THE DIVINING OR "WISH"-ROD, AND SUPERSTITIONS RESPECTING TREES AND
PLANTS.
Some sorcerers do boast they have a rod
Gather'd with vowes and sacrifice,
And (borne about) will strangely nod
To hidden treasure, where it lies;
_Mankind_ is (sure) that rod divine,
For to the _wealthiest ever they incline_!
_S. Sheppard, 1651._
Faith in the power of the "wish" or "divining rod" is by no means
extinct in the North of England. In modern times it is chiefly believed
to be potent in the detection of metallic veins, hidden treasure, or
subterranean springs of water. Our ancestors, however, held that this
mystic instrument was endowed with the faculty of bringing "luck" or
good fortune to its possessor, and of causing his slightest wish or
desire to receive fulfilment. I have a faint recollection of a story
relative to the use of the divining rod, with the view to ascertain the
locality of the "buried treasure," since discovered, in the valley of
the Ribble, near Preston, and now known as the celebrated "Cuerdale
hoard." This treasure, in all human probability, was consigned to the
earth immediately after the famous battle of Brunanburh, in the earlier
portion of the tenth century. Although it remained undisturbed about
nine hundred years, a tradition survived, which asserted that the place
of the deposit could be seen from the promontory overlooking the valley
on which Walton, or "Law," Church is situated. The late Mr. B. F. Allen,
of Preston, remembered a farmer ploughing deeply the whole of an
extensive field in the neighbourhood, in the hope of discovering the
long-lost treasure, some professor of the art of divination by the
"wish-rod" having pronounced in favour of the probability of a successful
result. Singularly enough, even after the accidental discovery of the
treasure chest of the days of Athelstan, the country people of the
neighbourhood still nursed the memory of the tradition with great
fondness, firmly believing that the "find" referred to was but a
foretaste of what was to come. I was forcibly struck with the tenacity
of this species of tradition, when engaged digging on the site of the
Roman station at the junction of the Darwen and the Ribble, in 1855. The
turning up of a few scattered brass coins of the higher empire, led to a
rumour that we had come upon "th' buried goud" at last, and caused us
some inconvenience. The Cuerdale hoard, it must be remembered, consisted
entirely of coins, marks, and bracelets and other ornaments _in silver_.
Mr. Martland, who farmed the land at the time, told me some curious
stories respecting this mound at Walton-le-Dale, which would indicate
that treasure-seekers had been more than once practising their vocation
in the neighbourhood. Some thirteen or fourteen years previously, a hole
nine or ten feet long was dug in one night by some unknown persons. A
silver coin (most probably Roman) was found on the filling up of the
trench. Mr. Martland likewise remembered hearing of a somewhat similar
hole having been excavated between forty or fifty years previously,
under equally mysterious circumstances, and not far from the same spot.
The locality was watched every evening for a fortnight, before the hole
was filled up, with the view to ascertain whether the midnight
excavators would resume their labours. Nothing was discovered which
either identified the parties or explained their object. The general
impression, however, was that they were treasure hunters, and that they
had acted under some magical or supernatural direction.
In a manuscript of the early part of the seventeenth century, by John
Bell, the necessary formulæ for the procuration and preparation of the
divining rod are thus described:--
"When you find in the wood or elsewhere, on old walls or on high hills
or rocks, a rowan which has grown out of a berry let fall from a bird's
bill, you must go at twilight in the evening of the third day after our
Lady's day, and either uproot or break off the said rod or tree; but you
must take care that neither iron or steel come nigh it, and that it do
not fall to the ground on the way home. Then place the rod under the
roof, at a spot under which you have laid sundry metals, and in a short
time you will see with astonishment how the rod gradually bends under
the roof towards the metals. When the rod has remained fourteen days or
more in the same place, you take a knife or an awl which has been
stroked with a magnet, and previously stuck through a great Frögroda
(?), slit the bark on all sides, and pour or drop in cock's blood,
especially such as is drawn from the comb of a cock of one colour; and
when this blood has dried the rod is ready, and gives manifest proof of
the efficacy of its wondrous nature."
