PRAYER OF THE BOGAS. 



143 



Virgin, and all the Saints in the calendar, 

 but many more of their own invention, pray- 

 ing for a prosperous voyage, and safe return 

 to their families ; they bestow also on such 

 as have incurred their displeasure a variety 

 of opprobrious epithets, at the end of which 

 they cross themselves thrice with great ra- 

 pidity ; first, on the forehead ; secondly, on 

 the nose and cheeks ; and lastly, from the top 

 of the head to the waist ; at the same time 

 pronouncing Amen. They thus burlesque 

 a custom which they would, nevertheless, 

 think it wrong to omit, and which no doubt 

 originated in piety. Slept at a cottage, 

 where a poor young woman was suffering 

 excruciating pain from a whitlow, which she 

 was ignorant how to treat. I made her a 

 poultice, with the addition of a little sweet 

 oil, and applied it myself, giving her di- 

 rections how to proceed. 



2d. This morning the mother of the 

 young woman, who had experienced some 



