Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 4.djvu/539

 us. iv. DEC. 30, mi.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

533

Sloak, or laver, is "a well-known sea- weed," picked off the rocks in the sea. Balbriggan, co. Dublin, is celebrated for the quantity of sloak found on seashore rocks. When properly cooked it is an excellent vegetable, but as beef is an im- provement to mustard, so roast mutton is an improvement to sloak, or laver.

PATRICK.

Dublin.

Dillisk, dills, are Irish and Scotch names of dulse, an edible species of seaweed, the Rhodymenia palmata. In Scotland there is a saying :

" He who eats of the dulse of Guerdie, and drinks of the wells of Kindingie, will escape all maladies except the black death."

Sloak, sloke, and sloukawn are synonyms partly of the common Porphyrse, partly of Ulvse, but more especially of the former, the latter being usually called " green sloke." Laver is the popular name given to some edible seaweeds the Porphyra laciniata and the Ulva latissima. The same title was bestowed by Pliny on an aquatic plant now unknown, and called also sloke or sloken. Porphyra is the true laver, or sloke. It is slimy, or semi- gelatinous of consistence when served at table, having been stewed for several hours until quite tender, and then being eaten with butter, vinegar, and pepper. It may be cooked with leeks and onions, or pickled, and eaten with oil and lemon juice. The Englishman calls this seaweed laver, the Irishman sloke, the Scotsman slake, and the student Porphyra. The Ulva lactuca, from its being frequently attached to oysters, is called oyster green, lettuce- laver, and green sloke. This, together with Ulva latissima, is likewise known as laver, because sometimes substituted by epicures for the true laver (Porphyra) when the latter cannot be got ; but it is inferior to its purple companion. TOM JONES.

Dillisk is both Irish and Scotch for dulse. Dulse is apostrophized by Mr. J. M. Barrie in his book ' A Window in Thrums,' and is to this day gathered from the rocks of the North Sea by the people of Arbroath for culinary purposes.

Slook, or laver, abounds in the lower reaches of the Bristol Channel, being par- ticularly prolific on the North Devon coast. Five different kinds may here be found: Porphyra vulgaris, the common purple laver ; Porphyra laciniata, the laciniated purple laver; Ulva latissima, the broad green laver; Ulva linza, the ribbon green

laver ; and Ulva crispa. It is said to be more palatable than the Carrageen moss (Chondrus crispus) of Ireland, and to be "equally useful in chronic illness."

T. H. BARROW.

[MR. A. E. ARMSTRONG, MR. MICHAEL F. Cox, MR. HUGH S. MACLEAN, MR. S. L. PETTY, and MR. HENRY SMYTH also thanked for replies.]

HOLED STONES : TOLMENS (US. iv. 463). The superstitious ceremony of taking an oath while joining hands through a holed stone is presumably not yet obsolete in the north of Scotland, or at any rate in the Orkney Islands, which from the end of the ninth century till the middle of the thir- teenth were ruled by Scandinavian jarls. The holed-stone superstition is probably of Scandinavian origin. The following excerpt is from a novel entitled ' Twice a Traitor,' by an anonymous author, published in 1907 :

" ' Here we are at the Stones,' said Mr. Manfred [to Peggy], as they emerged from the stony lane into the open country close to a large circle of upright stones, in the centre of which was one taller than the rest, with a hole through it.

" ' Do you know what the country people say about these stones ? '

" ' No, I only know what the learned people say. Some of 'their theories are rather wild,' answered the young man, smiling.

" ' If you want anything very much, you should stand on that stone in the centre on which the tall stone rests upright" that is where the human sacrifices were offered and wish with all your force and might.'

" ' Does it come true ? '

" ' Yes, it always comes true.' ....

" They were standing on the centre stone, side bv side .....

" ____ Peggy turned away and tried to see whether her arm would still go through the hole in the stone. It was a long time since she had made the attempt.

"John Manfred, turning suddenly, saw out- stretched fingers, and taking them in his held them fast, while he looked over the stone to see the face of the owner ; he declared that she was now hia prisoner.

" ' Please let me go,' she said in real distress, ' you do not understand. I was only trying to see whether I was still thin enough to put my arm through. Oh, what have you done ? ...... ?

" John Manfred went as far as Mrs. Smith a door, and Peggy went in. Then he turned his footsteps in the direction of a little farm a mile outside the town, for he knew that if any one could tell him the local legends the widow Moffat could. He must know without delay the reason of Peggy's distress when their hands met through the hole in the Druid stone .....

" ' Mrs. Moffat, I wonder if you can tell me what ceremony is connected with the holt

e centre one at the Druid Stones ye'll be meaning, Mr. Manfred.'