274
NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. x. OCT. 3, iwe.
that the idea is based on the habit of herdmen
hanging on to the tails of their buffaloes
when crossing a deep stream. Taine got
the story from some early traveller to the
west coast. Ovington in his ' Voyage to
&uratt,' published in 1696, referring to the
-cow, writes :
" They admire it for the Excellence ot its Nature, for which it is conspicuous in those extraordinary Benefits which Mankind receive from it in the support of their Lives ; and for the Convenience of it after Death, in conducting them over a broad deep River, which they are ingaged to pass, which would be impassable, were it not for the Cow's Tail, which the Bramins tell them, they are to take hold of in getting over." P. 284 f.
W. CROOKE.
SALFORD : SALTERSFORD : SALTERSGATE <10 S. x. 222, 256). About two miles south of Yarm, in the North Riding of the county of York, is a modern house called Saltergill, built on the site of an old farm-house, I believe. Immediately in front, at the bottom of a slight valley, runs a very small stream, but there are not many willows there nowadays. JOHN A. GREENWOOD.
Many of the places mentioned by MR. HENRY TAYLOR, though not all, are situated on the seashore. The village of Seasalter in Kent is close to the shore, and noted for .an oyster bed.
There is the following notice of Saltersford <a place which is certainly inland, and gives the title of baron in the peerage of the United Kingdom to the Earl of Courtown) in ' The Ancient Parish of Presbury,' by Frank Renaud, M.D., 1876 :
" Saltersford, or Jenkin's Chapel. This is a
- small and plain chapel, furnished with a diminutive
west tower, and dedicated to St. John the Baptist. Two inscribed stones let into the west wall give the history of the foundation : ' St. John Bap fc Free Chapel was erected June 24, 1733, at John Slack's expense. In 39 made Sacred for Worship of Almighty God.' "
We are not told who Jenkin, the original founder, was. JOHN PICKFORD, M.A.
Newbourne Rectory, Woodbridge.
DEATH AFTER LYING (10 S. x. 109, 157, 195). In ' Highways and Byways in Hamp- shire ' one finds on p. 371 that the burial register of Meonstoke records that on 10 Dec., 1778, Elizabeth Earwaker was buried, and that beneath is the note : ' ; Fell dead on -appealing to God in confirmation of a lie."
H. P. L.
TOLLGATE HOUSES (10 S. * x. 188). If TURNPIKE will refer to any of the later editions of Paterson's ' Roads,' he will find
the position of the tollgates marked in each
itinerary by a miniature drawing of a gate.
In the introductory pages of the eighteenth
edition of Paterson's book (issued in 1826)
the writer says :
" The turnpike gates and bridges, objects in them- selves imposing on every road, are here given in a form calculated to impress upon the traveller a more correct idea of his relative situation," &c. And again on p. 82 of the introductory matter, in explaining by a note the figure of the gate which is used throughout the book, the writer says :
"This character [viz., the drawing of a gate] implies that at such a point you arrive at a Turn- pike, which word is not unfrequently attached to it ; but in many instances, where contraction has been found necessary, the letters T. G. are used, instead of the word, in conjunction with the character."
It should be remembered that the later editions of Paterson's ' Roads ' are the only ones of value. Those " revised by Edward Mogg " are the best. A. L. HUMPHREYS.
187, Piccadilly, W.
The place, if not the exact spot, at which a turnpike gate stood on the roads measured from London Bridge, from Westminster Bridge, Hyde Park Corner, Tyburn Turnpike, Hicks' s Hall, Shoreditch Church, and White- chapel Church is given in Gary's * New Itinerary, from Surveys made by Command of the Right Honourable the Postmaster- General,' a directory which occupies the middle portion of Gary's ' Book of Roads.' See also the Coloured Plan of the Highway from Hyde Park Corner to Counter's Bridge (Addison Road), made for the Kensington Turnpike Trustees by their Surveyor, Joseph Salway, 1811, with a valuable description by Col. W. F. Prideaux, 1899-1903.
Possibly information will also be found in Wellbeloved ' On Highways ' ; in Burn's ' Justice of the Peace,' by D'Oyley and Williams, art. * Highways (Turnpike) '; and in ' Toll Reform,' by J. E. Bradfield. Local histories also furnish information.
J. HOLDEN MACMlCHAEL.
Deene, Streatham.
FRENCH WORDS IN SCOTCH (10 S. ix. 369, 450 ; x. 132). MR. ERASER of Aberdeen, in noticing French words in Scotch place- names, quotes " Cunninghar Hill " as from the old French coniniere, a rabbit warren. He adds, however, that " it may have come to us only indirectly from the French." This saving clause is important. There is no shadow of doubt that the derivation of "Cunninghar" is most decidedly Gaelic not French. In Ireland we have several
