Miscellanea. 445
sipped immediately after the performance of the rite, was supposed to act as a charm to avert evil and insure good. A clergyman, from Sutherlandshire, told me quite recently that he himself had seen — within the last forty years — each of the members of a family, in which he had performed a baptismal service, take a sip from the baptismal font. He said he reproved them for their belief in such a silly superstition, and there and then put an end to the custom.
A cure for somnambulism was performed by pouring some of the baptismal water on the patient, while awake, but when occu- pied in conversation or otherwise, in so unexpected a manner as to cause a temporary shock. There are two females in my imme- diate neighbourhood who had been so treated within the last forty years.
If an infant was baptized with water in which a little wine had been mixed, instead of pure water, it was supposed to act as a protection against midge-bites ever after.
Birth Cerefnony. — It was believed that if an infant's lips were made to lick the soil immediately after birth, this would confer the gift of speaking moderately, respectfully, and deferentially, as also to be both chaste and sparing of speech, during the whole course of one's after life. Though this custom long ago became a thing of the past, yet its echo is still heard in the adage scath- ingly applied by old people to over-talkative young ones : "/y e do chab nach do bhualadh anns an lar an latha rugadh tu " (It is your gab that was not made to lick the soil when you were born).
Remedies of various kinds. — A cure for flatulency in babies con- sisted in burning a small piece of the umbilical cord and grinding it into powder, then mixing it with water, and giving a little of this potion to the baby-patient to drink. This cure was performed to the certain knowledge of the writer about twenty years ago, by a native of Ross-shire, upon a native of Argyllshire.
At Duneistein, near the Butt of Lewis, there is a well at the base of a high rock quite close to the sea, which goes by the name of " Fuaran an deididh," Toothache Well, and which is supposed to cure the toothache. The cure consists in taking in succession three mouthfuls of the water of this well, which are to be kept in one's mouth as long as convenient. Then each mouthful is to be spurted out on a large stone in a cave close at hand, on which the sun never shines. People afflicted with toothache still resort to
