Chap. XXVII. BIRDS AND RAIN. 559 



Angola. The orchilla-weed and mosses, too, were in but small 

 quantities. 



As Ave passed along, the people continued to supply us with food 

 in great abimdance. They had by some means or other got a 

 knowledge that I carried medicine, and somewhat to the disgust 

 of my men, who wished to keep it all to themselves, brought 

 their sick children for cure. Some of them I found had hooping- 

 cough, winch is one of the few epidemics that range through this 

 country. 



In passing through the woods, I, for the first time, heard the 

 bird called Mokwa reza, or "Son-in-law of God" (Micropogon 

 sulphuratus ?), utter its cry, winch is supposed by the natives to be 

 " pula, pula " (rain, rain). It is said to do this only before heavy 

 falls of rain. It may be a cuckoo, for it is said to throw out the eggs 

 of the white-backed Senegal crow, and lay its own instead. This, 

 combined with the cry for rain, causes the bird to be regarded 

 with favour. The crow, on the other hand, has a bad repute, and 

 when rain is withheld, its nest is sought for and destroyed, in 

 order to dissolve the charm by which it is supposed to seal up 

 the windows of heaven. All the other birds now join in full 

 chorus in the mornings ; and two of them, at least, have fine loud 

 notes. 



