started with those which seemed to deal with plain water, then with
water in which one coin, and that necessarily of silver, had been
placed, and now we will consider those cases where more than one coin
has been used. The number seems always to be, in this case, limited
to three. A native of Sutherlandshire, now resident in the mainland
of Argyle, remembers as a boy accompanying an old woman to a certain
well near his native place for water to be used to cure a sick child,
believed to have been _air a chronachadh_. The woman had a tin can with
her into which she put a sixpence, a threepenny bit, and other coins,
said our informant, all silver. Before setting out he was warned that
he must not speak a word, but forgetting himself he began to talk. The
woman instantly stopped him, insisting that he must return home at once
if he uttered another word. He kept silence after that, and when they
returned with the water the woman whom he had accompanied sprinkled it
on the sick child.
A native of Lochaber gives the following as the result of his own
observation there. He saw different coins used, but understood that,
at any rate, there should be silver. The description was given in
connection with the use of the water as a diagnostic of _cronachadh_,
and was as follows: The coins were put into an empty dish—a wooden
one—and the water poured upon them was well water, preferably from a
spring. The operator then tilted the dish over and observed whether
the coin adhered to the bottom or fell away. The reciter disclaimed
accurate knowledge, but said he believed if the coins adhered it was an
indication of _cronachadh_, but if they fell away the illness was from
some “natural” cause.
A diagnostic point with this coin water, over which however an
incantation had been repeated, the words of which had not been
understood by the bystanders, was made by a male practitioner of
_eolas_ who, sprinkling the water on some sick cows they immediately
began to bellow, said that beyond doubt they had been afflicted by
“witchcraft.” He inquired if any milk from the cows had been supplied
to others not on the farm, and when told the name of a woman so
supplied, at once said that it was she who had done the mischief. Again
repeating a word formula, whether the same or not, the reciter did not
know, he sprinkled the rest of the water on the cows, and thereafter
their milk was believed to have been quite normal.
A native of Morven giving her account of the practice there, and being
a firm believer in the Evil Eye, said that the water had to be taken
from a well facing the south, and the silver coin being in it, the
water had to be poured into a bottle from the original dish, and the
sticking of the coin to the bottom was a sign of the probable recovery
of the animal for whom the water was intended.
Above it was said that three coins seemed to be the essential number
when more than one was used, and we give here on the authority of a
clergyman, his report of information derived from the late Mr. Stewart,
the minister of Nether Lochaber. When a person is out of sorts and all
overish, as they say, he is considered a proper subject for the silver
water cure. A female well advanced in life is usually the operator,
and she produces from her store a silver coin, the larger the coin the
better, a crown piece for choice, but if it is to be had, a silver
brooch with silver interlacements is even better. Getting a wooden
bicker, or earthenware bowl, she goes to the nearest running water and
fills her vessel from the stream to the depth that when she dips her
middle finger straight down in it the water will be as high as the
second joint of the finger. Having got the water she drops the coin or
brooch into it, and then makes as straight a course as she can towards
the place where the one is upon whom the charm is to be wrought. She
must take great care that she does not spill a drop of the water by the
way, and this being accomplished, the straighter the course followed
the greater the omen of success. The one to be cured is now made to lie
on his back—chest and neck bare—while the woman stands over him with
the bowl of silver water in her left hand. Having dipped the forefinger
of her right hand in the water, she makes the sign of the cross upon
his forehead and in a low voice repeats an incantation. During the
incantation, with her right hand she sprinkles the water on the patient
seven times and as rapidly as possible. There is then only enough water
left to cover the coins; this the patient is made to drink till the
last drop, the bowl being tilted over till the coin touches his lips.
The patient being now assured that he has been cured, is made to rise
and resume his usual occupations. The words of the incantation as
translated are:—
“Trinity, and might, and mercy, Holy and most merciful to human
suffering and sorrow: Ever Blessed Father, loving Son of Mary, and Oh
kindly Spirit of health and healing. Expel the demon of despondency and
fear out of this Thy servant who believeth in Thy word.
