Note 2 — Chapter V · Magic Rites connected with the Several Departments of Nature (continued 2)
Reading edition
The first two lines are no doubt (as elsewhere) a sort of rhymed memoria technica, intended to “memorise” the accessories required for the rite. The tortoise here would appear to be a symbol of rain, as among the Sakais (wild tribes) of the Malay Peninsula. v. Haddon, Evolution of Art, p. 246. Can the “white” (or gray?) “ones” be the two lizards; and the “black one” the tortoise? The grass lizards are of various colours. ↑