and
spitting, some of which continue to this day. To spit for luck upon the
first coin earned or gained by trading, before putting it into the
pocket or purse, is a common practice. To spit in your hand before
grasping the hand of a person with whom you are dealing, and whose offer
you accept, is held to clinch the bargain, and make it binding on both
sides. This is a very old custom. Captain Burt, in his letters, says
that when in a bargain between two Highlanders, each of them wets the
ball of his thumb with his mouth, and then they press their wet thumb
balls together, it is esteemed a very binding bargain. Children in their
games, which are often imitations of the practices of men, make use of
the spittle. When playing at games of chance, such as _odds or evens_,
_something or nothing_, etc., before the player ventures his guess he
consults an augury, of a sort, by spitting on the back of his hand, and
striking the spittle with his mid-finger, watching the direction in
which the superfluous spittle flies, from him or to him, to right or
left, and therefrom, by a rule of his own, he determines what shall be
his guess. Again, boys often bind one another to a bargain or promise by
a sort of oath, which is completed by spitting. It runs thus:

"Chaps ye, chaps ye,
Double, double daps ye,
Fire aboon, fire below,
Fire on every side o' ye."

After saying this, the boy spits over his head three times, and without
this the oath is not considered binding; but when properly done, and the
promise not fulfilled, the defaulter is regarded as a liar, and is kept
for a time at an outside by his companions.

When two boys made an arrangement (I am speaking of what was the custom
fifty years back), either to meet together at a stated time or to do
some certain thing, the arrangement was confirmed by each spitting on
the ground.

When a number of boys or girls were trying to find out a puzzle or guess
put to them, and which they failed to unravel or answer, and when they
were searching for something which had been hidden from them, and which
they could not discover, the usual method of acknowledging that they
were outwitted was by spitting on the ground; in the language of the
day, they would be requested to "spit and gie't o'er," that is, own that
they were beaten. The propounder of the puzzle, or the party who had
hidden the object, was then bound to disclose the matter.

When two boys quarrelled, and one wet