Dec. 22. 1855.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



487 



liam Station. There are some curious frescoes on 

 the walls. One, I imagine, of St. Catharine ; and 

 another representing a figure of a man with two 

 greyhounds and a hare. In particular, I would 

 feel obliged lo any such visitor who would, 

 through the medium of " N. & Q.," explain to me 

 the use of the quatrefoiled and cruciform holes in 

 the screen. They are cut with too much regu- 

 larity to have been the work of mischief. 



A recent writer in The Athenmum controverts 

 the derivation of Bromwych-ham for Birmingham; 

 because, he says, there is no instance of the Saxon 

 termination, -wic, having the termination -ham 

 annexed to it. Not to mention various Wick- 

 hams and Witchams, formerly spelt Wycham, in 

 England, here we seem to have three usual ter- 

 minations united in one name, Wic-ham-tune." 



E. G. R. 



l-OLK rORE. 



Calhiv Pit. — On the boundary of the parishes 

 of Southwood and Moulton, Norfolk, is a pit 

 called, in the act of parliament for enclosing the 

 parishes, "Callow Pit;" but, by the inhabitants, 

 Caller Pit. Its antiquity is evidenced by the fact, 

 that a hollow tree, evidently of some centuries' 

 growth, is still growing in it. Formerly, it was 

 constantly full of water; but since the extension 

 of drainage, in dry summers, its waters frequently 

 fail. The village tradition states, that an iron 

 chest, filled with gold, is engulfed in Callow 

 Pit. Many years ago, two adventurous men, 

 availing themselves of an unusually low state of 

 the water, determined to obtain the treasure. 

 Having formed a platform of ladders across the 

 pit, they were so far successful, that they inserted 

 a staff through the "ringle" (in plain English, the 

 ring), in the lid of the chest, and bore it up from 

 the waters ; and placed the staff on their shoulders, 

 preparatory to bearing off their prize on their 

 temporary bridge. Unluckily, however, one of 

 them triumphantly exclaimed : " We've got it 

 safe, and the Devil himself can't get it from us." 

 Instantly the pit was enveloped in a "roke" 

 (reek, or cloud of steam,) of a strong sulphurous 

 smell ; and a black hand and arm — no doubt be- 

 longing to the personage thus gratuitously chal- 

 lenged — emerged from the water, and grasped 

 the chest. A terrific struggle ensued : one party 

 tugging to secure, the other to recover, the prize. 

 At last the contest ended by its subject parting, 

 being unable to bear the enormous strain on it. 

 The chest, with the treasure, sank beneath the 

 water, never again to be seen by mortal eye; 

 while the bold adventurers — who had not indeed 

 met with the reward due to their daring — carried 

 oflF nothing but the " ringle," which they placed 

 on Southwood Church door, which it still serves 

 No. 321.] 



to close ; and where the incredulous may convince 

 himself of the truth of the legend, by beholding it. 



A legend, in many particulars agreeing with this, 

 is told of a "silver well" in Shouldham, in West 

 Norfolk. A "headless horseman" still rides at 

 midnight from Callow Pit to a place called Cant- 

 ley Spong, distant about a mile. 



It would be very interesting to ascertain if any 

 former proprietor of Southwood, Cantley, or 

 Moulton, in turbulent times, lost his head, as is 

 not unlikely, and so gave rise to the tradition. 



E. G. R. 



Naval Folk Lore (Vol. x., p. 26.). — In the au- 

 tumn of 1853, during a tedious voyage from Ran- 

 goon to Calcutta, in the ship " Lahore," the wind 

 was very light and variable. There were a num- 

 ber of camp and other followers on board, who, 

 being extremely anxious for the speedy termina- 

 tion of the voyage, collected amongst themselves 

 a sum of money, and had the same deposited on 

 the main truck, in order to propitiate a favourable 

 and stronger breeze. Such an incident, of course, 

 became the topic of conversation, when one of the 

 officers of the vessel, who had been engaged in the 

 conveyance of Coolies to the Mauritius, mentioned 

 the custom as of fr«quent occurrence among the 

 natives of India. Perhaps some of your Oriental 

 readers could explain and illustrate this and other 

 cognate customs of the East. J. S. 



Charms : Selections from the " Frogs" a new 

 Translation ! — Inquiring of a poor countrywoman 

 for a sick relative, I naturiilly asked to be in- 

 formed of the nature of the disorder, and the 

 remedies employed for the patient's restoration : 

 she had been long suffering from a succession of 

 abscesses, the previous cure of which, however, 

 she was evidently unwilling to admit as the result 

 of professional treatment. Notwithstanding that 

 the disorder had assumed so serious and aggra- 

 vated a form as to render recovery exceedingly 

 questionable, if not hopeless, the poor woman ex- 

 pressed the calmest confidence in her own medical 

 expedients, telling me she knew of a sartin cure ! 

 The infallible remedy I ascertained to be neither 

 more nor less than the local application of a bag 

 containing legs of sundry frogs, to be worn about 

 the patient's person, the chest, or some other pre- 

 scribed region, without removal. The maiming 

 of this reptile family was to be restricted to 

 various counties, the contiguity of which would, 

 however, seriously impair, if it did not destroy, the 

 efficacy of the application : whether any particular 

 localities were specified for these experiments in 

 Mwnatural science, I do not clearly recollect. I 

 protested strongly against so reckless and cruel a 

 dismemberment of the Batrachian kingdom, but 

 she only insisted the more gravely on the infalli- 

 bility of her cure. The impression that my in- 

 formant was herself a bit of a " croaker " (a class 



