256 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



pay rounds to cure pain or sickness ; or sometimes the place se- 

 lected is a tomb where a saint has appeared, and not infrequently 

 it is one of the " blessed wells " e. g., the " well of the Blessed 

 Virgin" in the parish of South Kilmaurray in County Cork, 

 where are still shown in a rock near by the print of Mary's fingers 

 and the dint left by the pressure of her knee as she once in her 

 lifetime knelt there in consecrating this well. The mode of pro- 

 cedure in paying rounds at a grave is first to kneel at the foot 

 and repeat a rosary, then to rise and kneel at the right shoulder 

 of the one buried there and repeat another rosary, then to the 

 head and repeat another rosary, then to the left side and repeat a 

 fourth rosary. The person performing the rounds must next go 

 to some neighboring well, whose water is never to be used for 

 any other purpose, and fetch a cup of it to the grave. Into 

 this cup of water he drops a pinch of earth taken from the grave, 

 saying, " In the name of the Father " ; then another, saying, " In 

 the name of the Son " ; then a third, saying, " In the name of the 

 Holy Ghost." The one who is paying the rounds next goes be- 

 hind the headstone of the grave, taking the cup of earth and 

 water, and, if the disease to be cured is an external one e. g., ery- 

 sipelas pours a little of the contents of the cup upon the affected 

 part of the body and so bathes it, and also pours a little of it on 

 the ground. If the disease is an internal one, a little of the liquid 

 from the cup is swallowed. What remains of the earth and water 

 is now to be poured back on the portion of the grave from which 

 the earth was taken. Five paters and five aves are then to be 

 said, after which the ceremony is concluded for the time by plac- 

 ing some " token," which may be a cup, a button, or a small coin, 

 on the grave. Where rounds have been paid for many years, the 

 grave is thickly covered with these tokens. After the first rounds 

 have been completed, the whole ceremony must be repeated twice 

 more, the only suitable day for the observance being Friday or 

 Sunday. In some instances three times three rounds are vowed 

 and paid. If the prescribed rites are gone through with at a holy 

 well, the one seeking relief kneels at four different places around 

 the well, always making the circuit, as at a grave, in a sunwise 

 direction. Instead of leaving a token, the devotee, at each of the 

 four stations, with a pebble scratches a cross on one of the top 

 stones of the well wall. 



It is said that it is customary among the Scottish Highlanders, 

 when visiting a consecrated fountain or well, either to bathe or to 

 quench thirst, to make the circuit sunwise. 