The same writer referring to the subject of rabdomanteia or
rod divination, relates the following, on the authority of
Theophylact:--"They set up two staffs, and having whispered some verses
and incantations, the staffs fell by the operations of dæmons. Then they
considered which way each of them fell, forward or backward, to the
right or left hand, and agreeably gave responses, having made use of the
fall of their staffs for their signs."
This superstition appears to have been very prevalent in the earliest
times. The divination of the Chaldeans has passed into a proverb.
Ezekiel refers to it, and Hosea denounces the Jews for their faith in
such heathen ceremonies. He exclaims--"My people ask counsel at their
stocks, and _their staff_ declareth unto them." It was practised by the
Alani, according to Herodotus, and we have the authority of Tacitus for
the estimation in which it was held by the ancient Germanic tribes.
Sir Henry Ellis refers to an effort by miners to discover a metallic
lode, by means of the divining rod, as recently as 1842. He thus
describes the experiment:--"The method of procedure was to cut the twig
of a hazel or an apple tree, of twelvemonths' growth, into a forked
shape, and to hold this by both hands in a peculiar way, walking across
the land until the twig bent, which was taken as an indication of the
locality of a lode. The person who generally practices this divination
boasts himself to be the seventh son of a seventh son. The twig of hazel
bends in his hands to the conviction of the miners that ore is present;
but then the peculiar manner in which the twig is held, bringing
muscular action to bear upon it, accounts for its gradual deflection,
and the circumstance of the strata walked over always containing ore,
gives a further credit to the process of divination."
The following curious anecdote, referring to this subject, appears in
the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for 1752:--"M. Linnæus, when he was upon his
voyage to Scania, hearing his secretary highly extol the virtues of his
divining wand, was willing to convince him of its insufficiency, and for
that purpose concealed a purse of one hundred ducats under a ranunculus
which grew by itself in a meadow, and bid the secretary find it if he
could. The wand discovered nothing, and M. Linnæus's mark was soon
trampled down by the company who were present; so that when M. Linnæus
went to finish the experiment by fetching the gold himself, he was
utterly at a loss where to seek it. The man with the wand assisted him,
and pronounced it could not lie the way they were going, but quite the
contrary, so pursued the direction of his wand, and actually dug out the
gold. M. Linnæus adds that such another experiment would be sufficient
to make a proselyte of him." Lilly relates an effort of his to discover
hidden treasure by the divining rod. He, however, frankly confesses that
he failed in his object.
The divining rod in form resembled the letter Y, and, independently of
its other magical qualities, owed some of its supposed power to its form
and the number of its limbs. The peculiar and regular equiangular form
of the branches of the mistletoe, doubtless, had much influence in its
selection as a mystical plant endowed with supernatural properties. The
number three, and its multiple nine, together with the mystic
Abracadabra, the double triangle of the Gnostics, have been regarded
from the most remote ages as of mystical import. The association of the
"seventh son of a seventh son" (another mystic number) with the
procedure, is likewise indicative of a mathematical element at the root
of this superstition.
Mr. Gladstone, in his "Juventus Mundi," says,--"With respect to the
Trident" (of Poseidon or Neptune), "an instrument so unsuited to water,
it appears evidently to point to some tradition of a Trinity, such as
may still be found in various forms of Eastern religion, other than the
Hebrew. It may have proceeded, among the Ph[oe]nicians, from the common
source of an older tradition; and this seems more probable than its
direct derivation from the Hebrews, with whom, however, we know that the
Ph[oe]nicians had intercourse."
The horseshoe, which is so frequently seen nailed to stable and shippon
doors, as a charm against the machinations of witches, is said to owe
its virtue chiefly to its shape. Any other object presenting two points
or forks, even the spreading out of the two fore-fingers, is said to
possess similar occult power, though not in so high a degree as the
rowan wish-rod. In Spain and Italy forked pieces of coral are in high
repute as witch scarers. A crescent formed of two boar's tusks is
frequently appended to the necks of mules, to protect the animals from
witchcraft. The boar's tusk I have previously shown to be an Aryan
lightning emblem.
