The visiting of wells for the cure of diseases was very general in the Isle of Man within living memory. The special days on which they were visited were Ascension Day and the first Sunday in August, especially the latter day, but the sick, or their friends, came also on other days for the water, particularly on Sundays "when the books were open," i.e. during the time of Morning Service in the Parish Church. [...] Though the custome is even nowadays probably not quite extinct, yet in the greatly changed state of the Island the presence of a coin or a few pins in one of these wells would more probably be due to a feeling for an old custom than to any real belief in the efficacy of the well* - as likely as not it would be due to some holiday visitor who had come picnicking to the spot.

Apart from crowds of holiday-makers, with whom the author is in the main sympathetic, the Isle of Man is a splendid place for the quiet tourist in search of health, scenery, and antiquities. The people invest their beauty spots with legends - few are without them - which make heavy demands on the faith that can remove mountains: thus "it is said that when the Cloven Stone hears the bell of Kirk Lonen ring, the two sides clap together."

The pleasant places which cater whole-heartedly for amusements and "attractions" are not in total effect much spoilt, though it is perhaps time to protest when the names Weeping Rocks, Wishing Stone, etc., are painted up on their respective rocks. Here is sophistication in Arcady, but it is generally done "with such an ingenuous air that it disarms criticism." Most of the island however is innocent of "attractions." Beautiful and neglected glens and highways are many...