242 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



In addition to the horns, arms and pieces of human flesh may 

 be dug up in suspicious places, and this is the carrion on which 

 witches and wizards feed. Any one tasting a morsel of such food 

 is himself thereby converted into a wizard. Witches and wizards 

 have midnight feasts, so says the legend, at which they gorge 

 themselves with human carrion. Hence it is that in many parts 

 the dead are not buried till putrefaction sets in, and graves are 

 watched a considerable period after interment. The detective 

 may not be known as such to a wizard, and may pretend to follow 

 the same art in order to gain his confidence. If, then, the wizard 

 offers the detective human carrion, no further proof of guilt is 

 needed. Whether such food is ever offered to these rogues it is 

 difficult to say, as their word is accepted without question or 

 inquiry. 



Witches can cause milk to flow down through a straw from the 

 roof of a house,* and by this means rob their neighbors of the 

 milk of their goats and cows. When I read of this superstition 

 for the first time it reminded me of an incident, connected with a 

 similar Celtic superstition, which happened in Sutherlandshire 

 about twelve years ago. In that region a superstition still lingers 

 that witches can " steal the feet " of cows by walking through the 

 fields while the dew is on the grass, dragging a rope made of cow- 

 hair after them. A Thurso mason, well acquainted with north 

 country superstitions, was employed in the district at the time re- 

 ferred to, and got a quantity of new milk daily from a crofter's 

 wife. At the beginning of August she sent to say she could no 

 longer let him have new milk, as that went to the shooting lodge, 

 but he could have milk from which the cream had been taken. 

 The wily rogue sent her the following message : " Tell your moth- 

 er I do not wish to be nasty, but I must have new milk, if not 

 by fair means, then otherwise. I shall take it from the rafters of 

 the house rather than want." Next morning the girl appeared 

 with skimmed milk, thin and blue. Malcolm had meantime made 

 his preparations. He had bored one of the roof couples, and fixed 

 a bladder filled with milk in the thatch so as to empty its contents 

 through the hole when required. He then carefully plugged the 

 hole. When he saw the quality of the milk sent, he asked the 

 girl into the house that she might see what happened there. He 

 next took an auger and bored the plug away, when down came a 

 stream of rich milk and cream. After that he had but to ask 

 what he required. No one dared refuse his most extravagant de- 

 mands. His reputation as a wizard spread far and near over the 

 country side, and still lingers there among the superstitious. 



Wizards visit their victims while asleep, and " instill " a power- 



* This is pretty general in East Central and South Africa. 