Kelly is of opinion that the mandrake, on account of its form and
supposed lightning origin, possessed, in common with the wish-rod, the
power of conferring good fortune on its possessor. The root of the
mandrake is believed to bear some resemblance to a human being, and
appears to have been used in England by sorcerers as an image of the
victim operated upon, as well as figures made of clay or wax. In his
"Art of Simpling," Coles says that witches "take likewise the roots of
the mandrake, according to some, or, as I rather suppose, _the roots of
briony_, which simple folke take for the true mandrake, and make thereof
an ugly image, by which they represent the person on whom they intend to
exercise their witchcraft." He adds--"Some plants have roots with a
number of threads, like beards, as mandrakes, whereof witches and
imposters make an ugly image, giving it the form of a face at the top of
the root, and leave those strings to make a broad beard down to the
feet." Dr. Kuhn and others are of opinion that the form of the wish-rod
originated in a somewhat similar idea; or rather that the two
superstitions had, in this respect, a common origin. It appears that
these rods are yet dressed like dolls in some parts of Germany, and that
they are occasionally attached to the body of a child about to be
christened. Schönwerth informs us that in the Oberpfalz the newly-cut
wish-rod is formally baptised, and the sign of the cross made over it
three times by the operator. Kelly adds--"This is not all. In every
instance the divining or wish-rod has a forked end. This is an essential
point, as all authorities agree in declaring. Now a forked rod (or a
'forked raddish') is the simplest possible image of the human figure."
The English mandrake, used by witches and treasure hunters, is, as Coles
observes, the _briony_, the veritable _atropa mandragora_ not being
found in the northern portion of the continent of Europe. It flourishes
luxuriantly in the Grecian islands. Mr. John Ingram, in his "Flora
Symbolica," says the mandragora is "the emblem of _rarity_." He
adds,--"Amongst the Oriental races the mandrake, probably on account of
its f[oe]tid odour and venomous properties, is regarded with intense
abhorrence; the Arabs, Richardson says, call it 'the devil's candle,'
because of its shiny appearance in the night; a circumstance thus
alluded to by Moore in his 'Lalla Rookh':--
Such rank and deadly lustre dwells,
As in those hellish fires that light
The mandrake's charmed leaves at night.
"There is an old, deeply-rooted superstition connected with this ominous
plant, which we have reason to believe is not yet altogether eradicated
from the minds of the uneducated, that the mandrake grows up under the
gallows, being nourished by the exhalations from executed criminals; and
that when it is pulled out of the ground it utters lamentable cries, as
if possessed of sensibility:
The phantom shapes--oh, touch them not--
That appal the murderer's sight,
Lurk in the fleshy mandrake's stem,
That shrieks when pluck'd at night.
So says Moore in verse, only repeating what many have said gravely in
prose.
"Another terrible quality imputed to this wretched plant was that the
person pulling it out of the ground would be seriously injured by its
pestilential effects, some even averring that death speedily resulted
from them; in order therefore to guard against this danger, the
surrounding soil was removed, and the plant fastened securely to a dog,
so that when the animal was driven away he drew up the root, and paid
the penalty of the deed."
Dr. Kuhn contends that this human form was given to the mandrake and the
wish-rod because both were believed to be of divine or supernatural
origin, and represented a species of demi-god, of the lightning tribe.
Kelly contends that "a comparison with ancient Hindoo usages fully
confirms the truth of this conclusion. The human form is expressly
attributed in the Rig Veda and other Sanscrit books to the pieces of
asvattha wood used for kindling sacred fire--so many inches for the head
and neck, so many for the upper and lower parts of the trunk, the thighs
and legs respectively--and the operator is warned to be very careful
where he churns, for perdition will issue from most parts of the arani,
whereas he who churns in the right spot will obtain fruition of all his
wishes; he will gain wealth, cattle, sons, heaven, long life, love, and
good fortune. Evidently the tabular part or block of the chark is
equivalent to the wish-rod, and the reason of this is that they are both
embodiments of the lightning."
