ces to which we have briefly referred, and one
finds another analogy in the Chinese custom of divining by straws.

The divining-rod of England is described by Mr. Friend much in the same
way as by Mr. Dyer. But, according to Mr. Friend, hazel was not always,
although it has for a long time been, the favourite wood for the
purpose. Elder, at any rate, is strictly forbidden, as deemed incapable
of exhibiting magical powers. In Wiltshire and elsewhere Mr. Friend
knows of the magic rod having been used recently for detecting water. It
must be cut at some particular time when the stars are favourable, and
'in cutting it, one must face the east, so that the rod shall be one
which catches the first rays of the morning sun, or, as some say, the
eastern and western sun must shine through the fork of the rod,
otherwise it will be good for nothing.'

The same superstition prevails in China with regard to rods cut from the
magic peach-tree. In Prussia, it is said, hazel-rods are cut in spring,
and when harvest comes they are placed in crosses over the grain to keep
it good for years, while in Bohemia the rod is used to cure fevers. A
twig of apple-tree is, in some parts, considered as good as a hazel-rod,
but it must be cut by the seventh son of a seventh son. Brand records
that he has known ash-twigs used, and superstitiously regarded, in some
parts of England; but the hazel is more generally supposed to be popular
with the fairies, or whoever may be the mysterious spirits who guide the
diviner's art. Hence perhaps the name, common in some parts, of
witch-hazel, although, of course, philologists will have it that the
true derivation is wych. In Germany the witch-hazel is the
_zauber-streuch_, or the magic-tree, and it is probable that both witch
and wych are from the Anglo-Saxon _wic-en_, to bend. It is curious, at
any rate, that while in olden times a witch was called _wicce_, the
mountain-ash, which, as we have seen, has supposed occult virtues, was
formerly called _wice_. Whether this root has any connection with
another name by which the magic wand is known--viz., the
wishing-rod--may be doubted, but there is clearly a close connection
between the hazel-twig of superstitious England and the
_Niebelungen-rod_ of Germany, which gave to its possessor power over all
the world.

Of the employment of the divining-rod for the detection of criminals
there are many cases on record, but the most famous in comparatively
recent times i