betake themselves to their devotions, praying thrice before they begin fowling. On the first day the first prayer is offered as they advance towards the chapel on their knees; the second is said as they go round the chapel; and the third is said in or hard by the ruins. They also pray thrice every evening, and account it unlawful to kill a fowl after evening prayers, as also to kill a fowl at any time with a stone. Another ancient custom forbids the crew to carry home in the boat any suet of the sheep they slaughter in the islands, however many they may kill. But what here chiefly concerns us is that so long as they stay on the islands they are strictly forbidden to use certain common words, and are obliged to substitute others for them. Thus it is absolutely unlawful to call the island of St. Kilda, which lies thirty leagues to the southward, by its proper Gaelic name of Hirt; they must call it only “the high country.” They may not so much as once name the islands in which they are fowling by the ordinary name of Flannan; they must speak only of “the country.” “There are several other things that must not be called by their common names: _e.g._ _visk_, which in the language of the natives signifies water, they call burn; a rock, which in their language is _creg_, must here be called _cruey_, _i.e._ hard; shore in their language expressed by _claddach_, must here be called _vah_, _i.e._ a cave; sour in their language is expressed _gort_, but must here be called _gaire_, _i.e._ sharp; slippery, which is expressed _bog_, must be called soft; and several other things to this purpose.”(1453) When Highlanders were in a boat at sea, whether sailing or fishing, they were forbidden to call things by the names by which they were known on land. Thus the boat-hook should not be called a _croman_, but a _chliob_; a knife not _sgian_, but “the sharp one” (_a ghiar_); a seal not _ròn_, but “the bald beast” (_béisd mhaol_); a fox not _sionnach_, but “the red dog” (_madadh ruadh_); the stone for anchoring the boat not _clach_, but “hardness” (_cruaidh_). This practice now prevails much more on the east coast than on the west, where it may be said to be generally extinct. It is reported to be carefully observed by the fishermen about the Cromarty Firth.(1454) Among the words tabooed by fishermen in the north of Scotland when they are at sea are minister, salmon, hare, rabbit, rat, pig, and porpoise. At the present day if some of the boats that come to the herring-fishing at Wick should meet a salmon-boat from Reay in Caithness, the herring-men will not speak to, nor even look at, the salmon-fishers.(1455)