“Holy Apostles, twelve, and Mary mother, and meek Saint Bridget, and
Saint Columba too, exquisite singer of holy hymns, good and wise,
intercede for him with intercession of efficacy and power. Let relief
come now, and health and peace.
“Let the evil that afflicted him be driven by the winds afar: And let
him arise in strength and hope and joy, to magnify the goodness of the
most High.
“With water of silver, from swiftly running stream I sprinkle Thee.
Arise and be well.”
Unfortunately our informant was unable to give us the Gaelic words.
The ceremonies here, probably having been performed in Lochaber where
the Romish faith is still strong, point them back to Roman influences.
There is an accuracy of description and attention to detail suggestive
of the literary man very rarely to be got from popular reciters. We
have however quoted our authority, one well known throughout the
Highlands.
In the above there is no question of prognosticating, and the choice
of the heaviest silver coin or of a silver brooch, which might be
the size of a saucer, militates entirely against the chance of its
sticking, even to the bottom of a wooden vessel. We are able to
give a quite unembellished account of the same process from the same
district by a native. “I mind one time the best cow I ever had was
_air a’ cronachadh_. I went for an old woman I knew who could cure
beasts. She was a decent woman, and when she came she had water with
her in a dish she had brought. She put a shilling in the dish, and then
poured the water into another dish and turned that in which it had been
upside down, but the shilling stuck to the bottom and did not fall.
She struck the dish on the bottom three times with her hand, but still
the shilling held on, and I had to pull it away with my fingers. The
woman said that was clear enough proof that the cow had been injured
by somebody’s ‘eye,’ and she went on to heal her. She put the water on
the cow’s head and horns, sprinkled some all over it, and put some down
its throat. In a short time the cow was all right.” Compare it with the
following account by a native of the parish of Urray, in Rosshire, who
has seen this “silver cure” as she calls it applied both to people and
beasts. She explained that it did not need a professional to do it,
any one can do it for another. Here, then, we see that the virtue lies
in the silver itself apparently. “Water must be taken in the name of
the Trinity from where the living and the dead pass. When the water is
brought home, silver, gold, and copper are put in a dish and the water
poured on their top. Usually coins are used, but a gold ring or earring
will do as well. The person or beast that is to be healed should be
made to drink a mouthful or two of the water, and should be sprinkled
all over with the rest of it. That is all that is needed for the cure.
When one desires to find out if it is a case of hurt by the Evil Eye,
the dish in which the water and the coins were is carefully turned over
till it is mouth downwards. If the coins left in it stick to the bottom
it is a sign that it was the Evil Eye that caused the trouble; if they
fall away the trouble was a natural one.
Here we see a distinct reference to the Trinity, and we also notice
that if we were to take that reciter’s account of it all the three
representatives, apparently, in order to settle the diagnosis would
require to stick to the bottom of the dish.
But another reciter from the same county, but from the parish of
Tarbert, makes it clear that if the silver sticks the question is
settled. When the reciter’s son was a baby she was living with her
aunt, and one day the child began to scream as if in great pain.
Nothing tried seemed to give relief, and her aunt, suspecting Evil Eye,
took the reciter’s marriage ring, a sixpence, and a penny, and putting
them into a dish, poured water on them and then poured the water slowly
off into another dish. She then turned the dish upside down. The ring
and the penny came out, but the sixpence stuck, and although the bottom
of the dish was struck with her hand outside, the coin still remained.
This confirmed her aunt’s suspicion. She said, “See you that? The child
was hurt by some one envying it.” The reciter added, “He was a very
pretty child at any rate.” The aunt gave the baby (some of?) the water
to drink, and he soon got better.
A man and his wife, natives of Kinlochbervie in Sutherlandshire,
separately interviewed, agree as to the common belief there in the Evil
Eye and _cronachadh_ generally. Mr. G. himself when a boy, being taken
ill somewhat suddenly, his mother, suspecting that he had been _air a
chronachadh_, got water, into which she put a gold, a silver, and a
copper coin, and sprinkled the water on his face.
