Traiisaclioiis. 75 



acquaiut-anoe with Mr Mayue's friends will prociirt; adeiiuate fuiuls for 

 the proposed object. — With much respect aud mauy kind remembrances, 

 I am, my dear sir, yours faithfully, RoBT. CAKRUTHJiES. 



To Win. Grie son, Esq., Noblehill Cottage. 



III. Folk Lore, oj Gleiicairn (continued). By 



Mr JOUN CORRIE. 



When we remember that .so lately as the year 1709 a woman 

 was tried and condemned as a witch in our own good town of 

 Dumfries, while only some fifty years earlier no fewer than nine 

 suffered death by burning on the same indictment, it need 

 occasion no surprise that some still living are unable wholly to 

 disabuse their minds of a certtiin measure of credence in the 

 existence of witclies, warlocks, and others of that ilk, who are 

 supposed to iMjssess the power of interference in our liumau 

 atlairs. The Glencairn Church Session Records contain several 

 references to cases of reputed witclicraft. One of these occurs 

 under date "Apryl nynth," 1694. Anotlier, noticed by Mr 

 Monteith in his little " History of Glencairn," on November 14th, 

 1707. It is only when we come into contact with the oral 

 traditions of the people, however, that we realise the extent to 

 which a belief in witchcraft must have prevaileil. Wliole families 

 were credited with a knowledge of tlie art, and as the faculty was 

 supposed to be transmitted unimpaired from father to son, and 

 from mother to daughter, the credulous were never at a loss for 

 subjects upon which to exercise the superstitious fancy. Among 



local proficients an old man named Tanunas K seems to have 



enjoyed special notoriety. It is said he could get almost anything 

 he wanted, for to refuse him a favour was to court instant and con- 

 dign punishment. He would knot a wisp of straw, throw it down 

 beside a cow, and next day the cow would eitlier be dead or 

 dying. One day the warlock, as he was generally called, applied 

 to a villager who grew a remarkably fine strain of potato onions 

 for a bulb or two as seed. The maA managed to put him off, 

 however, and was rather proud of the achievement, until he dis- 

 covered a few days afterwards that his entire stock of onions had 

 mysteriously rotted away. On another occasion a villager, in ill 

 odour with the warlock, was engaged leading " rice " (tree 

 loppings) past the line of house.s wliere the warlock lived. As he 

 neared tlie place, he noticed some of the neighbours laughing and 



