Ossian Collection > Romance of the Highlands

g6 TH£ ROMANCE OF THE HIGHLANDS.
means, which, fortunately, were known. In Gaelic they
are called Sithean, which word also means "grasping,"
because it was believed they could seize and carry off the
little ones, and even adults. Thomas the Rhymer was
supposed to have been carried off by them and hidden
among the Eildon Hills.
When "Waverley" was hurt during the stag hunt
and found himself incapable of rising from the ground,
the Highland doctor or leech was called from among the
huntsmen, and, being prepared with the necessary herbs
beforehand, approached the injured man in the "deasil"
fashion. The old Esculapius, after bleeding his patient
with a cupping glass, which he did very cleverly,
proceeded to boil over a fire a quantity of herbs. From
these he prepared an embrocation and fomented the
injured parts in a manner similar to that of a modern
surgeon, with this exception that he kept murmuring all
the time spells and gibberish unknown to his hearers.
The patient, greatly benefited, imputed the cure to the
virtue of the herbs and the effects of rubbing, but the
Highlanders ascribed it to the spells. The injured man
was given to understand that not one of the ingredients
had been gathered except during the full moon, and that
during the time they were being collected the following
charm was recited : —
"Hail to thee thou holy herb
That sprung- on holy ground !
All in the mount Olivet
First wert thou found.
Thou art boot for many a bruise
And healeth many a wound,
In our Lady's blessed name
I take thee from the ground."
Many superstitious beliefs lay in the practice of
medicine. If it was to be of any good to a patient as a
cure it was an essential part that it be made, and taken,