96 THE HALIE LOCH. CHAP. vnr. 



their way southward. There is another loch lower down, 

 famed for its miraculous cures. It is quite common for 

 mothers to carry their sickly children there on the first 

 Monday morning of a Wraith; and, going round the 

 puddle three times, they dip in the chick at the end of 

 each revolution. The children have sometimes returned 

 home cured. So they say. 



" I remember a sort of cure. A poor woman took 

 thither a child who could neither sit, stand, walk, nor 

 talk. She performed the customary observances, and 

 returned amidst much derision. But lo! a marked 

 change took place in the child. He gained strength, 

 walked, and learned to speak. He often came to my 

 back premises, and called out : ' Bakie, bakie, gie's a 

 lopie;' but still he was very ancient-looking in the face. 

 About two or three years after he died of gravel. So that 

 the cure, whateyer it might be, was not permanent." 



The piece of water referred to by Dick is Dunnet 

 Loch, or the Halie Loch, not far from the village of 

 Dunnet. It was once supposed to possess great healing 

 virtues. People came from all parts of Caithness and 

 the Orkneys, to be cured by the waters. The patient 

 had to walk round the loch, or, if not able to walk, he 

 was carried round it. He washed his hands and feet in 

 the loch, and then threw a piece of money into it. He 

 had to do this early in the morning, and must be out of 

 sight before sunrise. There was in ancient times a 

 Roman Catholic chapel dedicated to St. John at the east 

 end of the loch. Some say that the alleged healing 

 virtues of the waters were converted into a source of 



