Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 2 1884.djvu/388

 380 NOTES AND QUERIES.

got. When eating fish never toss the bones into the fire, or the same ill fortune will be the result. It was once the custom when a man returned with a poor catch for the wife to kick the buddie round the room and to scold the man, in the belief that it would occasion better luck in future. A drink of water taken from the tops of three waves is believed to cure the toothache. Water from the tops of nine waves and in which nine pebbles from the shore have been boiled is believed in Tiree to be a cure for the jaundice; but it is applied externally, the clothes of the patient being dipped in the magical broth and put on wet. I was acquainted with a man on whom this remedy was tried, but failed. He died a few months afterwards. When your tooth aches pick it with the nail of an old coffin. A drink from a knee-pan taken from a grave cures many diseases. When the wind blows against a funeral party it is an omen that another death will soon occur. When a grave is dug a spade is laid across it until the body can be interred, so as to prevent hooded crows and other carrion fowls from carrying off the bones, it being a common belief, not confined to Foula, that nothing evil can pass iron or steel. When a corpse is lifted the straw on which it lay is taken outside and burned, and it is believed that the footprint of the person who is fated to die next will be seen in the ashes. When a sick person talks about his ailments, the listener, to prevent the transference of the diseases to himself, keeps spitting in a covert way. If a man mentions any misfortune that has happened to himself or to others, the same precaution is used, with some such comment, if reference is made to a third party, as ** His ain case be't." It is unlucky to give anything out of a house on a Monday, and none but a fool would marry on a Friday. When an infant is teething, live peats for kindling should not be given to a neighbour, else the child's teeth will stop growing. Burning peats should not be turned when lovers are in the house, otherwise the young man will become dis- enchanted and never call again. Cinders should not be piled on the top of the fire, or the rent will be raised. When a cat scratches the floor observe where she looks, for from that direction the wind will blow. — J. Sands. — Glasgow Herald ^ 10th November, 1884.

Bible Divination. — A man named Noake has just been arrested at Sedgeley under extraordinary circumstances. A neighbour named