Doubtless, as has been contended by Dr. Kuhn and many others, the
caduceus or rod of Hermes may be referred to a similar origin; that it
is, in fact, but the Greek development of the original Aryan myth. The
wands of conjurers, the batons of military commanders, and even the
sceptres of monarchs, together with Neptune's trident and Jove's
thundering implement, may without extravagance be assigned to a similar
origin.
The divining rod was made either of hazel, the rowan or mountain ash, or
some other of the European representatives of either the palasa tree, or
the "imperial _mimosa_ of the East." The story of the origin of these
trees, as related in the Veda, is somewhat curious. It exhibits the root
of the superstitious reverence, so common amongst all the Aryan tribes,
in which certain trees and plants are held, and of the belief in their
medical and magical properties. It appears that the demons had stolen
the heavenly soma, or drink of the gods, and cellared it in some
mythical rock or cloud. The falcon (a lightning bird) undertook to
restore to the thirsty deities their much prized liquor. The feathered
hero triumphed, but he gained his honours at the expense of a claw and a
plume, of which an arrow from one of "the enemy" deprived him during his
retreat. Both fell to the earth and took root. From the feather sprung
the parna or palasa tree, which possessed red sap and bore scarlet
blossoms. From the claw a species of thorn was developed. This Dr. Kuhn
contends is the _Mimosa catechu_, or the "imperial _mimosa_" referred
to. The falcon being regarded as a lightning-god, the plants and trees
sprung from him were supposed to possess largely the divine attributes
of their progenitor. The Aryan tribes, on migrating into distant lands,
found, of course, that the botanical characteristics of their new homes
differed from those pertaining to that they had left. They, therefore,
selected what, to them, appeared the nearest representatives of the
_parna_ and the _mimosa_, and endowed them with their supernatural
properties. Amongst the most reverenced in Europe were the fern, which
appears to be but a modern form of the word _parna_; the mountain ash,
or rowan; the hazel, and the black and white thorn, and the springwort
or St. John's-wort. Kelly says:--"Among the many English names of the
mountain ash are witchen tree, witch elm, witch hazel, witch wood;
quicken tree, quick beam (_quick_--alive, _beam_, German _baum_--tree);
roan tree, roun tree, rowan. These last three synonyms are from the
Norse tongues, and denote, as Grimm conjectures, the runic or mysterious
and magic character of the tree."
Several peculiarities of the mountain ash correspond with others which
characterise the Hindoo palasa. Both bear red berries, and their leaves
are profusely luxuriant. These characteristics are supposed to
correspond to the blood shed by the falcon and the form of his lost
feather. The spikes of the thorn, by a similar process of reasoning, are
identified with the claw detached by the arrow of the pursuing demon.
The late Bishop Heber, referring to the mimosa of India, relates facts
which clearly identify some of the superstitions of the East with others
in Britain. He appears likewise to have anticipated that time would
disclose their common origin. He says:--"Near Boitpoor, in Upper India,
I passed a fine tree of the mimosa genus, with leaves, at a little
distance, so much resembling those of the mountain ash, that I was for a
moment deceived, and asked if it did not bring fruit. They answered no;
but that it was a very noble tree, being called the imperial tree, for
its excellent properties; that it slept all night, and awakened and was
alive all day, withdrawing its leaves if anyone attempted to touch
them. Above all, however, it was useful as a preservative against magic.
A sprig worn in the turban, or suspended over the bed, was a perfect
security against all spells, evil eye, etc.; inasmuch as the most
formidable wizard would not, if he could help it, approach its shade.
