Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 4 1886.djvu/254

246 'regard being had to her duty and kindness to her parents, or to her friends who have brought her up.'

"Five pounds to any woman, single or married, being an inhabitant of St. Ives, who in the opinion of the aforesaid gentlemen shall be the best knitter of fishing-nets.

"Five pounds to be paid to the woman, married or single, inhabitant of St. Ives, or otherwise, who shall, by the same authorities, be deemed to be the best curer and packer of pilchards for exportation.

"Five pounds to be given between such two follower-boys as shall by the same gentlemen be judged to have best conducted themselves of all the follower-boys in the several concerns, in the preceding fishing-season. (A follower is a boat that carries a tuck-net in pilchard-fishing.)

"And Twenty-five pounds, the remainder of the said Fifty, to be divided among all the Friendly Societies in the borough, instituted for the support of the Members in sickness or other calamity, in equal shares. If there be no such Society, the same to be distributed among ten poor persons, five men and five women, inhabitants of the borough, of the age of 64 years, or upwards, and who have never received parochial relief."

The first, celebration of the Knillian games, which drew a large concourse of people, took place in Knill's lifetime on July 25th, 1801, and have been repeated every five years up to the present time.

Morvah Feast, which is on the nearest Sunday to the 1st August, is said to have been instituted in memory of a wrestling-match, throwing of quoits, &c., which took place there one Sunday, "when there were giants in the land.'* On the Monday there was formerly a large fair, and although Morvah is a very small village without any attractions, the farmers flocked to it in great numbers to drink and feast, sitting on the hedges of the small fields common in West Cornwall. "Three on one horse, like going to Morvah Fair," is an old proverb.

On August 5th a large cattle-fair is held in the village of Goldsithney in the parish of Perran-Uthnoe. Lysons, in 1814, says:—"There is a tradition that this fair was originally held in Sithney,