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guarded by spirits. Several Boyas enjoy inam lands [?] for pro- pitiating these village goddesses by a certain rite called Bhutta- hali. This takes place on the last day of the feast of the village goddess, and is intended to secure the prosperity of the village. On the last day of the feast of the village goddess, the Boya priest gets himself shaved at about midnight, sacrifices a sheep or a buffalo, mixes its blood with rice, and distributes the rice thus prepared in small balls throughout the limits of the village. When he starts out on this business the whole village bolts its doors, as it is not considered auspicious to see him then. He returns early in the morning to the temple of the goddess from which he started, bathes, and receives new cloth from the villagers.
W. Francis, Madras Gazetteers. (Quoted in the Ceylon Observer, 13th Nov., 1905.)
Ancient Customs at the Riding of Langholm Marches.
(^Communicated by Dr. J. G. Frazer.)
" The annual festival of riding Langholm Marches took place on Saturday in favourable weather. The Cornet was Mr. John Wallace, who was elected at a public meeting, and his cavalcade included fully seventy horsemen — a larger number than usual. Several hundreds of children carried heather besoms, and each child was presented with a threepenny piece. Mr. John Wilson, the Crier of the Fair, having died since last year's festival, Mr. R. Nisbet was entrusted with this position, and he made the usual striking and quaint proclamation standing on horse-back in the Market Place, surrounded by horsemen and by a vast crowd, many of whom came from a considerable distance. The day was observed as a holiday in the district. Provost Thomson, in front of the Town Hall, handed a fine new town's flag to the Cornet. It was presented to the burgh by Mr. J. A. Scott, Erkinholm. The other articles borne aloft in the procession