One indeed, they said, who was very renowned for his power, (like
Lorinite, in the Kehama,) of killing plants and drying up their sap with
a look, had come to this very tree and gazed on it intently; but, said
the old man, who told me this with an air of triumph, look as he might,
he could do the tree no harm. I was amazed and surprised to find the
superstition which in England and Scotland attaches to the rowan tree
here applied to a tree of nearly similar form. What nation has in this
been the imitator? _Or from what common centre are these common notions
derived?_"
M. Du Chaillu, in his second journey to Western Equatorial Africa, found
a similar superstitious reverence for certain trees amongst the negro
inhabitants. He says:--"At an Ishogo village named Diamba, which we
passed about two o'clock, I saw two heads of the gorilla (male and
female) stuck on two poles placed under the village tree in the middle
of the street. In explanation of this I may mention here that in almost
every Ishogo and Ashango village which I visited there was a large tree
standing about the middle of the main street, and near the mbuiti or
idol-house of the village. The tree is a kind of Ficus, with large,
thick, and glossy leaves. It is planted a sapling when the village is
first built, and is considered to bring good luck to the inhabitants as
a talisman. If the sapling lives, the villagers consider the omen a good
one; but if it dies, they all abandon the place and found a new village
elsewhere. This tree grows rapidly, and soon forms a conspicuous object,
with its broad crown yielding a pleasant shade in the middle of the
street. Fetiches, similar to those I have described in the account of
Rabolo's village, on the Fernand Vaz, are buried at the foot of the
tree; and the gorillas' heads on poles at Diamba were no doubt placed
there as some sort of fetich. The tree, of course, is held sacred. An
additional charm is lent to these village trees by the great number of
little social birds (_Sycobius_, three species) which resort to them to
build their nests amongst the foliage. These charming little birds love
the society of man as well as that of their own species. They associate
in these trees, sometimes in incredible quantities, and the noise they
make with their chirping, chatting, and fuss in building their nests and
feeding their young is often greater even than that made by the negroes
of the village."
The _Caledonian Mercury_, a very few years ago, published the following
paragraph, which clearly demonstrates that the superstitious reverence
for the mountain ash still exists in a most unmistakable manner in North
Britain:--
"_Superstition in Strathearn._--It is not many years ago since two women
were seen pulling the tether in a field a few miles from Crieff, with
what object everyone knows. Even more recently a Crieff merchant, who
had adopted the motto 'Pay to-day and trust to-morrow,' had a piece of
rowan tree suspended over his doorway, and after his death a bit of the
same wood was found in each of his pockets as a preventive against the
power of witches. At this moment an honest farmer in a neighbouring
parish has a branch of the rowan tree above his byres, and it is said
that every stranger who enters his gates passes under this magic wood."
The author of "Sylvan Sketches," (1825), informs us, on the authority of
Lightfoot, that "in the Highlands of Scotland, at the birth of an
infant, the nurse takes a green stick of ash, one end of which she puts
into the fire, and while it is burning receives in a spoon the sap that
oozes from the other, which she administers to the child as its first
food." The infant Zeus, of the Greeks, was first fed by the Melian
nymphs with honey "the fruit of the ash," and with goat's milk. Kelly
says:--
"There was a positive, as well as a mythic, reason why the Greeks should
give the ash a name signifying sweetness, because the _Fraxinus ornus_,
a species of ash indigenous in the south of Europe, yields manna from
its slit bark. They may also have conceived that honey dropped upon the
earth as dew from the heavenly ash, for Theophrastus mentions a kind of
honey which fell in that form from the air, and which was therefore
called _aeromelia_."
