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384; THE nor TRAVELLERS IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.
certain ceremonials. The old rule was for the sufferer to go into the
church-yard at night, and out three bits of lead from one of the spouts
of the cl1urcl1; with these bits of lead in the hand he walked three
times around the church, keeping the building always on the right. A
mode of cure prescribed for a young woman was to sit in the church
porch after service, and when the congregation filed out, each young
man was to drop a penny into her hand until she had received twenty-
nine pence. As the thirtieth swain came he took awayhthe copper, and
placed a silver half-crown i11 the open palm.
“WVith this coin tightly clasped in her hand, the woman embraced
the first opportunity to walk three times around the communion-table,
and afterwards have the coin made into a ring, which was to be worn
constantly as a charm against the disease. If the fits disappeared, it
was a sure sign that the cure was the proper one, and better than all
the medicine of the doctors. If the fits remained, it was then very evi-
dent that the ceremonial had not been properly performed, or the moon
and stars were not in the right places at the time of the incantation.
The requirement to walk three times around the communion-table was
not an easy thing to accomplish, as the minister was opposed to this
way of treating diseases, and generally tried to prevent it if he knew
what was going on.
“ To the south-west of Redruth is a hill which is the last elevation
of its height in England. WVhen the sky is clear the spectator can look
upon the sea in three directions, just as he can from the promontory
at Land’s End. On the summit is an old castle, which is utilized as
a dwelling-house by prosaic people of the nineteenth century. They
have no trouble on the questions of ventilation and drainage, but pos-
sibly they may become weary now and then of the labor of climbing to
their airy home. ‘
“This hill is known as Karn Brea, and at its base there are seve'al
copper-mines, all of them silent and deserted, with a few exceptions. ’
WVe took a walk as far as the-hill and-then ascended it, partly for the
sake of the view, and partly in order to inspect the foundations of the
castle, which were said to be very curious. They werecurious because
they consist of enormous bowlders, some of them tell or twelve feet in
diameter and weighing many tons. How the bowlders got to where they
are nobody can tell. Antiquarians ascribe them to the Druids, and say
they were moved there by human hands; but some of them ilispute
this theory, and believe the stones were gathered in some grand up-
heaval of nature, and have been washed clear of surrounding earth by