bodach granda_, 96\n\n Bonnet, darning needle stuck in a, 204\n\n Bothan, 117\n\n Bottle, 109, 113, 136, 137, 146, 147, 153, 177, 191, 221\n\n Bridge, 165\n\n _Bruchag_, 131\n\n _Buidseach_, 197\n\n _dh\u2019 oibrich am_, 14\n\n Henderson, 142\n\n Hendry, 95\n\n _Buidseachas_, 11, 13, 14, 182, 220\n\n Burning stick, 143\n\n waved over it, 131\n\n Burnt, if any man\u2019s work shall be, 125\n\n _Burrach_, 121\n\n Butter not to be seen by anybody, 86\n\n\n _Cac eun_, 18\n\n Cailb, Samon, Sinand, 26\n\n _Cailleach_, 134\n\n _Cairbre_, 123\n\n _Caorain dearg_, 114\n\n Cap under her two knees, 106\n\n \u201cCarmina Gadelica,\u201d 104\n\n Cat cure, 196\n\n _Ceapag caise_, 205\n\n _Chaoran, slat de\u2019n_, 95\n\n Charm, 137, 146, 153, 159, 197, 198\n\n Charm, operated a, 77\n\n Charmed string, 21\n\n Charms, 6, 149\n\n Chickens, _air an cronachadh_, 66\n\n Cholic, 62\n\n _Chratachan_, 95\n\n Christian dogma, 163\n\n _Chronachadh, air a_, 23, 44, 62, 76, 102, 112, 151, 157, 161\n\n injury by, 153\n\n Churn, 123\n\n horse nail tied to the, 121\n\n nailing the shoe of a colt to the, 121\n\n scalding the, 173\n\n staff, 130, 143\n\n Churning, 29, 37, 57, 65, 99, 122, 124, 129, 198\n\n spoiled by the Evil Eye, 72, 73, 78\n\n Cinder, 128\n\n Circle formed by the thread, 143\n\n Circular motion, 145\n\n _Clach-na-s\u00f9il_, 169\n\n Cloth thrown over the churn, 86\n\n Clothing, burning a piece of the, 125\n\n _Cluais_, 193\n\n Coat, wrong side out, 131\n\n Coins, 157, 158, 163\n\n or brooch, 159\n\n three, seem to be the essential number, 159\n\n Columba, 160, 205\n\n Cook protects ducklings, 86\n\n Cormac\u2019s Glossary, 5\n\n _Corp creadha_, 9\n\n Covetous, 200\n\n desire, 1, 2\n\n glance, 3\n\n Cow\u2019s head and horns, 161\n\n _Cron_, 81\n\n meaning of, 6, 16, 30\n\n _Cronachadh_, 12, 13, 15, 22, 34, 88, 97, 98, 103, 124, 135, 154,\n 165, 203\n\n _air a_, 57, 91\n\n _air an_, 11, 15, 16, 32, 54, 92, 186, 187\n\n _air do shuil_, 18\n\n cases of, 32, 150\n\n cure in cases of, 22\n\n _fhuair mi_, 13\n\n is just envy, 42\n\n is quite common, 41, 167\n\n is still in it, 35, 78, 79\n\n Crown piece, 159\n\n Curative, 117, 184\n\n ritual, 201\n\n water, 201\n\n Cure, 181, 215\n\n view to its, 48\n\n Cured by magic, 56\n\n thread, 53\n\n\n Darning needle, 169, 203\n\n Decalogue, 200\n\n _Deide_, 92, 93, 94\n\n Deity, 115\n\n _Dh\u2019itheas_, 19\n\n Diagnosis, 139, 162, 180, 198\n\n Dish struck on the bottom three times, 161\n\n Divinity, 204\n\n _Dosgach_, 15, 219, 220\n\n Drawing the tether, 89\n\n _Droch sgeul_, 23, 39, 44, 46, 102, 194\n\n Drovers, 112\n\n looked on with suspicion, 48, 49\n\n Druids, affinity to smiths, 84\n\n\n Ear, nicking the, 134\n\n _Eibhleag as an teine_, 128, 173\n\n _Eolas_, 6, 91, 92, 152, 176, 188, 189, 190\n\n _a\u2019 chronachaidh_, 62, 91, 94\n\n applied for, 97\n\n _deide_, 93, 94\n\n _gach ni\u2019n aite fein_, 94\n\n _greim_, 94\n\n his father had, 98\n\n is from father to daughter, 102\n\n made the, 112\n\n makin\u2019, 173\n\n man, 110, 136, 150, 167, 184, 186, 194, 210, 212, 216, 219\n\n _nathrach_, 94\n\n performance, 97\n\n practitioner of, 23, 149\n\n professor of, 149, 172\n\n professors of, 96\n\n _sul_, 94\n\n was kept in the family, 103\n\n woman, 109, 112, 147, 165, 168, 184, 210, 213\n\n Eructation connected with the Evil Eye and witchcraft, 83\n\n Evil Eye, 1, 5, 10, 13, 16, 197, 200, 203, 205, 207, 