G4G 
fell on a Sabbath !" Truly their old custom must have 
taken deep root indeed. There is a proverb still in use 
among* the Highlanders, though its real meaning is lost, 
implying a position of danger, or rather an awkward 
dilemma, viz., "Ittir dim theine Bheil," " between Bel's two 
fires." 
Toland mentions that there was in the Isle of St. Kilda 
a hill called " Otter Veaul," or " Belen's height." One writer 
states that though the name Beltein is not known in 
Sweden, the custom of fires on April 30th (the eve of 
Beltane day) was very common. The people were wont 
to light great fires on the hills, and spend the night in 
shooting. 
So also in Norway, as late as 1807 ; though, owing to the 
clear bright light of the sun, the fire itself was all but 
invisible. 
Allusion has been made above to the " Gabha Bheil," or 
•'jeopardy of Baal." There seems to have been two species 
of this ordeal, one in the case of a criminal, and the other 
an usual ceremony, either on the Beil-tin or Samh, in festi- 
vals. Toland, who wrote at the commencement of the 18th 
century, and was well read in the old literature of Ireland, 
and acquainted with all its old customs, tells us "that on 
May-eve prodigious fires were made on the numerous cairns 
which existed on the tops of mountains and high places in 
Ireland. They were made in honour of Baal, or Beil, 
latinized by the Romans into Belenus, by " which name the 
Gauls and their colonies understood ' the sun.' " One hill in 
Toland's memory was never known by any other name than 
<: Baulteine." He seems to infer that fires were thus lighted 
on May-eve (and the Gaelic name for May is even now 
" ceitean or ceud-uin," the First month) ; also on Midsum- 
mer eve, when corn begins to ripen ; on November 1st, after 
harvest ; and on New Year's eve, the commencement of the 
sun's upward course. 
