Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 4 1886.djvu/369

Rh the water here will never fail, as the spring is supplied from the lake on the top of Muekish."

Muckish is one of the highest hills in the co. Donegal, about eight miles to the northward; but on it at the present time there is no lake, although there are lakes in its vicinity to the eastward and westward. That the O'Freels had something to do with the place is evident, as only a Freel can find the clay (see ante, vol. iii. p. 275). As there were five or more St. Columbkille in Ireland, it is possible the Saint of Gartan may have belonged to the O'Freels, although popularly his history is mixed up with that of St. Columbkille, of Cormorroe, co. Clare, who was one of the O'Quins or O'Brians.

Good Friday and Easter.—The people near Ramelton, parish of Tullyaughnish, on every Good Friday go to Arddruman Strand, Lough Swilly, to pick mussels. My informant states—"All the girls of the country start at daybreak with sacks, and do not come back till dark night; they go great distances out into the water, where the mussels grow on the rocks as thick as primroses."

The mussels brought home are fried and eaten on Easter Sunday. On Easter Saturday the beggars going about the country ask for their "Easter Eggs." In places in Cornwall sea shellfish are also gathered on Good Friday. (See Paper by Miss M. A. Courtney, Folk-Lore Journal, vol. iv. p. 222.) In connection with the Cornish customs it may be mentioned that in the cos. Wexford and Wicklow the people light fires on St. Peter's Eve (the patron of the fishermen), but I have not remarked the custom elsewhere in Ireland, although from what I have heard I suspect that at one time it was also the custom in the co. Donegal.

Erysipelas. This in Donegal is known as The Rose; it is very common but can be cured by a Stroker. The following is said to have happened: A nurse of the Rectors had the rose and the doctor was called in; after he was gone the woman's friends brought in a "stroker," who rubbed the nurse with bog-moss (Sphagmum), and then threw a bucket of bog-water over her in the bed. This