210, 219\n\n action of an, 55\n\n anybody may have the, 24\n\n avoiding suspicion of, 32\n\n belief in, 1, 12, 20, 45, 88, 154, 163\n\n belief that he himself had an, 33\n\n believed in, 33, 43, 140\n\n believer in the, 8, 129, 158\n\n case of the, 51, 148, 190\n\n cases of the, 146\n\n casting the, 26\n\n cattle more liable to damage from the, 53\n\n churning spoiled by the, 61, 124, 129\n\n counteracting the, 48, 131\n\n cows dying from effect, of the, 56\n\n developed by relation of sexes, 1\n\n different from witchcraft, 89\n\n difficulty of evolving a theory, 67\n\n distinction between possessing an, and doing harm with it, 35\n\n doubts as to the existence of an, 65\n\n effects of the, 7\n\n eggs injured by the, 66\n\n fowls affected by the, 61, 65, 130\n\n having the, 45\n\n horses liable to be affected by the, 61\n\n hurt by the, 82, 97, 113, 161, 166\n\n indirect advantage to those credited with the, 69\n\n is involuntary, 36\n\n is not always involuntary, 40\n\n literary evidence of the, 3\n\n locality of belief in the, 20\n\n modes of expressing the, 17\n\n no visible benefit to possessor, 68\n\n origin of, 1, 7\n\n or witchcraft, 114\n\n people who possess the, may suffer loss, 7\n\n possession of the, ascribed to females oftener than to males, 24\n\n possessors of the, disliked, 24\n\n possessors of the, to be charged to their face, 29, 30\n\n possessors of the, unlucky to meet, 26, 27, 28\n\n reputation of an, 28, 129\n\n scientists, 216\n\n serpent\u2019s stone, a cure for the, 170\n\n stirks more rarely affected than cows by the, 54\n\n survival of belief in, 10, 140\n\n symptoms, 51\n\n their, 195\n\n to be referred to active covetousness, 40\n\n to cure the, 145\n\n to keep away the, 44, 131\n\n water, 157\n\n women, believers in the, more than men, 23\n\n young more liable to the influence of the, 45\n\n Eye, 4, 17, 161, 203\n\n diabolical, 18\n\n envious, 70\n\n had struck, 180\n\n has fallen upon her, 34\n\n my, 47\n\n put his, in her, 83\n\n shall not spare, 45\n\n\n _Facail_, 94\n\n _airson eolas_, 94\n\n _ceart_, 94\n\n _Fachan_, 171\n\n _Farmad na sul_, 205\n\n Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, 155\n\n _Fhear mhosach_, 107\n\n _Fiam_, 4\n\n _Fios_, 6, 141\n\n _Fios-achd_, 6\n\n _Fiosrachadh_, or _eolas_, 98\n\n Foal, 222\n\n Folklorists, 2\n\n Formula, 101, 145, 158, 173, 193, 208\n\n\n _Galar\u2019s easlainnte_, 144\n\n _Garbh sgeith_, 19\n\n _Gearr fheidh_, 94\n\n _Geas-arachd_, 6\n\n Germicide the, 133\n\n _Ghonadh, air a_, 17\n\n _mo_, 127\n\n _Ghuidhe i ris an fhear mhosach_, 107\n\n _Gisreag_, 149\n\n Glance, envious, 5\n\n Gold, silver, and copper, 163, 201\n\n cure, 166\n\n ring and silver coin, 166\n\n or earring, 161\n\n _Gonadh_, 146, 246\n\n Green lint, 147\n\n _Greim_, 94\n\n Ground, must not touch the, 136, 137\n\n emptied it on the, 156\n\n\n Harm, 99, 222\n\n Heifer, 59\n\n Hendry, witch, 96\n\n Holy Ghost, 176\n\n Honeysuckle, 195\n\n Horse collar, 146, 213\n\n repeating its name three times, 189\n\n shoe in the churn, 73\n\n front o\u2019t, 173\n\n to sprinkle the water over the, 189\n\n Humming, 53, 147\n\n a symptom of the Evil Eye, 53\n\n Hurtful eye, 33\n\n Hurting and healing, united in one person, 99\n\n\n _Iadh-shlait_, 195\n\n Ill-will, 60\n\n Incantation, 60, 97, 134, 144, 145, 146, 147\n\n form of, 104\n\n processes, 165\n\n repeats an, 59, 164\n\n Injured, 76, 