the night and ridden by
Spirits about the country, and hence their jaded condition in the
morning.

It was also thought that the horses found in the morning in their pasture
ground with tangled manes and tails, and bodies covered with mud, had
been during the night used by Spirits, who rushed them through mire and
brier, and that consequently they presented the appearance of animals who
had followed the hounds in a long chase through a stiff country.

There is a strong family likeness between all Ghost stories, and a lack
of originality in their construction, but this suggests a common source
from which the majority of these fictions are derived.

I now come to another phase of Spirit Folk-Lore, which has already been
alluded to, viz., the visits of Ghosts for the purpose of revealing
hidden treasures. The following tale, which I took down from the mouth
of John Rowland, at one time the tenant of Plas-yn-llan, Efenechtyd, is
an instance of this kind of story.

_A Ghost Appearing to point out Hidden Treasures_.

There is a farm house called Clwchdyrnog in the parish of Llanddeusant,
Anglesey, which was said to have been haunted by a Spirit. It seems that
no one would summon courage to speak to the Ghost, though it was seen by
several parties; but one night, John Hughes, Bodedern, a widower, who
visited the house for the purpose of obtaining a second Mrs. Hughes from
among the servant girls there, spoke to the Ghost. The presence of the
Spirit was indicated by a great noise in the room where Hughes and the
girl were. In great fright Hughes invoked the Spirit, and asked why he
troubled the house. "Have I done any wrong to you," said he, addressing
the Spirit. "No," was the answer. Then he asked if the girl to whom he
was paying his attentions was the cause of the Spirit's visit, and again
he received the answer, "No." Then Hughes named individually all the
inmates of the house in succession, and inquired if they were the cause
of the Spirit's visits, and again he was answered in the negative. Then
he asked why, since no one in the house had disturbed the Spirit, he came
there to disturb the inmates. To this pertinent question the Spirit
answered as follows:--"There are treasures hidden on the south side of
Ffynnon Wen, which belong to, and are to be given to, the nine months old
child in this house: when this is done, I will never disturb this house
any more."

The spot occupied by the treasure was mi