Posted by Bob Hollis on October 22, 2000 at 07:05:00 from 208.10.211.202:
In Reply to: Re: Pigeon Post Observations (not posted by Bruce A Clarke on October 22, 2000 at 04:56:56:
1. Knobkerry - a short throwing club with a knob on one end, used by the Bantu in Africa.
2. Baulk - a rough-squared length of timber.
13. Water divining - or "dowsing," or "witching water" as it's called here in southern Indiana, far from being a superstition, is still practiced in many places in the U.S., and I presume elsewhere in the world as well. Some of the old-timers around here can not only find water, but determine within a very few feet just how far below the surface it lies. Being a city boy, I was skeptical about it myself, until my wife demonstrated for me last year and then made me try. Took a fork from a maple tree - each branch about the size of a pencil, strong enough to control but flexible enough to bend on its own. We were near the well at our farm, and I knew where the water vein ran. When I crossed it, that branch, which I had been holding straight up, bent toward the ground and I could not stop it, no matter how hard I tried. I understood perfectly how Titty felt when she felt the stick pull against her hands. Skeery! Another method some people use is to bend two wires about the size of coat hangers, at right angles, one leg about a foot long, and the other about eight inches. They hold the rods by the short ends, with the long legs parallel to the ground and pointing away from each other. When they come over water, the rods will swivel in their hands and the long legs will cross.