RELIGION. 525 



good repair, and was frequented by those suffering from 

 u wounds and soares," the people having great faith in the 

 curative efficacy of the saint. When unable to go to the 

 church in person, they made a copy in wood of the limb 

 affected, and cut in the wood a faithful representation of 

 the wound. The wooden arm or leg was then sent to the 

 church, and laid on the altar ; and, doubtless, in due course, 

 the quick healing of the wound, which resulted from a 

 healthy constitution, plus an inordinate amount of faith, was 

 attributed to the direct intervention of the saint on their 

 behalf, as a reward for their devotion. At Candlemas and 

 Hallowtide each year, drunken orgies took place, followed 

 by dancing, the finale to the proceedings being a visit by 

 the people, with lights in their hands, to the church, where 

 they worshipped the saint all night long. Just before 

 Dymes's visit to the island, a minister from another parish 

 probably Farquhar Clerk from Ui came among them, 

 as they were preparing at Candlemas for their time-honoured 

 devotions, and by means of argument, warning, and threats, 

 induced the more moderate among them to promise to give 

 up their idolatrous practices. 



Seventy years later, in Martin's time, the worship of 

 saints still prevailed, though all the people in the island 

 were nominally Protestants, with the exception of one 

 Roman Catholic family (? Mackenzie of Kildun). When 

 the Lewismen visited the Flannan Islands every summer 

 for birds' eggs, down, feathers, and quills, they observed 

 certain ceremonies which indicate their strict adherence to 

 set forms. As soon as they landed, they uncovered their 

 heads and made a turn sunways, thanking God for their 

 safety. When they came within about twenty paces of the 

 altar, in the chapel dedicated to St. Flannan, they stripped 

 themselves of their upper garments, and prayed three times 

 before fowling operations were commenced ; the first prayer 

 while advancing towards the chapel on their knees, the 

 second as they went round the building, and the third close 

 to, or at the chapel ; and the same form was observed at 

 vespers. These fowlers considered it unlawful to kill a 



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