440 THE QUIGRICH. 



signated in Joceline's life of the latter, both by the term haculus and 

 cambo, another form of the camhutta ; while again at a later period it 

 reappears in the accounts of the Scottish Lord Treasurer, in 1506, as 

 cabo/c. The derivation, there can be little doubt, is from the Geelic 

 or Welsh cam, crooked, which enters into so many compounds, and 

 from which, also, is no doubt derived the more homely cammock, or 

 Scottish shinty, prohibited by Edward III. under its latinised form of 

 camhuca, or cambuta.^ 



To St. Fillan's cabok a special name was given, though it probably 

 represents the most usual form of the ornamental haculus or cam- 

 hutta of the ninth and tenth centuries, and even of a later period. 

 It is literally a beautiful and elaborately wrought shepherd's crook ; 

 and, whatever diversity of opinions may arise on other points, it can- 

 not admit of a doubt that this fine example of early Celtic art ex- 

 hibits abundant evidence of belonging to an era long prior to that of 

 the hero of Scottish independence. The accompanying lithographic 

 plate — skilfully executed from a very careful drawing, — renders any 

 elaborate description of its form or details unnecessary. The inter- 

 laced knot-work and other ornamentation is such as is already well 

 known, especially on some of the beautiful silver and goldsmiths' 

 work of early Irish art. The front is jewelled with a large oval 

 crystal, set on a plate which appears to have been moveable, and pro- 

 bably hinged, though it is now somewhat roughly secured, so as no 

 longer to admit of being opened. This may have been the lid by 

 which the bone of the Saint was inserted in the favoured reliquary ; 

 and which, according to the legend preserved in the " Acta Sanc- 

 torum," suddenly appeared open as it stood on the altar in the 

 Bruce' s tent, and reproached its faithless guardian with his unpatriotic 

 deceit. Above this, and forming the front of the crest or ridge, is a 

 figure, or bust, of an ecclesiastic, most probably designed for the 

 Saint himself, while the lower end of the ridge terminates in the 

 form of a snake's head, common on bronze relics of a late period. 

 On the flat shield-shaped point of the crook, is a rude but bold en- 

 graving of the crucifixion, with two stars in the field, one on each side 

 below the arms of the cross. The whole is of silver gilt, wrought on 

 a hollow core of copper, and measures nine and a quarter inches in 

 height, and nearly seven and a half inches across, from the point of 

 the crook. It will be seen that it difPers considerably, both in form 



• Strut's Sports and Pastimes, B. II. c. iii. Goff, Cambuc, &c. 



