A curious detail in regard to these rag-offerings is given by Mrs. Evans in reference to the rags tied on the bushes at St. Elian’s well. These rags must be tied with wool. This detail is not mentioned by the various authorities whom we have referred to, and the reason for using wool remains to be explained. We know that with the Hindus as well as with the Parsis the sheep is a sacred animal. The use of woollen clothes is prescribed in certain Hindu rituals and the sacred thread of the Parsis, which he carries round his waist day and night, is made of sheep’s wool. Probably the same idea led to the use of wool in the English custom of hanging up rags. If so, it affords a further ground for concluding that the rag was not a mere vehicle of disease but a grateful offering devoutly presented to the deity of the well or the tree. Macedonian folklore furnishes further evidence in this behalf. Travellers in Macedonia often see newly-built fountains decorated with cotton or wool threads of many colours. These threads are torn by wayfarers from their dress on beholding the fountain for the first time. “They alight and after having slaked their thirst in the waters of the fountain, leave these offerings as tokens of gratitude to the presiding nymph.”[57] CHAPTER XVIII. A MISUNDERSTOOD INDIAN CUSTOM. In India no one would think of offering to the water-spirits such impure articles as pins and needles and nails, much less “rags tored off shirts and petticoats.” It would be positive defilement of water. Sometimes, however, flags are seen hoisted near holy wells, and European travellers represent them as rag wells corresponding to those with which they are familiar in the west. There is, however, a good deal of difference between the two customs. In the first place these flags are not rags. They are made of new, unused cloth. It is a universal custom in India to put up _dhajas_ or standards near shrines, sepulchres and sacred trees believed to harbour spirits. When there is such a shrine or tree near a well, a flag is hoisted at the spot. But it is done in honour, not of the water-spirit, but of the god or goddess installed in the shrine or of the spirit dwelling in the tree or of the saint buried in the vicinity. I have made personal enquiries and consulted authorities in search of evidence for rag wells in India, but have not come across any single instance. True, Crooke in his _Popular Religion and Folklore of Northern India_, makes the rather sweeping assertion that India supplies numerous examples of the custom of hanging up rags on trees or near sacred wells. Mention is also made in the _Folklore Notes of Gujarat_ of flags that are sometimes hoisted near holy wells “in honour of the water-goddess Jaldevki.” European folklorists are thereby led to docket these as illustrations of the prevalence of the cult of rag wells in India. But there is no evidence to show that rags are offered to wells. These