Mrs. H. said she has often seen it done both to cattle and people,
and that it was, as well as a cure, a preventative where no suspicion
of evil had already occurred, but only when it was dreaded, as, for
example, in the case of young persons of prepossessing appearance.
From Back in Lewis we have evidence to the same effect, the belief
in the Evil Eye being very common, and the cure by sprinkling water
off the three metals usually resorted to. The reciter had seen it
frequently done in the case of animals, on one occasion to a child.
Application was here made to an _eolas_ woman. She had water for the
purpose brought from under where the living and the dead pass, put the
three coins in a dish, poured the water on the metal, and sprinkled the
child with the water.
The belief in the Evil Eye no doubt is pagan, though believed to be
supported by Christian dogma, and seeing the importance attached to
the rite of baptism in the name of the Trinity, it seems hardly to be
wondered at that some equivalent ceremony should have been evolved for
the cure of so mystic an influence as the Evil Eye. The writer would,
he believes, be the last person to insinuate anything derogatory to one
Church more than another; but using all honest material, the following
statement must not be passed over.
A native of the north of Ireland, admitting the common belief in his
own district in the Evil Eye, there called, as we have already stated,
“blinked,” informs us that the services of the priests are in demand in
such cases, and it is currently reported that priests do give bottles
of fluid to be sprinkled on the animals affected, with what is believed
to be satisfactory result. He added that there was a story told of a
man damaging his cow by using another bottle containing vitriol instead
of that given by the priest. If such a thing did happen it was the
man’s fault, and in no way affects the question under discussion.
In reciting their incantations the practitioners also vary. The
performance, as described by an eye-witness, in one case was that the
woman consulted put something in a bottle, put the bottle to her mouth,
spoke something into it, and then threw what was in the bottle over the
cow to be cured. The result in this case was quite satisfactory, almost
immediate.
In an Islay instance the woman consulted “went down to the little river
that was below the houses. She had a wee dish with her, and she went on
her knees and said some of the good words that she had while she was
lifting the water. She took the water to where the mare was and said
more of the words, and sprinkled the water over the mare.” The result
in this case was that the mare got better, but was never so sound as
she had been before, and once she got out of the stable she never could
be either forced or coaxed to enter it again, do what they would, and
the attempt was frequently made.
It seems possible that the account given by one reciter of the
preparation of _uisge a chronachaidh_, in which he stated that the
performer takes the water to be used into his or her mouth, and from
the mouth puts it into a bottle to be sprinkled from the bottle upon
the person or beast to be cured, may have been a conclusion formed from
the incantation process being carried on over the mouth of the bottle.
The following account, however, by a Mull woman of her own experience
shows that spitting into the healing water has actually been practised.
The reciter’s aunt, suspecting that a cow which she had was suffering
from _cronachadh_, sent her to the _eolas_ woman to tell her about
the beast. She found the professor in bed ill, but after giving her
message the woman sent her for water to be taken from under a bridge
in the neighbourhood. The living and the dead pass over this bridge,
and it was always from this place that healing water for _cronachadh_
was taken. While repeating the incantation she would now and again spit
into the bottle, which she gave our reciter to take to her aunt. The
water was sprinkled over the animal, which recovered.
Before considering water as a curative which had been in contact with
other things than coin, the importance attached to silver will be
made more clear by the belief put in practice that a silver coin in
the pail at milking time will prevent any one taking the butter away
by witchcraft. This was first noticed by a native of Ayrshire, and is
practised in Islay also.
An Islay farmer and his wife being from home, the niece in charge
during their absence found the churning had gone wrong. It was
suggested to her to put a silver coin under the churn to counteract
the action of any Evil Eye. What the result was in that case could not
be found out; but recently a cow having calved, to prevent any ill
effect from the Evil Eye, a silver coin was put in her first milk,
which was given to the cow herself to swallow, as soon as drawn from
her.
Throughout the country at large the water prepared upon coin is
undoubtedly generally known as “silver water,” though we have shown
that gold as well as copper—but gold more frequently—is associated
with the silver. It is interesting to notice that in one account from
Sutherlandshire the silver cure is described as being done with “a
gold ring, and a silver coin put in a dish of water. The best dish is
a wooden one with wooden hoops and no nails or iron of any kind about
it.” The silver coin should be “a shilling for a man, but if it is for
a woman a sixpence will do.”