86\n\n by _cronachadh_, 151\n\n by Evil Eye, 56, 183\n\n the cow, 107\n\n Injury, protection against, 44, 45, 114, 123\n\n _Iubhar_, 119, 120\n\n Ivy, 196\n\n\n Juniper wood, 119, 136\n\n\n Kicking, 56, 80\n\n Knife, 216\n\n Knowledge, 98\n\n of healing, 98\n\n the result of inquiry, 98\n\n to cause injury, 99\n\n\n _Laochain_, 196\n\n _Laogh_, 13, 14\n\n Lint, 147\n\n Lips, 159\n\n Living and the dead were wont to pass, 183\n\n Look, a foal hurt by a mere, 80\n\n a horse hurt by a mere, 80\n\n cows hurt by a mere, 80, 81\n\n Look, his would _cronach_ it, 103\n\n milk hurt by a mere, 81\n\n Loup, 60\n\n Lucky, 38\n\n\n Magic eye, 204\n\n fluid, 137\n\n mirror, 114\n\n thread, 201\n\n _Maistir_, 209\n\n _Maistirich_, 209\n\n Malevolent, 98\n\n Manure, 223\n\n Marriage ring, a sixpence, and a penny, 162\n\n Medicine bag, 141\n\n _Meise de mhin_, 111\n\n Melted lead, 198\n\n Metal, 202\n\n Milk, 90\n\n a drink of, given to any one suspected of the Evil Eye, 122, 123\n\n deterioration of, 90\n\n taking a mouthful of, 90\n\n Miscall, 117\n\n Mislook, 5\n\n Mordant, 144\n\n Motive, 54\n\n _Muin_, 208\n\n _Mulach an teine_, 144\n\n\n _Nathrach_, 94, 170\n\n _leigheas airson lot_, 94\n\n Neck, 141\n\n bare, 157\n\n _Neonain, Bun \u2019us Barr_, 94\n\n Neutralise any bad influence, 129\n\n Nicking the ear, 134\n\n _Nos Origines_, 141\n\n\n _Obair_, 144\n\n _Oidche Bhealtuinn_, 132\n\n _Olc_, 95\n\n Operator, 145, 155, 156, 159\n\n Overt act, 54\n\n\n Paid, 109\n\n Pail, half-crown piece in the, 154\n\n Paper, put salt on a, 117\n\n Pay, they do nothing without, 106\n\n Payment, he did not want, 109\n\n Pee, the milk has gone along with the, 57\n\n Perform his charms by means of a bridle, 149\n\n Performance, 97, 199\n\n Peter, Paul, Mary, 176\n\n _Piseach_, 6\n\n _Pisearachd_, 6, 184, 185, 188\n\n _Piseog_, 6\n\n _Pisreag_, 6\n\n Pokes, three wee, 188\n\n Practice, 200\n\n Practitioner of _eolas_, 23, 149, 158, 172\n\n qualified, 52\n\n unlicensed, 53\n\n Practitioners vary, 164\n\n Praised, animals she had, died, 87\n\n butter scattered by being, 78\n\n hen taken in dead by being, 79\n\n pig injured by being, 79\n\n Preventative, 117, 131, 132, 154, 163\n\n charms, 141\n\n Professional, 22\n\n Professor, 210\n\n of _eolas_, 96\n\n Prognostications, 198\n\n Protection of the Deity, 115\n\n\n Quern, 205\n\n Quey, 59\n\n Quey, _air a cronachadh_, 66\n\n blind, 59\n\n calves, 193\n\n\n Rag, burn a, 125\n\n Remedy, 113\n\n Request, 48\n\n Rhyme, 154\n\n Rift, 82\n\n _Roin_, 94\n\n Rowan, 118, 119, 133\n\n\n _Sack of Da Derga\u2019s Hostel_, 25\n\n Saint Bridget, 160\n\n _Salainn, dorlach_, 94\n\n Salmon, 207, 208\n\n Salt, a preservative, 83\n\n and urine, sprinkled with, 136\n\n used as a cure and preventative, 176\n\n Sell, risky to refuse to, 49, 88\n\n Serpent\u2019s stone, 170, 171, 203\n\n Seven small stones, 168\n\n _Sgeith_, 19\n\n _Sgil mu\u2019n chronachaidh_, 111\n\n _Sheirbhis, pris airson a_, 111\n\n _Sheumais Eoin\u2019s Pheadair_, 148\n\n _Ruaidh_, 151\n\n Shilling, 109, 161\n\n _Shuil, an droch_, 16, 23\n\n _bhuail an droch_, 16\n\n _Fluich do_, 127\n\n _ghabh an droch_, 17\n\n _mo_, 116\n\n _thuit an droch_, 17\n\n Sign of the Cross, 159\n\n that it was the Evil Eye, 162\n\n Silver brooch, 160\n\n coin, 30, 115, 155, 156, 158, 165, 166, 203\n\n cure, 161\n\n gold and copper, 161\n\n piece, 108\n\n Silver, white, 108\n\n Sixpence to