The poor pilgrim repaid his hosts by entertaining them with the news of the lands through which he had passed, and by amusing the household after supper with marvellous saintly legends and travellers’ tales. He raised funds, too, on his return journey by retailing holy trifles and curiosities, which were sold wholesale at the shrines frequented by pilgrims, and sometimes he would make a bolder flight by carrying some fragment of a relic, a joint of a bone, or a couple of the hairs of a saint, and he received payment from people for bringing to their doors some of the advantages of the holy shrines which he had visited. This, however, was an abuse, and was visited by heavy penalties by the Church. The main purpose of these pilgrimages was, of course, to gain direct spiritual advantage, but some were expiatory and penitential; others were made out of gratitude for special mercies, recovering from illnesses, &c. It is said that in the 8th century, some English merchants carried on a kind of smuggling trade in foreign countries. They put on the pilgrim’s garb, and carried their goods in bales, which they said contained provisions for their journey, and were exempt from paying any duty. The preparation of the pilgrim in the Middle Ages was a solemn matter. Before he started on his journey, he went to Church, and, after Confession, his _scrip_ and _staff_ were blessed and handed to him, and his habit (if he were going to Jerusalem), was blessed also. He then took the Holy Sacrament, and it is surmised that a certificate of his having been blessed as a pilgrim was then handed to him. After that, he was conducted out of the parish, to commence his journey, by the priest, with the Cross and Holy Water borne in procession. A certain costume was worn, spoken of as “pilgrim’s weeds,” consisting of a robe, hat, staff, and scrip. The robe is said to have been of wool, sometimes of a very shaggy appearance. (Fig. 2.) The hat was round, with a wide brim, and was commonly made of felt. But the special insignia of a pilgrim were his scrip and staff. The _scrip_ was a small bag, slung by a cord over the shoulder to hold his food and a few necessaries, and to it was often affixed a special sign or token, indicating the pilgrimage he was making. The pilgrim to the Holy Land, too, wore a cross formed by two strips of coloured cloth sewn on the shoulder of his robe. Different colours were used to indicate the nationality of the pilgrims--_e.g._, the English wore a white cross, the French red, and the Flemish green. The _staff_ or _bourdon_ varies in appearance in different MSS., but was generally like a long walking stick, often with a knob at the top and one lower down. (Figs. 1 and 3.) Sometimes below the top is a hook (Fig. 2), to which a water-bottle or small bundle could be attached. Many pilgrims also carried bells, as they were “thought to possess locomotive and other miraculous powers.” (Cutts.)