From West Ross-shire, and from it alone, has information reached us
of the use of the title “gold cure.” Our informant says, “I went to
see a child that was unwell, and its mother told me that she believed
that it had been hurt by the Evil Eye. She said she was going to try
the ‘gold cure’ for it, but she had no gold of any description in the
house, and she asked me if I had any about me that I could lend her for
the purpose. I had none at the time, so I could not oblige her, but
inquired of her how it was to be used. She said she would put it in a
dish of water and wash the child with the water.”
STONES AND WATER
Above it was indicated that the water was put in contact with other
things besides coins. In the case of the Mull woman already quoted, who
had to use her butter from its unpleasant appearance for wool-greasing
and such like, the _eolas_ man whom she consulted put things right by
getting water “and some kind of stones from a particular burn which
he put in the water. It was necessary,” said the reciter, “that the
stones should be taken from a particular burn.” She was unable to state
what were the peculiar conditions which made that burn essential.
The collector, who got this information in speaking to another woman
in Tobermory and who believed that _cronachadh_ was quite common,
remembering the previous case, and hoping to draw information,
suggested that certain stones were used for curing in Evil Eye cases.
“Yes,” said the reciter, “but there is nothing so good as three pieces
of silver, three silver coins of any kind. If the water is poured on
three silver coins, and the words said over either beast or body, it
will cure them.”
The following is a fairly circumstantial account from the parish of
Clyne, Sutherlandshire, of the performance with stones and silver
of a strong believer. She had a delicate daughter, and believed if
people, especially strangers, looked at the girl she was sure to be
ill after it, and often she would be so bad that she had to go to
bed. The mother then tried the following cure, believed by many to be
successful. She took a basin and put a silver coin into it, and went
to a running stream near her house. From the bottom of the stream she
chose seven small stones, which she put in the basin along with the
coin, then dipping the basin in the stream so that the water ran into
it on the top of the silver and the stones till slightly more than
half full. She then went home, gave her daughter a little of the water
to drink, and sprinkled a little of it on her. She kept the remainder
beside her, and whenever there was any suspicion that an Evil Eye had
again fallen upon her, the same process was carried out. Unfortunately
the cure failed, the girl having died. It is more than probable that
the weakly girl, imbued with her mother’s superstition, suffered when
looked at by strangers, or when she thought she was regarded with
curiosity; if she had merely been nervous she would probably have been
cured.
A native of Jura told how, when living with her sister there, one of
the children becoming unwell an _eolas_ woman was sent for, who got
some stones, a darning needle, water, and other things, and with these
did something to the child, but it did not recover. Our informant
said they were strong in the belief that the child had been _air a
cronachadh_.
Another account of the use of the darning needle comes from Ardrishaig.
Our informant’s grandmother had a cow grazing at the roadside, and
a woman, suspected of having an Evil Eye, passing, said, “_S mart
bhriagh thu, ge bi leis thu_” (“You are a bonnie cow, to whomsoever you
belong”). Shortly after the cow was found “lying rolled up in a lump.”
“My grandmother went with a luggie for water and put a darning needle,
silver, and copper into the water. She then poured some of the water
down the cow’s throat, rubbed her horns with the water, and sprinkled
the rest all over her. In a little the cow was all right.”
The same reciter mentioned another case, in which the operator was
her mother. A calf became ill, and the owners were in doubts what to
do with it. “My mother, remembering my grandfather’s cow, put spring
water in a luggie (it must be spring water) and a silver and a copper
coin and a darning needle. She forced some of the water down the calf’s
throat, and sprinkled the rest over it. The calf recovered, and the
farmer’s wife was so pleased and said to my mother, ‘Well, well, Mrs.
S., I never saw the like of you, you can do anything.’”
No detailed description was given of the stones used, but as
_clach-na-sùil_, the stone (apple) of the eye, is common Gaelic, they
were doubtless of a sort more or less representative of eyes.
