Grampian Club > Scotland, social and domestic

Demons and Apparitions. 259
The Taibhsear did not acquire his art by any pro-
cess of instruction ; it was held to be a native gift.
The seventh child of the same sex, born in succession,
was believed to be endowed with the faculty. Cattle
which exhibited any marked peculiarity were supposed
to possess its influence. During the occurrence of a
vision, the eye-balls of the seer were turned upward,
and rendered so rigid, that, when the vision closed, as-
sistance was resorted to, to restore them to ordinary use.
The visions of the Taibhsear occurred, it was alleged,
without any premonition. When they happened in the
morning, their fulfilment was immediate. A vision at
noon was realized before the close of the day ; and the
later the hour, the more distant was the period of
accomplishment. Certain visions were not realized till
after the lapse of years. The vision of a shroud was a
prognostic of death, and its height above the person
indicated the period that would elapse till its consum-
mation. When the shroud rose to the middle, the
death of the person seen would happen in a year ; when*-*'
the head was covered, his dissolution was impending.
When the seer saw a woman at a man's left hand,
she was to become his wife ; when two or three women
stood at a man's right hand, these were to be in suc-
cession united to him in wedlock. The seer foresaw the
erection of houses and the planting of orchards, in locali-
ties which were covered with huts and cowhouses. He
descried the death of children, by seeing a spark of fire
fall into the bosom of those who should be bereaved,
while the vision of empty seats in a household intimated
the removal of parents or adults. Visions of funeral
trains were common. At their occurrence the aged
seer became pensive, and the novice was covered with a