Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 14, 1903.djvu/334

 304 Collectanea.

man at Brims, about half-way between the two places went down to the rocks there, threw out bait, and caught a fish, which he immediately killed, and then poured its blood on the sea. The fish came back to the shore after that, and have never gone away since !

Certain words and things are tabooed, and may not be uttered, or carried, when at sea. The words minister^ sabnon, hare, rabbit, rat, pig, and porpoise are all fraught with danger, and to mention any of them on board means failure to catch fish, or some disaster.

Many years ago they were getting splendid hauls of haddocks off the Reay coast ; and one man, John Macdonald, who used to laugh at the old sayings, repeated all the tabooed words he could think of while baiting his line. The other fishermen got the usual good luck, but not one fish did John get that day. This I was told by one of the men who were present.

The Rev. Mr. Mackay, when a boy, went out with some fishermen off the Sutherlandshire coast. Seeing some black objects in the water, he asked what they were. " Whist, whist, I'll tell you when we get ashore, whist now 1 " When they landed, the boy was dis- gusted to find they were only salmon bag-nets, instead of one of the many terrible things he had conjured up in his mind ; but the explanation that if they had used the word " salmon " they would have caught no fish, helped to satisfy his Celtic imagination. At the present day, if some of the boats that come to the Wick herring-fishing come across a Reay salmon-boat, the herring-men will net speak to, nor even look at, the salmon-fishers. Banffshire men seem to be scrupulous on this point, but the Caithness fisher- men do not attach much importance to it.

Should a man say a tabooed word at sea he must immediately shout " cold iron " ; or better still, touch the horse-shoe or any other piece of iron that may be in the boat.

A bridegroom on board is always unlucky ; and from the time a man is " contracted '"' ^ till he is married (generally a period of two weeks), he is not allowed on board ; but he shares in the profits of the crew just as if he were working. This custom I am told is still observed in Portskerra, a fishing village about twelve miles from here, and in other places on the northern coast.

A couple are said to be " contracted " after a feasting at the bride's home at which the young man and his friends are present to fix the date of the marriage.