Weber and Dr. Kuhn refer to a passage in one of the sacred books of the
Hindoos, in which an analogous practice is referred to. It reads, "The
father puts his mouth to the right ear of the new-born babe, and murmurs
three times, 'Speech! speech!' Then he gives it a name, 'Thou art Veda;'
that is its secret name. Then he mixes clotted milk, honey, and butter,
and feeds the babe with it out of pure gold." Referring to this subject,
Kelly exclaims:--
"Amazing toughness of popular tradition! Some thousands of years ago the
ancestors of this Highland nurse had known the _Fraxinus ornus_ in Arya,
or on their long journey through Persia, Asia Minor, and the south of
Europe, and they had given its honey-like juice as divine food to their
children; and now their descendant, imitating their practice in the
cold North, but totally ignorant of its true meaning, puts the nauseous
sap of her native ash into the mouth of her hapless charge, because her
mother, and her grandmother, and her grandmother's mother had done the
same thing before her. 'The reason,' we are told by a modern native
authority, 'for giving ash-sap to new-born children in the Highlands of
Scotland, is, first, because it acts as a powerful astringent; and
secondly, because the ash, in common with the rowan, is supposed to
possess the property of resisting the attacks of witches, fairies, and
other imps of darkness.'" Mr. Kelly regards the astringent argument as
evidently not the reason why the practice was first adopted, but an
excuse, and a bad one, for its continuance. In many places mothers yet
pass their infants through split ash trees in the belief that it will
cure them of, or protect them from, the rickets or rupture.
Brand regards the Christian pastoral crook, as well as the "lituus or
staff with the crook at one end, which the augurs of old carried as
badges of their profession, and instruments in the superstitious
exercise of it," as originally intimately connected with the divining
rod. He refers to Hogarth's "Analysis of Beauty," in which the great
satirical artist gives an engraving of what he terms a "_lusus naturæ_,"
which represents a "very elegant" branch of the ash tree. Brand seems to
endorse Mr. Gostling's opinion, as expressed in the "Antiquarian
Repertory," who says, "I should rather style it a distemper or
distortion of nature; for it seems the effect of a wound by some insect,
which, piercing to the heart of the plant with its proboscis, poisons
that, while the bark remains uninjured and proceeds in its growth, but
formed into various stripes, flatness, and curves, for want of the
support which nature designed it. The beauty some of these arrive at
might well consecrate them to the fopperies of heathenism, and their
rarity occasions imitations of them by art. The pastoral staff of the
Church of Rome seems to have been formed from the vegetable litui,
though the general idea is, I know, that it is an imitation of the
shepherd's crook." Gostling's paper is accompanied by engravings of
"carved branches of the ash." Brand speaks of one of these curious
"freaks of nature," which he saw in the possession of an old woman at
Beeralstown, in Devonshire, as "extremely beautiful." He was very
anxious to purchase it, but the old lady refused to "part with it on any
account, thinking it would be unlucky to do so."
Several modern writers on comparative mythology class the wish or
divining rod amongst the numerous forms which the stauros, as a phallic
emblem, has presented itself. The Rev. G. W. Cox, in his "Mythology of
the Aryan Nations," is very explicit on this point. He says,--"The
wooden emblem carries us, however, more directly to the natural
mythology of the subject. The rod acquired an inherent vitality, and put
forth leaves and branches in the Thyrsoi of the Dionysiac worshippers
and the Seistron of Egyptian priests. It became the tree of life, and
reappeared as the rod of wealth and happiness given by Apollôn to
Hermes, the mystic spear which Abaris received from the Hyperborean
Sun-god, and which came daily to Phoibus in his exile laden with all
good things. It was seen as the lituus of the augur, the crooked staff
of the shepherd, the sceptre of the king, and the divining rod which
pointed out hidden springs or treasures to modern conjurors. In a form
which adhered still more strictly to the first idea the emblem became
the stauros or cross of Osiris, and a new source of mythology was thus
laid open. To the Egyptians the cross thus became the symbol of
immortality, and the god himself was crucified to a tree which denoted
his fructifying power.... It is peculiar neither to the Egyptians nor
Assyrians, neither to Greeks, Latins, Gauls, Germans or Hindus." Mr. Cox
includes among its various forms the "trident of Poseidon or Proteus,
and the fylfot or hammer of Thor, which assumes the form of a cross
pattée." Increase of wealth by natural fruition evidently lies at the
root of many of the myths which relate to hidden treasures, whether
buried in the interior of mountains or elsewhere, as well as to the
properties of magic purses, festive tables, cornucopiæ, etc.
