they exist in all the older churchyards in the island. In some of the tumuli of the Bronze Age, similar pebbles, but of a larger size,[1] have been found ranged round the urns containing the ashes of the deceased.[2] No Manx fishermen, at the present day, will go to sea with a white stone in his boat, as he believes that it will bring ill luck upon him. Here the influence of the white stone or pebble is noxious instead of efficacious.
Coming now to the pins, I may remark that they seem invariably to have been thrown into the wells, and not stuck into the adjacent trees; and, in connexion with this fact, it is noticeable that there is no trace of the use of the wells for purposes detrimental to others, as is not unusual elsewhere. This may be regarded as a certain proof of the superior amiability of the Manx people!
There was one further object for which wells in Man were once visited—i.e., for raising a wind; but this superstition has quite passed out of memory, and is only known from a solitary entry in the insular records, in the year 1 658. From this it would appear that a certain Elizabeth Black had been accused of emptying "a springing well dry for to obtain a favourable winde". When this charge was investigated by the court, in which the Governor presided, several witnesses deposed to the emptying of the well, and to the supposition that the said Elizabeth Black had done it, though no one had seen her so occupied. She, however, "utterly denied" the truth of these allegations, but was, nevertheless, fined "for such a folly tendinge to charminge, witchcraft, or scorcery".[3]
Having thus discussed the usual ritual practised at the wells generally, I will now briefly describe each of the
- ↑ As large as a hen's or goose's egg, but, occasionally, much larger.
- ↑ By Mr. P. M. C. Kermode, who has opened a number of the Manx tumuli. Rough, broken bits of quartz stone, red or white in colour, are also found in the tumuli. See "The Meayll Stone Circle", P. M. C. Kermode, in The Illustrated Archæologist, vol. ii, No. 5, p. 3.
- ↑ Liber Scaccarii.
