Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 13, 1902.djvu/62

 50 More Folklore fro7n the Hebrides.

some cases, of intelligent and pious persons — all of whom could relate a great number of coincidences. The left ear hot betokens praise. The right ear hot betokens blame. Itching in the right sole, going to a strange place. Itching in the left sole, going to a dance. Itching in right palm, blessing from a stranger. Itching in left palm, going to get money. Itching under eye, going to weep. Itching upper lip, going to get a dram. Itching under lip, going to get a kiss. Itching in right elbow, going to sleep with a stranger. ^ Itching in nostril, going to be angry. Eye winking much is a presage of joy. White spot on nail, going to get some- thing new. Black spot on tooth, a lie. Moth or butterfly, a letter coming. Shoe-tie loose, someone remembering you. A fly in one's mouth, going to get fresh fish. Moth on the sleeve, going to have new clothes. Spider on clothes, going to have new clothes. Three sneezes portend a letter cominor. A sino-le hair on a woman's face is luck. Food accidentally choking you shows it is grudged.

Divination by the shoulder blade of a sheep is a very old method, and seems to be practised in all parts of the world, notably among the Afghans. As practised in the Hebrides it seems to be analogous to crystal-gazing, and the bone serves for what the French psychologists call a point de repere, that is, a focus for concentration of gaze. One tribe in the islands was specially notable for the slinnean- achd. Angus Macdonald Mohr, who died at South Loch- boisdale about 1885, and Murdoch, who died in Eriskay in 1888, were of the family, and descended from a common ancestor, said to have been born by the Csesarean opera- tion after his mother's death.

Some men were cutting peats, and their employer pro- vided an abundant feast, including plenty of mutton. Taking up the shoulder bone, he asked one of the party to make a. fosachd. The first invited said he could not, that

' This is a not improbable circumstance in a country where beds are few, and the stranger, seeking hospitality, has to share or go without.