The following paragraph appeared in the newspapers in March, 1866. It
appears, from it, that in the eastern counties the bible has superseded
the "wish-rod" as an instrument of divination:--
"NOVEL USE FOR THE BIBLE.--At the Norwich assizes, on Wednesday, the
case of Creak _v._ Smith was tried. It was an action for slander, the
slanderous words imputed to the defendant being as follows:--'You are
the thief, and no other man. You have robbed the fatherless and the
motherless, and got in at the window. I can prove it by the turn of the
Bible.' One of the witnesses for the plaintiff explained what was meant
by the expression, 'I'll prove it by the turn of the Bible.' He said
that the defendant had told him that a friend of his, having asked him
whether he had ever heard anything about the Bible being turned, bade
him come to his house and he would show him what it was. That evening,
when this person went home, he told his wife what he had said to
defendant, and she went through the ceremony, which was done by holding
a Bible by a string, twisting it round, and as it was turning calling
out the names of all in the house until she came to the plaintiff's name
last of all, when it turned round the other way, showing that he was the
guilty man. This ceremony was performed by her a second time by the
husband's bedside, with the same triumphant result.--The jury gave a
verdict for 20s. damages."
Since most of the above was written I have read the following, in Mr.
Robert Hunt's "Drolls, Traditions, and Superstitions of Old Cornwall,"
which seems to throw a doubt upon the antiquity of the divining rod, _at
least as far as Cornish mining is concerned_. The statement, however, in
no way invalidates the fact that the hazel, ash, and other trees were
held in great veneration from the most remote antiquity either in
Cornwall or elsewhere:--
"It may appear strange to many that having dealt with the superstitions
of the Cornish people, no mention has been made of the Divining Rod
(_the Dowzing Rod_, as it is called), and its use in the discovery of
mineral lodes. This has been avoided, in the first place, because any
mention of the practice of '_dowzing_' would lead to a discussion, for
which this work is not intended; and in the second place, because the
use of the hazel-twig is not Cornish. The divining or dowzing rod is
certainly not older than the German miners, who were brought over by
Queen Elizabeth to teach the Cornish to work the mines, one of whom,
called Schutz, was some time Warden of the Stannaries. Indeed there is
good reason for believing that the use of this wand is of more recent
date, and consequently, removed from the periods which are sought to be
illustrated by this collection. The divining rod belongs no more to them
than do the modern mysteries of twirling hats, of teaching tables to
turn, and--in their wooden way--to talk."
Of course, as Mr. Hunt assigns not the good reason referred to for his
statement, it can but be regarded as the expression of an individual
opinion. It may, perhaps, be _locally true_, either wholly or in part.
However, whatever may be its value, in such matters it is incumbent on
the earnest seeker after truth to conceal no apparently incongruous
facts or hostile opinions.
The writer of an article on "Stick and Table Turning," published in "All
the Year Round," makes the following comments on the manner in which
this superstition exhibits itself during the present generation:--
"A good deal of attention was paid by the newspapers to certain alleged
achievements of two diviners, or dowsers, about twenty years ago. They
were West of England men, named Adams and Mapstone. A farmer near
Wedmore, in Somerset, wishing for a supply of water on his farm, applied
to Mapstone. Mapstone used a hazel rod in the usual way, and when he
came over a particular spot declared that water would be found fifteen
or twenty feet beneath the surface. Digging was therefore commenced at
that spot, and water appeared at a depth of nineteen feet. The other
expert, Adams, who claimed to have been instrumental in the discovery of
nearly a hundred springs in the West of England, went one day by
invitation to the house of Mr. Phippen, a surgeon, at Wedmore, to dowse
for water. He walked about in the garden behind Mr. Phippen's house
until the stick became so agitated that he could not keep it steady; it
bent down at a spot which he asserted must have clear water underneath
it. Mr. Phippen caused a digging to be made, and water was really found
at the spot indicated. As a means of testing Adams's powers in relation
to metals, three hats were placed in a row in the kitchen, and three
silver spoons under one of the hats. Adams walked among the hats, and
his rod told him which of them covered the treasure. Then three kinds of
valuables, gold, silver, and jewels, were placed under three hats, one
kind under each, and he found out which was which. On one occasion he
dowsed for water in the grounds of the Rev. Mr. Foster, of Sodbury, in
Gloucestershire. Using the same method as before, he announced the
presence of water at a particular spot, twenty feet beneath the surface.
