STONE PALETTES— IMITATIVE MAGIC 305 



which seems to me, if ingenious, too ingenuous and too far- 

 fetched. 



The palettes, 1 almost invariably presenting the profile of 

 only those fishes, birds, or beasts that historic men pursued 

 for food, were intended (by the aid of colours extracted from 

 the malachite, galena, etc., crushed upon them) to estabhsh 

 an unpalpable, but, in human eyes, very serviceable connection 

 between the fisher and his prey. 



One method of such connection consists in creating a 

 likeness of the intended quarry. Such a likeness, by the 

 belief that the simulacrum is actively en rapport with that 

 which it represents, bestows on the possessor power over the 

 original. "Cases," Bates correctly adds, " of this sort are the 

 commonplaces of imitative magic." Usually a hunting or 

 fishing amulet which simulates the form of the quarry was 

 worn by the owner, or attached to his gear. 



The palettes themselves played the part of mere paint- 

 stones, but their supposed resident power might very effica- 

 ciously be transferred to its proprietor by means of the paint 

 ground upon it. 



" Persons who go in pursuit of the crocodile," says Pliny, 

 " anoint themselves with its fat." 2 In the same way as the 

 crocodile-hunter thus assimilates himself to his quarry by a 

 direct contagion, so the owner of the palette could possess 

 himself of the power in the slate Hkeness by painting himself 

 with the " medicine " ground upon it. 



The validity, or otherwise, of the suggestion must be 

 determined by expert mythologists. The theory, to my mind, 

 appears too far-fetched, and breaks down from the introduction 

 of an additional agency. 



The fisher wearing an amulet or attaching a charm to his 

 tackle, and the fat-anointed crocodile hunter both supposedly 

 have direct connection with his quest. 



But Bates's solution demands four agents at work, the 

 fisher, the prey, the portrayed profile of the latter, and the 

 palette; from these the fisher extracts the desired power by 



1 op. cit., 204 ff. 



2 N. H., XXX. 8. 



