White Quartz Pebbles. 131 



accompaniment to his new name, the women being forbidden 

 to look at it on pain of death."* 



It would be well to consider the uses that white quartz 

 pebbles were put to in Britain in olden times, for they are 

 very numerous as well as curious, and foremost among them 

 we would place curative or magic stones. 1 think the most 

 remarkable instance of this practice is that in which St 

 Columba figures so conspicuously with Broichan the Druid, 

 who refused to set free a little Irish bond maid for the sake 

 of humanity, and St Columba threatened him with a speedy 

 death if he persisted in his conduct, " And saying this in the 

 presence of Brude the King, and going forth from the royal 

 dwelling, he comes to the river Ness, from which river, taking 

 white stones he says to his companions, ' Note well this white 

 stone by which the Lord will effect many cures among his 

 heathen people.' Broichan being stricken, gasping, feeble, 

 sobbing,, and nearly dead, was ready to set the little maid 

 free, and the stone blessed by the Saint, was dipped in water, 

 and Broichan drinking from it, on which the stone floated 

 like an apple or a nut, returned at once from imminent death, 

 and recovered perfect health of body. This remarkable 

 stone, afterwards preserved among the King's treasures, 

 swimming in the same way in the water in which it was 

 dipped, effected through God's mercy many cures of sickness 

 among the people."! The Highlanders to-day cherish similar 

 cure-stones. They are considered as precious heir-looms, 

 and kept carefully wrapped up in the choicest and most ex- 

 pensive cloths. Moreover, one way of using them is to 

 make the patient drink the water in which they have been 

 dipped, just as St. Columba used to do in his miraculous 

 cures. This custom applies to cattle as well as to human 

 beings and its efficacy is firmly believed in. 



A few years ago there were dug up in a garden about 

 ■eleven miles from Darlington three charm stones, one of 

 which was of white quartzite, and all of them were pierced as 



* Survival nf Beliefs Among the Celts CGeorge Henderson), p. 

 203. 



t Adamnan. JAfe of St. Columba; 2nd Book, Huyshe'.s Trans- 

 lation, chap. 33. 



