gical gem, fuch as defcribed in the tour of 1769 *. This cafe
may be taken o ff; has a coniiderable hallow, in which might
have been kept amulets or reliques; which, with the affiftance of
the powerful ftone, muff needs prove an infallible prefervative
againft all harms.
Enter Strath-fillan, or the vale of St. Fillan, an abbot, who
lived in the year 1703, and retired here the latter end of his days.
He is pleafed to take under his protection the difordered in
mind; and works wonderful cures, fay his votaries, even to this
day. The unhappy lunatics are brought here by their friends,
who firft perform the ceremony of the Deaftl, thrice round a
neighbouring cairn; afterwards offer on it their rags, or a little bunch
of heath tied with worited ; then thrice irnmerge the patient in a
holy' pool of the river, a fecond Bethefda; and, to conclude, leave
him faff bound the whole night in the neighboring chapel. I f
in the morning he is found loofe, the faint is fuppofed to be
propitious 5 for if he continues in bonds, his cure remains doubtful
: but it often happens that death proves the angel that releafes
the afflifted, before the morrow, from all the troubles of this
life.
The Deajil\, or turning fromeaft to weft, according to the courfe
of '•^ie ^uni is a cuftom of high antiquity in religious ceremonies.
The Romans J praitifed the motion in the manner now performed
in Scotland. The Gaulijh Druids made their circum-volution in a
manner direftly reverfe : but the Druids of Gaul and Britain had
* 2d and 3d Edit.
+ From Decs or D ei, the right-hand,, and S jl, the fun.
X Diinii Hift. Mat. lib. x xx viii. c. 2.
probably
St r a t h - f i l l a n .
D e a s i l .