426 TRANSACTIONS, NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 
Festival in Siam, before which no one would think of com- 
mencing his work, the ceremonial plough is pulled by two 
cream-coloured bullocks. These animals are made much of, 
for after ploughing they reveal which crops are to. be most 
plentiful by the preferences they show for baskets of various 
grains placed before them. Again, at the Wine Festival of 
Vevey, held every 50 years in the Canton of Vaud, and which 
will be held again in 1903 (a special occasion), there are symbolical 
pageants, one to Pales, the goddess of flocks and herds, and 
another to Ceres, goddess of harvest. At the last festival in 1889, 
the chariot of the youthful goddess Pales was drawn by two milk- 
white bulls, crowned with flowers and blue ribbons. The car of 
Ceres was drawn by two black oxen. Both cars are preceded by 
high priests, musicians, and others, some in long white robes and 
togas, others in short white tunics with the short cloak and hood, 
which the Romans called dacerne. All this indicates that this 
festival is the survival of a Roman religious pageant. Mr. J. 8. 
Stuart-Glennie, an authority on folk lore, in an article entitled 
“Where Beasts are Baptized,” has pointed out that to this day 
customs are observed in South-Western Brittany which date back 
to the remotest ages of paganism. Every autumn, in September, 
the peasants bring their cattle to Carnac and go through two 
ceremonies themselves without the supervision or interposition of 
Christian priests. First, holding their beasts by ropes thrown 
round their horns, they, in the evening and darkness, go to the 
western door of the Church of St. Cornély, above which is a 
statue of the old Pagan god, the protector of animals, trans- 
formed into a Christian saint and pope. Here, in silence, holding 
their beasts, they kneel and pray, 7.e¢., repeat or mutter the 
immemorially sacred magical words. After this, they lead their 
cattle to a tree-embowered sacred fountain and there pour its 
water over their beasts. On Sunday, after vespers, the clergy go 
down in procession to the Sacred Fountain of Animal Baptisms, 
and, facing northwards, read a prayer or prayers. On the Tuesday 
following takes place the autumnal sacrifice of the beasts. In the 
forenoon the beasts to be sacrificed by the peasants are first blessed 
before the church door by the Bishop of the Diocese, who also 
sprinkles them with holy water. After this, the priests arrange 
a procession to the place of sacrifice, leading the way themselves, 

