290 A DIVINER. Chap. XXII. 



with a long tail (Centropus SenegaJensis), floats awkwardly over 

 the long grass, with its tail in a perpendicular position. It 

 always chooses the highest points, and is caught on them with 

 bird-lirne for the sake of its long black tail-feathers, which are 

 highly esteemed by the natives for plumes. We saw here also 

 the " Lehututu " (Tragojian Leadbeaterii), a large bird strongly 

 resembling a turkey, and deriving its native name from the noise 

 it makes ; when stationary it appears quite black, but when it 

 flies the outer half of the wings are white. It kills serpents, 

 striking them dexterously behind the head. Another species 

 like it is called the Abyssinian hombill. 



Before we reached Cassange we were overtaken by Senhor 

 Carvalho (who had superseded Senhor Eego as commandant 

 since I was here), returning, with a detachment of fifty men 

 and a field-piece, from an unsuccessful search after some 

 rebels. The rebels had fled, and all he could do was to burn 

 their huts. I was most kindly welcomed by my friend 

 Captain Neves, whom I found labouring under a violent 

 inflammation and abscess of the hand. Thinking that this 

 affection was simply an effort of nature to get rid of malarious 

 matter from the system, I recommended the use of quinine. 

 He himself applied the leaves of a plant called cathory, famed 

 among the natives as an excellent remedy for ulcers : these 

 when boiled exude a gummy juice, which effectually shuts 

 out the external air. Each remedy of course claimed the 

 merit of the cure. 



In spite of the apparent healthiness of this place, fevers 

 abound and prove particularly fatal to children. A fine bey 

 of Captain Neves' had been cut off since my passage westward. 

 Another died during the period of my visit. During his sickness 

 his mother, a woman of colour, sent for a diviner in order to 

 ascertain what ought to be done. The diviner, after throwing 

 his dice, worked himself into a state of ecstacy, in which he 

 pretended to be in communication with the Barimo. He then 

 gave the oracular response, that the child was being killed by 

 the spirit of a Portuguese trader who once lived at Cassange. 

 The case was this : — On the death of the trader the Portuguese 

 merchants held a sale among themselves of the goods of the 

 deceased, and accounted for them to the creditors at Loanda. 

 The natives, not understanding the nature of mercantile trans- 



