200 RED DEER. 



hearth is needed, and a hearth necessitates 

 a wide chimney. When the wise woman 

 receives a visit, and agrees to remove the 

 spell, or cast a fresh one, she presently 

 stands in the chimney and mutters her 

 charms to the stars, which at night are 

 visible through it. The hamlet girls, such as 

 servants, continually go to the wise woman ; 

 if they lose their money for their pains 

 they are afraid to tell or inform lest the 

 charm should fall on them. In some places 

 it is a witch-doctor instead of a wise woman, 

 and he is called in if anything is the matter 

 with the cattle. 



In one village the inhabitants some- 

 how got an idea that a death, or illness, 

 or accident was sure to happen in the 

 place if the clergyman chanced to finish his 

 afternoon sermon at four o'clock. If he 

 concluded at four a misfortune was certain to 

 happen in the village during the next week. 

 This extraordinary superstition was con- 

 firmed by several coincidences, which they 