give her, 108\n\n Skill, 101\n\n Skilled, 51, 60, 71\n\n Skin, 144\n\n Slime, 170\n\n Smiths, 84\n\n _Snaithnean_, 145\n\n _Snathainn cronachaidh_, 141\n\n _dearg_, 95, 142\n\n _Snuim_, 95, 142\n\n Son of Mary, 160\n\n _Sop_, 208\n\n Sorcery, 6\n\n Spells, 6\n\n Spilling, 186\n\n Spirit of health and healing, 160\n\n Spit, 126\n\n Spitting into the healing water, 165\n\n Spot from which three parishes could be seen, 182\n\n Sprinkle, used regularly to, 135\n\n Sprinkled, 147, 152, 153, 155, 156, 157, 161, 164, 168, 193\n\n _Sreang a\u2019 chronachaidh_, 141\n\n Stanes, bunch o\u2019 sea-shore, 169\n\n Stirk, 221\n\n Stone, water dashed against, 155\n\n Stones, and silver, performance with, 167\n certain, used for curing in Evil Eye cases, 167\n\n in the pokes, 189\n\n taken from a particular burn, 167\n\n _Suil sanntach_, 42\n\n\n Tar, an Islay application against the Evil Eye, 132\n\n _T-aibhisdear_, 220\n\n Tether, waving it three times over the horse, 149\n\n _Teum_, 17, 85\n\n Thread, cure, 211\n\n different colours used, 147\n\n green, 148\n\n must always be green lint, 147\n\n red, 145, 146, 147\n\n three knots on the, 145, 201\n\n to be put three times round the child\u2019s neck, 147\n\n woollen, 145, 146\n\n Threads, two, one black, and one white, 148\n\n Three articles, 148\n\n _Tiomnadh nuadh_, 94\n\n _Tobar, ris an taobh deas_, 152\n\n _o\u2019n taobh deas_, 181\n\n Toothache, curing of, 93\n\n _Toradh_, 216, 223\n\n bring back the, 109\n\n meaning of, 5, 6\n\n power of taking away, 101\n\n Transmission of _eolas_, 102\n\n _Tre tsuilib na sochaiae_, 4\n\n Trinity, 104, 161, 182, 190, 201, 202\n\n Turf, square of, 9\n\n\n _Ubag_, 141\n\n Udder, 77\n\n _Uisge a\u2019 chronachaidh_, 164, 202, 214\n\n _bonn airgeid air a chuir ann am bowl_, 151\n\n _dhoirteadh air an t-airgiod_, 157\n\n _fior_, 182\n\n Uncanny ways, 77\n\n Urine as a preventative, 164, 209\n\n sprinkling, 178\n\n stale, 135, 139\n\n strong, 138\n\n Usual proviso, 153\n\n Uvula, fallen, 148\n\n\n Vet is no use, 91\n\n Veterinary surgeon, 109\n\n Vomit, 102\n\n\n Water, 113, 124, 158, 159, 181, 186\n\n absolutely putrid, 138\n\n and copper coin, and a darning needle, 169\n\n and stones, 167\n\n and two threads, 148\n\n as a diagnostic of _cronachadh_, 158\n\n bottle of, 71, 152, 158\n\n from a march over which the living and the dead pass, 182\n\n from where the living and the dead pass, 161\n\n must be poured on silver, 148\n\n of silver, 154, 160\n\n poured on three silver coins, 167\n\n sprinkled on the child\u2019s face, 115\n\n Whisky, 198\n\n Wish, 15\n\n Witch, 6\n\n Witch, burning, 137\n\n cure, 221\n\n doctor, 103, 221\n\n Hendry, 96\n\n of Endor, 96\n\n reputed, 83\n\n Witchcraft, 55, 129, 158, 215, 217, 221\n\n Witchery, 6, 14\n\n and the Evil Eye, 129, 223\n\n protecting against, 135\n\n resorted to as a cure, 55\n\n white, 96\n\n Wizard, a strong, 186\n\n may have the Evil Eye, 56\n\n red, 57\n\n Wooden bicker, 159\n\n Word, a, must not be spoken, 157\n\n Words, 104, 145, 164, 172\n\n good, 104, 145, 164\n\n\n Yarn, ball of, 143\n\n different colours of, 142\n\n red, 144\n\n three ply, 143\n\n Yawn, 82\n\n Yawning, an effect of the Evil Eye, 151\n\n\n Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO.\n Edinburgh & London","title":"Evil eye in the western Highlands","tradition":"folklore-oral-tradition","translated_text":null,"word_count":62093}