PRACTICES TO OBTAIN CHILDREN 129 



obviously depends on the position of the stone and its 

 angle of inclination. At Bauduen, near Draguignan, 

 on the day of the feast of the patron saint, girls who 

 want to marry, or women who desire children, go and 

 slide in a sitting posture down a rock, situated behind 

 the church, and one part of which forms an inclined 

 plane. The surface of the rock has been polished by 

 this exercise. A similar practice obtains near the 

 village of Saint Ours, in the Basses Alpes, on the 

 corresponding day. The stone there is called the 

 Millstone. 1 In the neighbourhood of Collobrieres, also 

 in Provence, an ancient chestnut-tree stands on the 

 side of the road called the Lovers' Walk. Just below 

 one of the principal branches, which has been broken 

 off, two round excrescences give it a phallic appearance. 

 Girls who desire husbands and young married women 

 who want children go and slide at certain times down 

 certain of the roots which rise above the soil. 2 



It will be remembered that women who wanted to 

 drink of Saint Maughold's well in the Isle of Man were 

 required to sit in the saint's chair. Beneath a chair in 

 Finchale priory church in the county of Durham " is 

 shown a seat said to have the virtue of removing steri- 

 lity and procuring issue for any woman who, having 

 performed certain ceremonies, sat down therein and 

 devoutly wished for a child." The seat, which is of 

 stone, appears much worn. At Jarrow church brides on 

 the completion of the marriage service seat themselves 



1 Berenger-Feraud, Superst. ii. 342 ; Amer. Anthrop. iv. N.S. 79. 



2 Berenger-Feraud, Ibid. 177. For further illustrations of 

 these and other even more suggestive practices in France, the reader 

 is referred to the works already cited, and to Rev. Trad. Pop. xii. 

 665 ; xiii. 267 ; Sebillot, F. L. France, i. 334 sqq. ; iii. 425 ; Id. 

 Trad, et Sup. i. 48 sqq. 



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