nx ponies, though apparently well suited to their size. The
exercise, therefore, falls heavily upon the English and Irish horses
brought into the Isle of Man. Mr. Waldron was assured by a gentleman of
Ballafletcher that he had lost three or four capital hunters by these
nocturnal excursions. From the same author we learn that the fairies
sometimes take more legitimate modes of procuring horses. A person of
the utmost integrity informed him that, having occasion to sell a horse,
he was accosted among the mountains by a little gentleman plainly
dressed, who priced his horse, cheapened him, and, after some chaffering,
finally purchased him. No sooner had the buyer mounted and paid the
price than he sank through the earth, horse and man, to the astonishment
and terror of the seller, who, experienced, however, no inconvenience
from dealing with so extraordinary a purchaser.

THE DEATH "BREE."

There was once a woman, who lived in the Camp-del-more of Strathavon,
whose cattle were seized with a murrain, or some such fell disease, which
ravaged the neighbourhood at the time, carrying off great numbers of them
daily. All the forlorn fires and hallowed waters failed of their
customary effects; and she was at length told by the wise people, whom
she consulted on the occasion, that it was evidently the effect of some
infernal agency, the power of which could not be destroyed by any other
means than the never-failing specific--the juice of a dead head from the
churchyard,--a nostrum certainly very difficult to be procured,
considering that the head must needs be abstracted from the grave at the
hour of midnight. Being, however, a woman of a stout heart and strong
faith, native feelings of delicacy towards the sanctuary of the dead had
more weight than had fear in restraining her for some time from resorting
to this desperate remedy. At length, seeing that her stock would soon be
annihilated by the destructive career of the disease, the wife of Camp-
del-more resolved to put the experiment in practice, whatever the result
might be. Accordingly, having with considerable difficulty engaged a
neighbouring woman as her companion in this hazardous expedition, they
set out a little before midnight for the parish churchyard, distant about
a mile and a half from her residence, to execute her determination. On
arriving at the churchyard her companion, whose courage was not so
notable, appalled by the gloomy prospect before