Some
Bedouins do not eat the flesh: generally, however, it is considered a
delicacy, and the skulls and bones of these little animals lie strewed
around the kraals.
[24] The Somal hold the destruction of the "Tuka" next in religious merit
to that of the snake. They have a tradition that the crow, originally
white, became black for his sins. When the Prophet and Abubekr were
concealed in the cave, the pigeon hid there from their pursuers: the crow,
on the contrary, sat screaming "ghar! ghar!" (the cave! the cave!) upon
which Mohammed ordered him into eternal mourning, and ever to repeat the
traitorous words.
There are several species of crows in this part of Africa. Besides the
large-beaked bird of the Harar Hills, I found the common European variety,
with, however, the breast feathers white tipped in small semicircles as
far as the abdomen. The little "king-crow" of India is common: its bright
red eye and purplish plume render it a conspicuous object as it perches
upon the tall camel's back or clings to waving plants.
[25] The Waraba or Durwa is, according to Mr. Blyth, the distinguished
naturalist, now Curator of the Asiatic Society's Museum at Calcutta, the
Canis pictus seu venaticus (Lycaon pictus or Wilde Honde of the Cape
Boers). It seems to be the Chien Sauvage or Cynhyene (Cynhyaena venatica)
of the French traveller M. Delegorgue, who in his "Voyage dans l'Afrique
Australe," minutely and diffusely describes it.
