Iron.—An oath on cold iron was deemed the most binding oath of any; when people swore on their dirks it was only because it was at the time the cold iron readiest to hand. A man who secreted iron, and died without telling where, could not rest in his grave. At Meigh, in Lochaber, a ghost for a long time met people who were out late. An old man, having taken with him a Bible and made a circle round himself on the road with a dirk, encountered it, and, in reply to his inquiries, the ghost confessed to having stolen a ploughshare (soc a chroinn), and told where the secreted iron was to be found. After this the ghost discontinued its visits to the earth.