imilar hole in the
couple leg. The horizontal stick was called the auger, having four
short arms or levers fixed in its centre, to work it by; the
building having been thus finished, as many men as could be
collected in the vicinity, (being divested of all kinds of metal in
their clothes, &c.) would set to work with the said auger, two after
two, constantly turning it round by the arms or levers, and others
occasionally driving wedges of wood or stone behind the lower end of
the upright pole, so as to press it the more on the end of the
auger; by this constant friction and pressure, the ends of the auger
would take fire, from which a fire would be instantly kindled, and
thus the _needfire_ would be accomplished. The fire in the
farmer's house, &c. was immediately quenched with water, a fire
kindled from this _needfire_, both in the farm-house and
offices, and the cattle brought to feel the smoke of this new and
sacred fire, which preserved them from the murrain. So much for
superstition.--It is handed down by tradition, that the ancient
Druids superintended a similar ceremony of raising a sacred fire,
annually, on the first day of May. That day is still, both in the
Gaelic and Irish dialects, called _La-bealtin, i.e._ the day
of Baal's fire, or the fire dedicated to Baal, or the sun."

* * * * *

UNSPOKEN WATER.

In Scotland, water from under a bridge, over which the living pass
and the dead are carried, brought in the dawn or twilight to the
house of a sick person, without the bearer's speaking, either in
going or returning, is called _Unspoken Water_.

The modes of application are various. Sometimes the invalid takes
three draughts of it before anything is spoken. Sometimes it is
thrown over the houses the vessel in which it was contained being
thrown after it. The superstitious believe this to be one of the
most powerful charms that can be employed for restoring a sick
person to health.

The purifying virtue attributed to water, by almost all nations, is
so well known as to require no illustration. Some special virtue has
still been ascribed to silence in the use of charms, exorcisms, &c.
I recollect, says Mr. Jamieson, being assured at Angus, that a
Popish priest in that part of the country, who was supposed to
possess great power in curing those who were deranged, and in
exorcising demoniacs, would, if called to see a patient, on no
account utter a single word on