From Kintyre, the following information in the words of the reciter
gives us some indication. “They used tae hae a bunch o’ sea-shore
stanes wi’ holes in them hanging up at the door tae keep awa‘ witches.”
The collector had seen such stones in a house in Kintyre, but at the
time did not know their purpose. They were of the honeycombed sort that
may be found on shores where there are quantities of shingle. There
were six or seven tied on a string hung above the inside of the inner
door; they were of different sizes, guessed at from fourteen to sixteen
ounces in weight.
From the island of Lewis we have another indication. There, there is
a considerable amount of superstition connected with what is called
_a’ chlach nathrach_ (the serpent’s stone). The reciter, who had seen
several of them, said they were usually round with one hole through
them, though there may be two in some cases. The popular account of the
information given was as follows: A number of serpents congregating at
certain times form themselves into a knot and move round and round on
the stone until a hole is worn. They then pass and repass after each
other through the hole, leaving a coating of slime round the hole,
which by-and-by becomes hard. It is this slime that gives to the stone
the healing properties it is supposed to possess. The principal use of
the stone was as a cure for the Evil Eye. Water is poured on the stone,
and the person or beast affected is caused to drink the water, or has
it sprinkled on them; sometimes the application is both external and
internal. These stones are much prized by their possessors, who are
very unwilling to part with them, and would not even willingly show
them, or even acknowledge that they possessed them.
Stories of the knot of serpents being seen are still told. A very old
man, a labourer, without English, and who can neither read nor write,
gives the following account:—
“All the serpents in the country round about gather together to one
place on one day every year, where they have a day’s play. The play
consists in rolling in a lump on a stone and running through a hole
on the stone one after another. One time Georsa Cailean’s wife (the
wife of George, the son of Colin) was going home to her father, and
when she was just beside a beautiful green spot near _Beinn Tartbheil_
(Islay), she noticed that it was covered with serpents as thick as they
could lie on the top of one another. They had gathered there that year
for their play. She got a fright and ran, but if she had gone among
them she would have got the serpent’s stone.”
A strong endeavour was made to acquire one of these stones, said to
have been found in a serpent’s den, but negotiations came to nothing,
as the owners believing that it was good as a cure, especially for
serpents’ bite, refused to part with it.
It is not necessary here to discuss St. Fillan, but it is a well-known
fact that the three stones, supposed to have been in his possession
and kept in the meal mill at Killin, were supposed to impart healing
efficacy to water in which they were steeped, and which recently, at
any rate, was given to diseased cattle as a curative.
The stones principally used then are stones with an eye or eyes in
them—compare usual description of the hole in the top of a needle, the
eye of the needle. The stones of St. Fillan seem the nearest symbolical
equivalent we have to the protruded fingers of southern Europe, which
again is nearly identical with the one-eyed Fachan—the _Direach glinn
Eiti_ (Straight of the downy glen?) of I. F. Campbell,[13] and with
which we may connect the protruded forefinger which was not to touch
the yarn, mentioned on page 145.
[13] “West Highland Tales,” iv. 326.
IRON AND WATER
An Islay woman tells the following of her mother. “She was telling
me how one time the butter went away from their milk, and for a good
while they could not get a bit of butter. She was advised to go to that
woman, and she went. When she told her that she could get no butter the
woman took an iron and put it into the fire until it was red-hot; she
then took it out and put it into a stoup of water, repeating some words
at the same time. Some of this water was given to my mother to put into
the churn, and would you believe it, the butter came back, and not only
that, but with the very first churning there was a great quantity,
equal to all that had been lost since things had gone wrong.”
The reciter was a woman of about five-and-thirty, now a small farmer’s
wife, and well educated for her station.
The iron in this case was heated, but in another instance, in which a
horse belonging to the reciter’s grandfather was supposed to be injured
by the Evil Eye, the _eolas_ professor, a woman, having got water,
dipped a bunch of keys into it and then hung the keys round the horse’s
neck, and sprinkled the water over the animal, repeating words which
the reciter could not catch. The horse got well.