From this account we see that in
Mull the kindling of the need-fire as a remedy for cattle disease was
accompanied by the sacrifice of one of the diseased animals; and though
the two customs are for the most part mentioned separately by our
authorities, we may surmise that they were often, perhaps usually,
practised together for the purpose of checking the ravages of sickness
in the herds.[729]

[The need-fire in Caithness.]

In the county of Caithness, forming the extreme northeast corner of the
mainland of Scotland, the practice of the need-fire survived down at
least to about 1788. We read that "in those days, when the stock of any
considerable farmer was seized with the murrain, he would send for one
of the charm-doctors to superintend the raising of a _need-fire_. It was
done by friction, thus; upon any small island, where the stream of a
river or burn ran on each side, a circular booth was erected, of stone
and turf, as it could be had, in which a semicircular or highland couple
of birch, or other hard wood, was set; and, in short, a roof closed on
it. A straight pole was set up in the centre of this building, the upper
end fixed by a wooden pin to the top of the couple, and the lower end in
an oblong _trink_ in the earth or floor; and lastly, another pole was
set across horizontally, having both ends tapered, one end of which was
supported in a hole in the side of the perpendicular pole, and the other
in a similar hole in the couple leg. The horizontal stick was called the
auger, having four short arms or levers fixed in its centre, to work it
by; the building having been thus finished, as many men as could be
collected in the vicinity, (being divested of all kinds of metal in
their clothes, etc.), would set to work with the said auger, two after
two, constantly turning it round by the arms or levers, and others
occasionally driving wedges of wood or stone behind the lower end of the
upright pole, so as to press it the more on the end of the auger: by
this constant friction and pressure, the ends of the auger would take
fire, from which a fire would be instantly kindled, and thus the
_needfire_ would be accomplished. The fire in the farmer's house, etc.,
was immediately quenched with water, a fire kindled from this needfire,
both in the farm-houses and offices, and the cattle brought to feel the
smoke of this new and sacred fire, which preserved them from the
murrain."[730]

[The need-fire in Caithness.]

Th