90. REPORTS. 



momentous business.' ' Mr. Vale was, of course, an English- 

 man, and probably did not quite understand the Guernsey- 

 man. My impression is that what the farmer really said 

 was : " C'etait un avertissement " — " It was a warning " — 

 which is the invariable explanation in the country for any- 

 thing mysterious or inexplicable — and will have debited the 

 next misfortune which happened in the family to that 

 account ! 



Mrs. La Trobe Bateman writes from Sark that on St. 

 John's Day — Midsummer Day — the custom over there is to 

 eat crab, as well as to deck the carts and horses with flowers 

 and to fly flags on the flagstaffs. 



As we know it is at that date the sun enters the sign 

 Cancer — the Crab. But whether that has anything to do 

 with the custom I cannot say; the decoration of carts and 

 horses must be a relic of festival customs on the day of the 

 Summer Solstice showing that, as in Brittany and elsewhere, 

 the sun in his splendour was a symbol of God in His Heaven. 



We all know that there was a trial and conviction for 

 witchcraft in Guernsey as recently as January, 1914. And 

 undoubtedly the belief in supernatural powers of evil is 

 widespread throughout the country, powers that can only be 

 fought by supernatural means. A friend of mine, a 

 Guernsey Jurat, reports to me: "During the winter of 1913 

 I went to the farm of two old friends, and found both the 

 brothers looking very glum. I asked why? Dan said that 

 there was ' sorcellerie ' about. I asked how they knew? 

 'Because/ he replied, 'his brother had been nearly killed 

 that morning, and had one side very badly hurt.' ' How? ' 

 ' He went to feed his mare that morning, a quiet faithful 

 beast that he had fed for 20 years and who had never before 

 shewn any wickedness, but when he went up to her she 

 started kicking him like a demon and nearly killed him; 

 someone must have ' witched ' her — and what was to be 

 done? Please Sir, you ought to know.' I said that 'there 

 was only one thing to do, and that was to kill a black fowl 

 and put its heart, transfixed by a needle, to roast by the fire, 

 and then the witch would come to the door.' For the first 

 time that morning they both smiled, and said they had 

 already done so! ' " 



In conclusion, Mr. Alles has kindly collected for me a 

 few records of ghosts. 



That part of the Forest Road bordering St. Peter's is 

 known by the name of Farras, and just where the road makes 

 a dip a black-thorn stands in the hollow. Under this black- 

 thorn is said to stand a ghost — " Le Soudard sans Tete " — 

 a. headless soldier who is said to have been buried under the 



