Note 644 — Chapter III · SYMPATHETIC MAGIC (continued 3)
Reading edition
W. Wyatt Gill, Jottings from the Pacific, pp. 222 sq. On the use of roof-thatch in superstitious ceremonies see W. Caland, Altindisches Zauberritual, pp. 82 n.² 182 sq. In the present case the virtue of the thatch clearly depends on its harbouring rats. Some Dravidian tribes forbid a menstruous woman to touch the house-thatch (W. Crooke, Popular Religion and Folklore of Northern India, Westminster, 1896, i. 269).