262 TRANSACTIONS, NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 



twelve small fires and one larjje are lighted, and the comDanv 

 pledged in old cyder. In the wheat field '• a circle is formed 

 round the large fire, when a general shout and hallooing takes 

 place, which you hear answered from all the villages and tields 

 near ; as I have mvself counted fiftv or sixtv fires burning; at the 

 same time." This being finished they go to the house for supper, 

 here " a larsfe cake is alwavs provided, with a hole in the middle. 

 After supper the company all attend the bailiff (or head of the 

 oxen) to the Wain-house, where the following particulars are 

 observed : — the master, at the head of his friends, fills the cup 

 (generally of strong ale), and stands opposite the first or finest of 

 the oxen ; he then pledges him in a curious toast ; the company 

 then follow his example with all the other oxen, addressing each 

 by its name. This being over, the large cake is produced, and 

 is with much ceremony put on the horn of the first ox through 

 the hole in the cake ; he is then tickled to make him toss his head. 

 If he throws the cake behind it is the mistress's perquisite ; if 

 before (in what is termed the boosy), the bailiff claims the prize." 

 This custom is recorded as a Saxon custom, but the wassailing 

 bowl is the grace-cup of the Greeks and Romans, and the 

 ceremony that of Ferine Sementiv^e. Here, I think, we find an 

 example of how customs regarding cattle have been preserved in 

 this country. From another source I think I can find confirma- 

 tion for the theorv that bulls, which for Roman and Druidical 

 ceremonies had to be white, were held in reverence by the people 

 generallv, and in connection M-ith which the colour white would 

 play an important part. This is the derivation of the names of our 

 farming stock. According to Palev the generic names of our 

 farm stock, as '-cow,"' "calf," "kine," "ox," for the most part 

 occur in the Saxon, and contain roots not represented in either 

 Latin or Greek ; but the root of the word '• bull," which is a 

 particular and descriptive name, may be traced in the classical 

 languages. The words "beef" and "veal" come to us from the 

 Normans. The historv of these common words is interesting. 

 From the Normans we get our words for the flesh, from the Saxon 

 the generic names, and from the Romans the specific name "bull" 

 of our farm stock, as represented by cattle. " Bull " thus has 

 maintained its individuality through Saxon and Norman times, 

 and there must be some reason for it. Was it through ceremonies 

 in which the "white bull" figured? 



