Every one knows of the value of the rowan tree as a preventative of witchcraft. It is equally effective apparently against the Evil Eye. It is scarcely worth while dilating on this, but it would not do to neglect it. A resident in the Chanonry had a near neighbour terribly suspicious of interference with her cow. She would never allow a cow away from her own ground until she had first tied a sprig of rowan to its tail. A native of Kintyre, the opposite side of the country, connects this observance with May Eve, on which occasion it was common to tie a sprig of rowan to the cattle’s tails. Above we have mentioned rowan berries as equally efficacious with a blessing. The rowan is tied to churns as well as to cows’ tails. Another reciter mentions a case in which, along with a bottle, a professor of _eolas_ “went to the back of his house, taking a thin slice of juniper wood (_iubhar beinne_), which he instructed was to be put between the wood of the churn and one of its hoops.” One cannot help speculating as to what may have caused the use of these plants. We have a hint from the Chanonry that the rowan tree was attached when the cow left her own ground. Now cows leave their owners’ ground solely when sent to the bull. In connection with the _iubhar_, attention is called to the curious, incomprehensible shinty formula in which the word iubhar occurs:— _Ciod an caman?_ (What shinty-club?) _Caman iubhair_ (Shinty-club of yew). _Ciod an t-iubhar?_ (What yew?) _Iubhar athair_ (Yew of air), of which another reciter gave the slightly altered pronunciation, _iubhar athar_ (father’s yew).[7] A native of the Lewis says it was pretty common to protect cows from evil influences by the use of a charmed _burrach_ (cow fetter). The _burrach_ was made of different things, and when a cow calved it was fixed on her hind legs. The _burrachs_ the writer has seen were made of hair, possibly they may have made them upon occasion of some tough wood. Note that it was in calving that the charmed _burrach_ was of advantage, and thus the observances for the protection of the cattle are solely connected with their increase. [7] “Games of Argyle,” pp. 33, 34. PREVENTING BY HORSE NAILS AND SHOES An Arran reciter said: “I was one time staying with a friend here, and I noticed that a horse nail was tied round the churn. I mentioned nothing about it till one day when washing the churn I said, ‘I suppose I may take this off,’ but would she let me, though she did not tell me why it had been put on, but I soon found that out for myself.” Another authority mentions not the nail but the whole shoe. “The produce of the churn may be effectually protected from the Evil Eye by nailing the shoe of a colt or of an ass to the bottom of the churn. Where this is done there are not on earth that can do it harm, and many people always took care not to expose their churn without a shoe of either a colt or an ass nailed to it.”