Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 15, 1904.djvu/475

Rh virtue, and consequently that the eating of them is a sacrament or communion."

There are a few minor matters that may be worth a passing reference. The existence of holy trees hardly needs to be further demonstrated; they have, however, an especial interest for me, in cases where I have recorded their existence, and none the less because my present dwelling-place (Selly Oak) is evidently the site of an ancient holy tree in England.

The first holy oak which I came across in Asia Minor was on the plain of Moush. Its living branches were hung with bits of rag in the conventional manner, it stood in a graveyard, and it was taboo. I found, upon inquiry, that no one would dare to make a fire from the wood, because it was holy.

Elsewhere there were traces of the holy thorn as a sacred tree. One such tree grows in a valley leading up to Harpoot. I watched a woman transfer a rag from her clothing to the tree, after which she threw a stone upon a neighbouring heap. The conjunction of the cairn and the tree was interesting.

At Egin I found some curious superstitions which can probably be paralleled elsewhere by those who have an acquaintance with the subject.

After a childbirth, and before the conventional forty days have elapsed, they put a pair of shears under the pillow. They say this is done to keep off certain evil spirits called 'Al, who would otherwise tear out the woman's liver. They also put an amulet with the shears. Sometimes the 'Al steals and changes the child. The child must not be taken out of the house during the forty days, unless it be protected