FOLK-LORE WITCH-HAZEL. 211 



about sure to find an abundance of pure water if they 

 go deep enough into the earth ! In the case referred 

 to, the manipulator of the divining rod received a fee 

 of three dollars. He had been summoned a distance 

 of a few miles ; and the owners of the land, who de- 

 sired a good well for watering grazing cattle, were 

 among the most intelligent and carefully educated in 

 New England. To question the propriety of thus 

 having a spring scientifically located, would be to risk 

 the reception of a severe rebuke ! In Nebraska I saw 

 a split piece of whalebone employed as a divining rod 

 to locate a spot to be bored for water. The user of 

 the implement received five dollars for his services. 

 A doubting Thomas had the hardihood to say that a 

 bore a hundred feet deep, more or less, the variation 

 depending upon the surface, whether on a ridge or in 

 a hollow, would surely strike a bed of gravel in that 

 part of the country, where water existed in the great- 

 est abundance. The bore \vas made with what are 

 called " drive-wells ;" sections of iron tubing were 

 driven into the earth till water flowed from the top 

 segment. The " diviner " was engaged mostly in lo- 

 cating the presence of valuable minerals ; and if his 

 word could be credited, he never failed to find gold, 

 silver, or lead, in soil where the rod "worked" in his 

 hands. The " rod " was made from a piece of whalebone 

 about fifteen inches in length, and split from one end 

 to within five or six inches of the other. A copper 

 ferule inclosed the wand at the point where the split, 

 terminated. I believe the ring of metal was to pre- 

 vent the whalebone from splitting in two parts. The 

 diviner remarked that he had to employ a leaden ring 

 when testing for copper! Thus it is ever with di- 

 viners; they know the worth of mystification, and how 



