A swelling of the axillary glands (_fàireagun na h-achlais_) is an ailment that soon subsides or breaks into an ulcer. The ‘skilful’ professed to cure it in the following manner, and no doubt when the swelling subsided, as in most cases it did, the whole credit was given to their magic ceremony. On Friday (on which day alone the ceremony was efficacious) certain magic words were muttered to the blade of a knife or axe (the more steel the better), which was held for the purpose close to the mouth, and then, the blade being applied to the sore place, the swelling was crossed and parted into nine, or other odd numbers or imaginary divisions. After each crossing, the axe was pointed towards a hill, the name of which commences not with _ben_, a lofty hill, but _mam_, a round mountain. For instance, in Mull and neighbourhood, the malady was transferred (_do chuids’ air_, _tha sid air_, _do roinn-sa air_, etc.) to _Màm Lìrein_, _Màm an t-snòid_, _Màm Doire Dhubhaig_, _Màm Chlachaig_, _Màm Bhrathadail_, etc., all hills in that island. When the swelling was ‘counted’ (_air àireamh_) the axe was pointed to the ground, saying, “the pain be in the ground and the affliction in the earth” (_a ghoimh san làr, ’s a chrádh san talamh_). LUMBAGO (_Leum droma_). When the back is strained and its nerves are affected so that motion is painful, the afflicted person is to lie down on his face, and one who was born feet foremost is to step thrice across him, each time laying his full weight on the foot that treads on the patient’s back. There is no cure unless the person stepping across has been born feet foremost. CONSUMPTION (_Caitheamh_). On the farm of Crossapol in Coll there is a stone called _Clach Thuill_, _i.e._ the Hole Stone, through which persons suffering from consumption were made to pass three times in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. They took meat with them each time, and left some on the stone. The bird that took the food away had the consumption laid upon it. Similar stones, under which the patient can creep, were made use of in other islands. LEPROSY (_Mùr_). The waterfall at Scorrybreck, near Portree in Skye, called _Easa suc Con_, forms in the rock a natural trough or basin about the length and breadth of a man. A daughter of Lochlin, suffering from an incurable skin disease (_mùr_, leprosy?), in the course of her journeys in search of a cure (there being a prophecy that her cure was to be found in a northern island), came to this waterfall. The trough was emptied, and she was placed lying in it. She lay there till it again filled, and her cure was effected. _Loch Ma Nàr_, in Sutherlandshire, if entered on the first Monday of August, was believed to cure any and every disease or sickness. WELLS.