Browne — Ethnography of the Mullet, Inishkea, 8^ Portadoy. 631 



The effect of the evil eye is much dreaded, and illness and 

 misfortune are ascribed to it ; for this reason, a child or an animal 

 should not be praised without saying "God bless it," to avert mis- 

 fortune. To countei'act this influence, human beings may be spit upon, 

 or the sign of the cross made on them in the name of the Trinity. 

 Cattle sometimes have knot-charms tied to their tails. 



Many animals have beliefs or customs connected with them. A 

 fox should not be interfered with by the people in his neighbourhood, 

 or he will revenge himself by raids on their fowls ; if well treated he 

 will do no damage. 



Seals are thought by some to be enchanted men or transmigrated 

 souls, and for this reason are not molested; A man at Portacloy 

 asserted that it was unlucky to kill seals, and added, as a warning, 

 that he knew a man, a relative of his own, who went into a cave to 

 slay a seal, and on raising his club to strike it, saw the animal change 

 into a large frog. He did not, however, seem to have any very great 

 faith in his own story, as a few minutes afterwards he offered to sell 

 a sealskin. 



It is believed also that on some nights seals assume human shape, 

 and that a number of them gather together on the rocks and wail 

 aloud. 



C. 0. states that the people of Tip were reputed by their neigh- 

 bours to be " peculiar" because they ate seals' flesh. 



The soil of Inishglora is thought to be so fatal to rats that if one 

 of these animals be brought to the island it will die as soon as it 

 touches the soil, and a handful of sand from the island will perfectly 

 protect a house against this kind of vermin. A black hen used, on 

 some occasions (and may perhaps be still) to be buried alive with its 

 wings spread out to bring about a fair wind or some desired good 

 fortune. 



Ghosts and apparitions are fully believed in. Two instances of 

 the spirits of drowned persons being seen walking about are reported 

 to have occurred within the past year ; one of these was said to have 

 occurred near Blacksod, where the ghost of a sailor was seen on the 

 sea-shore. An apparation in the form of a black dog is sometimes 

 seen by belated travellers not far from Portacloy. About half-a-mile 

 outside BelmuUet and within the peninsula of the Mullet, there is a 

 mound in a field by the roadside ; this is raised over the bodies of 

 some of the peasantry who were slain in a combat with the yeomanry 

 (known as the battle of Meenane Creve), in the year 1793. At this 

 spot the ghost of a young man without a head is seen sitting upon the 



