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232 They then walk barefoot to the holy spring, a trickle of water with a strong iron flavour, on the rocks on the north side of the island. Here they first wash their feet in one of the rock pools before approaching the spring, in front of which they kneel and pray, afterwards drinking a little from a limpet shell. The water is also bottled and taken away by some.

After this the pilgrim comes up on to the grass above the rocks and spring, where there are three heaps of stones. Round each of these he walks at least three times, and taking stones from the bottom places them on the top; after walking round a heap of stones he kneels before it to pray.

On leaving the three stone heaps the pilgrim goes east towards a large block of stone also partially covered by the stones contributed by pilgrims, and bearing among others a rounded oval black stone with four parallel white strata in it. Here again he walks round, puts one or more stones on the top and prays. He also takes the oval stone with the white strata, crosses himself with it, passes it round his body, and if he so desires, touches with it any afflicted part of his body.

Next he climbs on the wall into the churchyard and walks three times round a ruined chapel on the north side of it, prays, and then moves down to the chapel of St. Conal itself. This chapel has the east, south and west walls still standing. The pilgrim walks round it from the east end, round by the south side and back, round the west end to the east again, bowing or curtseying while passing the doors on the south side, and also in some cases when passing in sight of the altar, while coming up by the ruined north wall. The chapel is circumambulated at least three times, the pilgrims then entering the chapel over the north wall and kneeling in front of the altar.

The altar consists of a stone slab lying on the ground, once apparently raised on other stones beneath it like a dolmen. It has a round hole in the north end and four rounded stones lying on it which are regarded as healing stones. The pilgrim kneels in front of the altar and grinds round one of the healing stones in the round hole. He then takes each healing stone in turn, crosses himself with it, passes it round his waist from left to right, applies it in some cases to any particularly afflicted part