A pamphlet published by Mr. Phippen concerning these curious facts
attracted the attention of Mr. Marshall, partner in the great flax
factory at Leeds. Water was wanted at the mill, and the owners were
willing to see whether dowsing could effect anything in the matter. Mr.
Marshall invited Adams to come down and search for springs. On one
occasion, when blindfolded, Adams failed, but hit the mark pretty nearly
in the second attempt, excusing himself for the first failure on the
ground that 'he was not used to be blindfolded.' Of the main
experiments, Mr. Marshall afterwards said, in a letter to the
newspapers, 'I tested Adams by taking him over some deep borings at our
manufactory, where he could have no possible guide from anything he
could see; and he certainly pointed out nearly the position of the
springs, as shown by the produce of the bore-holes, some being much more
productive than others. The same was the result at another factory,
where Adams could have had no guide from what he saw, and could not have
got information otherwise.'"
This superstition has been imported into Australia, where it seems to
flourish with remarkable vigour, notwithstanding the boasted
enlightenment and civilisation of the race and age. The following
paragraph, which appeared in a Melbourne newspaper in the early part of
the year 1867, speaks for itself:--
"In the area of Kiora, lying to the southward of Ararat, the settlers,
who are very anxious to discover springs of water upon their selections,
have engaged the services of an old man, apparently between sixty and
seventy years of age, who professes to discover springs by the aid of a
divining rod. He has already pointed out two spots where he confidently
states water will be found at a moderate depth, and the farmers are now
engaged in practically proving his skill. We are told that the diviner
holds a slender strip of steel between the finger and thumb of both
hands, and walks about the land with it in this position. When water is
approached, the rod trembles violently, and the motion ceases as the
place is left. One of the settlers, Mr. Tomkins, with the view of
testing his accuracy, had the diviner blindfolded (after pointing out
the spot where water would be found) and taken to another portion of his
land, but he states that the motion of the rod led him, with but little
hesitation, back to the same place. The old man refuses to take money
for his services till water be obtained, and when proved to exist asks
£3 from each individual. He states that the rod was owned by his father,
and that it will not indicate water in the hands of any of his brothers.
While engaged at Kiora he showed some of the farmers letters which he
had received from a number of squatters engaging his services on their
stations in a similar capacity; and he left to fulfil these engagements,
with a view of returning for payment when the sinking is concluded. He
professes to name within three feet of the depth at which water will be
obtained, but cannot say if it will prove fresh or salt."
A superstition somewhat akin to that in which the divining rod plays so
prominent a part, still lingers in various parts of the country. It is
believed that a loaf of wheaten bread, containing a quantity of
quicksilver in its centre, will, on being placed in a running stream,
rest over the spot where a drowned body lies. The experiment was tried
very recently, and an account of it appeared in the newspapers. In this
instance, however, the "faithful believers" were grievously
disappointed, as the loaf floated past the spot where the body was
afterwards discovered.
Another form of this superstition is referred to by Dr. Randal Caldicot,
who, evidently, lacked not faith in its efficacy. He says,--"When any
Christian is drowned in the river Dee, there will appear over the water
where the corpse is, a light, by which means they do find the body, and
it is therefore called the holy Dee."
Aubrey, in his "Miscellanies," quotes a letter addressed to Mr. Baxter,
referring to the Welsh "corpse-candle" superstitions, in which the
writer _naively_ says that the light "doth as much resemble a material
candle-light as eggs do eggs."