TRAVELS 
S 22 
mains in the hands of itinerant empirics and ignorant old women. 
They jointly with charms ufe fome fimple remedies, as fait, milk, 
brandy, lard, &c. but attribute the cures they perform to the fu- 
perior efficacy of the verfes they fing during the application ; the 
chief theory and foundation of their practice confiding in a be¬ 
lief, with which too they imprefs their patients very ftrongly, that 
their complaints are occalioned by witchcraft, and can only be 
removed by means of thofe incantations. 
Of thefe charms it is not eafy to obtain lpecimens, as they who 
are verfed in them are unwilling to communicate them to literate 
men, efpecially when they fee them prepare to commit them to 
writing, as they fear to be reported to the magiftrate or clergyman, 
and puniffied, or at lead chided for their fuperftition. It is a pity 
the clergymen will not be at the pains of difcriminating betwixt 
the verfes, which are the production of fuperftition, and thofe of 
an innocent nature. So far are they from attending to this par¬ 
ticular, that they do their utmoft to difcourage runic poetry in 
general, and without exception; which partly on that account, 
and more owing to the natural changes which a length of time 
brings about in all human affairs, are rapidly falling into difufe, 
and in a few years will be only found in the relations of travellers. 
The intelligent reader will have remarked the perfeCl fimilarity 
between thefe fongs of the Finlanders and thofe of the early Gre¬ 
cians : the fame fimplicity of compofttion, dictated by identity of 
occupation. Almoft every profeffion among that gay, lively, and 
incomparable people, had its peculiar fong. Specimens handed 
down 
