In Breadalbane, when a cow is observed to
have symptoms of madness, there is recourse had to a peculiar process.
They tie the legs of the mad creature, and throw her into a pit dug at
the door of the fold. After covering the hole with earth, a large fire
is kindled upon it; and the rest of the cattle are driven out, and
forced to pass through the fire one by one."[793] In this latter custom
we may suspect that the fire kindled on the grave of the buried cow was
originally made by the friction of wood, in other words, that it was a
need-fire. Again, writing in the year 1862, Sir Arthur Mitchell tells us
that "for the cure of the murrain in cattle, one of the herd is still
sacrificed for the good of the whole. This is done by burying it alive.
I am assured that within the last ten years such a barbarism occurred in
the county of Moray."[794]
[Calves killed and buried to save the rest of the herd.]
Sometimes, however, the animal has not even been buried alive, it has
been merely killed and then buried. In this emasculated form the
sacrifice, we may say with confidence, is absolutely useless for the
purpose of stopping a murrain. Nevertheless, it has been tried. Thus in
Lincolnshire, when the cattle plague was so prevalent in 1866, there
was, I believe, not a single cowshed in Marshland but had its wicken
cross over the door; and other charms more powerful than this were in
some cases resorted to.
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