The Highland monthly - National Library of Scotland

Gaelic Incantations.
Freagradh.—A ta gan amhrus ; do bhn'gh gur ab o'n
Diabhal gheibhid gach Eolus, da mbi' aca.
C.—Creud is Piseoga ann ?
F.— Briathra do radh, no Comharrtha do dheunamh
chum cri'che, do chum nach bhful bri'gh na braidh aca 6
Naduir, 6 Dhia, na 6 'n Eagluis.
Notwithstanding the influence of the Churches, the
behef in witchcraft is not quite dead, and charms and
incantations have survi\-ed to the present time. As to the
supposed effect of witchcraft, I will quote a sentence from
a leaflet which I picked up in Inverness last winter. It is
headed the " Crofters and Witchcraft." The writer says
he himself was confined in an asylum—a circumstance
throwing all the light necessar)' on his lucubrations. His
description of his feelings under what he believed to
be the influence of witchcraft is, however, exceedingly
interesting. It is as follows :
—
" As an example of how this man of sin punishes those
who differ from him in religion, I may state that I am
daily tortured by his most powerful agent, viz., witchcraft.
It takes away the faculties of my brains ; it makes my body
feel as if some one was sticking hot irons in me, at other
times I feel as cold as ice ; it weakens me to such an extent
that I am hardly able to move out of the position in which
I stand ; it gives me such a shock while I am walking on
the public road that I am not able to stand and speak to
any one ; it has got such a hold upon my body and soul
that I find that the most experienced members of the
medical profession are unable to do any good to me."
The popular belief in witchcraft is also well expressed
by Duncan Mackenzie, the Kenlochewe bard, in a song
appearing at page 22 of his book. In this song the
nuptials of a }'oung couple are described. The mother of
the bride, according to the bard, was a witch—her race
being noted for " Buidseachd a's Draoidheachd a's farmud."
In the song the old lady is pictured as using herbs, assum-
ing the form of a hare, and robbing her neighbours' cattle
of their substance, endowing the musicians at the marriage
with the power of playing fairy music, and by means of a