patch of land in
a mountainous district, and vending nostrums for the cure of diseases
in man and beast, and selling charms to counteract witchcraft. Persons
have been known to travel more than a hundred miles to consult a
Willox. That a wide-spread belief exists of this family's mystical
powers, is manifest from the number of people seeking their advice.
Further, the warlocks of untainted Willox blood not only direct
attention to the healing art and the means of outwitting witches, but
they aid in discovering lost and stolen property.

In 1871 a little boy in Dundee was afflicted with a sore upon his
right leg. Medical skill proved of no avail, and the parents began to
fear the boy would be rendered helpless for life. One day, however, an
old Irish woman saw the boy, and, on ascertaining the nature of his
disease, declared that she could by means of the "gold-touch" heal
the sore. She asked for and obtained the marriage ring of the
invalid's mother. With the ring the strange woman rubbed three times
round the sore. She performed the same operation next day, and on the
next again. On the fourth day no mark of a sore could be discovered.
No doubt remained on the parents' and neighbours' minds that the
operator was a white witch, possessed of valuable charms.

CHAPTER LXIX.

Ghost at Sea--Tragical Event--Ghosts in
Edinburgh--Fear of Ghosts in
Glasgow--Fortune-telling--Choice of Lovers, how
decided--A handsome Dowry--Old Irish Story--How a
Ghost settled a Land Question--A Highland Prophecy
respecting the Argyll Family--Gipsies and
Superstition--Yetholm Gipsies--Episode in a Police
Court--Curses--Superstition among
Fishermen--Superstition among Seamen--Providing for
the Dead--A Warning--Blood Stains--Various
Superstitions--Hallow-e'en at Balmoral--Faith in
Dreams, Signs, Omens, Predictions, and
Warnings--Self-accusing Catalogue--Reflections on the
Memories of our Ancestors.

A strange story is told in connection with the report of the murder at
sea on board the barque "Pontiac," of Liverpool, by Jean Moyatos, a
Greek sailor, in custody in Edinburgh a few years ago. We do not know
whether the particulars we are about to relate came out in the
investigation, but undoubtedly they had a strong bearing on the case,
and made it probable, that but for the hallucination of one of the
crew--not the Greek sailor--the murder would not h