“Aller en varouverie” was an expression used in former times in speaking of those persons who met together in unfrequented places for the purposes of debauchery or other illicit practices. Among the Acts of the Consistory of the parish of St. Martin’s, in the time when the island was still under the Presbyterian discipline, is to be found a censure on certain individuals who had been heard to say one night that the time was propitious “pour aller en varouverie sous l’épine.” _Varou_ was originally from the Breton _Varw_--“the dead”--and was identified with the “Heroes” or beatified warriors, who were, by Homer and Hesiod, supposed to be in attendance on Saturn. Guernsey, in the days of Demetrius, was known by the name of the Isle of Heroes, or of Demons, and Saturn was said to be confined there in a “golden rock,” bound by “golden chains.” There is the “Creux des Varous,” which extends, according to tradition, from Houmet to L’Erée, and is a subterranean cavern formed of rock sprinkled with an abundance of yellow mica, which sparkles like gold; a plot of ground near the cromlech at L’Erée, known as “Le Creux des Fées,” still bears the name of “Le Camp du Varou;” and an estate in the parish of St. Saviour’s is called “Le Mont-Varou.” Old people remember that it used to be said in their youth that “Le Char des Varous” was to be heard rolling over the cliffs and rocks on silver-tyred wheels, between Houmet and the Castle of Albecq, before the death of any of the great ones of the earth; and how this supernatural warning was sure to be followed almost immediately by violent storms and tempests.[118] [117] “La veille de la fête de Noël, à nuit close, dans un lieu préscrit par le consentement de la communauté en Prusse, en Livonie, et en Lithuanie, l’affluence des hommes changés en loups est telle que les ravages perpétrés cette nuit-là contre les bergers et les troupeaux sont beaucoup plus graves que ceux des véritables loups. S’insinuant dans les caves, ils y grenouillent et vous sablent plusieurs tonneaux de bière ou d’hydromel. Ils s’amusent alors à entasser les futailles vides au beau milieu du cellier. Le bon prélat ajoute, que de très grands seigneurs ne dédaignent pas de s’agriger à cette confrèrie maudite. C’est un des anciens adeptes qui initie l’aspirant _varou_ ou _garou_ dans une ample tasse de cervoise.” _Mœurs des Peuples du Nord_, par Olaus Magnus, Vol. VI., p. 46. [118] Mostly from Mr. George Métivier. HERODIAS.