No. 11. 



The Divining Ro<l. 



333 



the ends of the rod from my grasp, llicy im- 

 rnediatL'ly took an upright position, corrt's- 

 pondont to the downward position of the point 

 of tlie rod. lie then ap])roacli6'd the eaine 

 spot from the opposite sides witii precisely 

 the same results. At my recjuest, he repeat- 

 ed the experiment several times, until I was 

 ahundantly satisfied of the truth of all that 1 

 had heard relating to this curious and won- 

 derful performance, lie atterwards pointed 

 out other s|)ots, always with the most perfect 

 success. When I expressed my astonishment 

 at what 1 had witnessed, he assured me he 

 was at a loss to conceive of the power which 

 resided in him, and was very desirous of 

 knowing if it could be accounted for on phi- 

 losophical principles. He told us, at the time 

 of the lirst French Revolution, many of the 

 Roman Catholic priests fled for refuge to the 

 Island of Jersey, and amongst them was one 

 who was said to possess the power of discov- 

 ering springs of water, by means of the Di- 

 vining Rod; he was then building the iioiise 

 where ho now resides, and having no water, 

 he thought it a good opportunity to put the 

 experiment to the test; he therefore invited 

 the priest to his house, and requested him to 

 try his skill: this he did, and discovered a 

 spring of water a short distance from the 

 building. "1 then," .said he, "desired him 

 to permit me to try if I also possessed the 

 power, and on taking the rod into my hands 

 found that 1 did to a greater degree than 

 himself ! The discovery quite overcame me, 

 and I should have fallen, had I not supported 

 myself against the wall. I afterwards, by 

 means of the rod, found a spring immediately 

 under the foundation of the new building, and 

 I did not hesitate to dig to it; but, to do this, 

 it was first necessary to turn an arch in the 

 wall, to take off the weight from the founda- 

 tion, which I did, and struck the spring with- 

 in 9 inches of the depth which I had calcu- 

 lated." And there I saw the arch (a stand- 

 ing memorial of the truth of what he had re- 

 lated) stretching across a well, which yields 

 a never-failing spring of the purest water. — 

 He added, " Since this, I have been sent for, 

 fir and near, to find springs for my friends, 

 and I have never been deceived in my opera- 

 tion.s, although more than 2,000 wells have 

 been dug by my directions." He is enabled 

 to calcufate the depth of the spring, by mea- 

 suring the distance between the spot at which 

 the rod first becomes agitated, and that at 

 which it takes a decided turn downwards, 

 and has attained a surprising exactness in 

 these his calculations. He was requested by 

 Sir T. Le Breton, the Lieut. BaiUie of the 

 Island, to search for a spring at his house at 

 Bagatelle, as the well, from which water was 

 obtained, was only a land drain : singular 

 enout^h, he could find only one spring, and 



that was at the tioltnin of the xoell! "Go 

 deeper," said he, staling the depth according 

 to his rule, "and you will find plenty of wa- 

 ter." I, .sometime after, received a letter 

 from my friends, Messrs. Jean &- Marrett, 

 brewers, stating that Mr. Ingouville had dis- 

 cover(>d a spring on their premises, four feet 

 only from their old wvll, (a land drain) which 

 furnished plenty of the finest water for all 

 their purposes. Mr. Jamks IIemeiiy, intend- 

 ing to erect a house in a beautiful field near 

 St. Hellier's, I\Ir. Ingouville searched for a 

 spring, and pointed out the spot where it might 

 be found, stating the depth at which it would 

 be struck; and, without hesitation, Mr. Ilem- 

 ery commenced building in the faith of his 

 prediction, so that the well, when dug, might 

 be enclosed by the court yard wall, and at 

 exactly this spot he found it ! 



The Island of Jersey is of primitive, or gra- 

 nite formation, of an almost impenetrable 

 character, yet no one, in need of a well, hesi- 

 tates to dig at the spot pointed out, and fre- 

 quently, the price for digging has been fixed 

 before hand, by means of his rule forjudging 

 of the necessary depth. 



After Mr. Ingouville had satisfied me of 

 the truth of what I had heard on the subject 

 of water finding, he informed me that he had 

 the power of finding money also ; he request- 

 ed me to bury a silver coin in the garden, 

 walking from me, to show that he did not 

 wish to see the spot where it had been de- 

 posited ; he found it in an instant, and then 

 related a singular circumstance which occur- 

 red during a late search for a spring of wa- 

 ter — many persons were collected to witness 

 the result, hut as he passed amongst them he 

 perceived the rod to become agitated in an 

 unaccountable manner, while passing a par- 

 ticular spot, which was crowded by these per- 

 sons who were looking on ; he retraced hi.s 

 steps, but still the rod was affected in the 

 same way ; at length, he inquired if a lady, 

 who stood close to the spot, had any consider- 

 able quantity of money with her, when sho 

 produced a very large quantity of silver in 

 her reticule ! after this was removed, the rod 

 performed as usual. 



Now, I have never heard any attempt to 

 account for the wonderful power which is 

 certainly possessed by this person ; possibly, 

 it may be, that there is an affinity between 

 persons of moist constitutions, and the mois- 

 ture of the earth, and the rod may operate 

 as a sort of conductor: would your friends 

 and contributors do what tiiey can to throw 

 light on the interesting subject ! 



To those who have not had the mean? of 

 ascertaining, by actual observation, the truth 

 of what is above stated, it might be interest- 

 mg to remark, that Mr. Ingouville is a most 

 respectable man; advanced in years; the 



