ted men in their human form,
but when they quitted it they turned to seals again" (Otway, _Sketches
of Erris_, 398, 403). Off Downpatrick Head they used to take seals, but
have given up the practice, because once two young fellows had urged
their curraghs into a cave where the seals were known to breed, and
they were killing them right and left when, in the farthest end of the
cave and sitting up on its bent tail in a corner, there sat an old
seal. One of the boys was just making ready to strike him, when the
seal cried out, "Och, boys! och, ma bouchals, spare your old
grandfather, Darby O'Dowd." He then proceeded to tell the boys his
story. "It's true I was dead and dacently buried, but here I am for my
sins turned into a sale as other sinners are and will be, and if you
put an end to me and skin me maybe it's worser I'll be, and go into a
shark or a porpoise. Lave your ould forefather where he is, to live out
his time as a sale. Maybe for your own sakes you will ever hereafter
leave off following and parsecuting and murthering sales who may be
nearer to yourselves nor you think." The story is universally believed,
and on the strength of it the people have given up seal hunting (Otway,
_Sketches of Erris_, 230).

[404] _Kinship and Marriage in Arabia_, 188. _Cf._ Mr. Jacobs' articles
in _Archaeological Review_, "Are there totem clans in the Old
Testament?" vol. iii. pp. 145-164.

[405] _Origins of English History_, 297.

[406] _Proc. Roy. Irish Acad._, x. 436; Lang's _Custom and Myth_, 265;
Elton's _Origins of English History_, 299-300; _Revue Celtique_, i. 50;
iii. 176.

[407] _Rev. Celtique_, vi. 232.

[408] Aubrey's _Remaines of Gentilisme_, 102.

[409] _Folklore Record_, i. 243.

[410] Xiphilinus in _Mon. Hist. Brit._, p. lvii.

[411] _Choice Notes, Folklore_, p. 16.

[412] _Vulgar Errors_, p. 320.

[413] Aubrey, _Gentilisme and Judaisme_, 109; Napier, _Folklore of West
of Scotland_, 26. Consult Mr. Billson's valuable paper on "The Easter
Hare" in _Folklore_, iii. 441-466.

[414] Gregor, _Folklore of North-East Scotland_, 129, 199.

[415] O'Curry, _Manners of the Anc. Irish_, i. p. ccclxx.

[416] _Notes and Queries_, 3rd ser. iv. 82, 158; Dyer's _Popular
Customs_, 384.

[417] Gordon Cumming, _Hebrides_, 369.

[418] Gordon Cumming, _Hebrides_, 369.

[419] _Gentleman's Magazine Library, Pop. Sup._, 216.

[420] It will be useful to refer to Mr. Thrupp's paper on "British
Superstition as to Hares