The machinery by which they secured these blessings to humanity, consisted of rhymes or incantations, rites and ceremonies, plants and stones of virtue, observance of propitious seasons, etc. The use of these could only lead indirectly to harm by fostering a spirit of credulity, and preventing inquiry into natural causes. Of themselves, the charms were like the Sunday plant, according to a common Gaelic saying, “without benefit or harm.” Any other rhyme or ceremony, plant or stone, would do equally well, if its use commanded the same amount of belief. The words or rhymes were praiseworthy commendations addressed to various saints, and the rites were harmless and merely trifling. This kind of superstition still prevails among the lower ranks of society to an almost incredible extent in the south as well as in the Highlands, and ‘wise people’ are resorted to for the cure of obscure ailments by many of whom such folly might be little suspected. Not above five years ago[17] the daughter of a dairy farmer in Cowal came to Ardnamurchan, a distance of above 100 miles, to obtain from a man of reputed skill a charm to turn aside the misfortunes and maladies by which her father’s dairy was afflicted. She went home happy in the possession of a bottle of water, over which some magic words had been muttered. Occasional newspaper paragraphs show the practice is not extinct in England or the south of Scotland. In the case of sick beasts, when, _e.g._, a horse lies down and refuses to rise, or a cow ceases to give milk, or gives only milk mingled with blood, the usual mode of procedure to effect a magic cure is to go to a person of skill (_i.e._ a white witch), get a bottle of water prepared by whispering certain words over it, and sprinkle this on the sick beast, or perhaps put a few drops in its ear. Immediately the beast rises without anything being the matter with it. Other rhymes and ceremonies are ready for other occasions, and it would be possible to fill a book with a collection of incantations in use for various diseases or in different localities. The general name for trifling superstitious observances of the kind is _Gisreag, Eapag, Upag_. The different kinds are known as _Eòlas_ (Knowledge) for the cure of disease; _Oradh_ (Gilding) for securing gifts and graces; _Sïan_ or _Seun_ for protection from danger, and _Soisgeul_ (_Gospel_) for weak minds. The rhymes contain internal evidence of having come from Roman Catholic times. The invocation of the Trinity and the Saints, particularly St. Bride and St. Columba, St. Michael and St. Peter, is common to them all, and whatever be their merit as expressions of piety, they certainly convey no idea of traffic with the Powers of Evil. The utmost that truth can urge against those who use them is, that they are ignorant, facile, and credulous. The opprobrious name of _buidseachas_ is in every case sincerely and piously repudiated by themselves, and in reality is unjust.