ounced Dosmery)
Pool. A tradition of the neighbourhood says that on the shores of this
lonely mere the ghosts of bad men are ever employed in binding the sand
"in bundles with _beams_ of the same" (a local word meaning _bands_, in
Devonshire called _beans;_ as _hay-beans_, and in this neighbourhood
hay-_beams_, for hay-bands). These ghosts, or some of them, were driven
out (they say "_horsewhipped_ out," at any rate exorcised in some sort)
"by the parson" from Launceston.

H.G.T.

Launceston.

_Straw Necklaces_ (Vol. i., p. 104).--Perhaps these straw necklaces were
anciently worn to preserve their possessors against _witchcraft_; for,
till the thirteenth century, straw was spread on the floors to defend a
house from the same evil agencies. Cf. _Le Grand d'Aussi Vie des Anciens
Francs_, tom. iii. pp. 132. 134; "NOTES AND QUERIES," Vol. i.,
pp. 245. 294.

JANUS DOUSA.

_Breaking Judas' Bones._--On Good Friday eve the children at Boppart, on
the Rhine, in Germany, have the custom of making a most horrid noise
with _rattles_. They call it _breaking the bones of Judas_. Cf.
"NOTES AND QUERIES," Vol. i., p. 357.

JANUS DOUSA.

LOCAL RHYMES AND PROVERBS OF DEVONSHIRE.

"River of Dart, oh river of Dart,
Every year thou claim'st a heart."

It is said that a year never passes without the drowning of one person,
at least, in the Dart. The river has but few fords, and, like all
mountain streams, it is liable to sudden risings, when the water comes
down with great strength and violence. Compare Chambers' _Popular
Rhymes_, p. 8., "Tweed said to Till," &c. See also Olaus Wormius,
_Monumenta Danica_, p. 17.

The moormen never say "_the_ Dart," but always "Dart." "Dart came down
last night--he is very full this morning." The _cry_ of the river is the
name given to that louder sound which rises toward nightfall. Cranmere
Pool, the source of the Dart, is a place of punishment for unhappy
spirits. They may frequently be heard wailing in the morasses there.
Compare Leyden _Scenes of Infancy_, pp. 315, 316., &c.

* * * * *

Wescote (_View of Devonshire_: Exeter, 1845 (reprint), p. 348.) has a
curious story of the Tamar and Torridge. It is worth comparing with a
local rhyme given by Chambers, p. 26.: "Annan, Tweed, and Clyde," &c.

* * * * *

"When Haldon hath a hat
Kenton may beware a skat."

This often quoted saying is curiously illus