Then they say: ‘_isilimela_ is renewed’, ‘the year is renewed’, and they begin to dig[576]. Among the Thonga the Pleiades are the only constellation which bears a name--_shirimelo_; it rises in July and August, when tilling is resumed[577]. At the southern corner of Lake Nyassa the rising of the Pleiades early in the evening gives the sign to begin the hoeing of the ground[578]. The Kikuyu of British East Africa say that this constellation is the mark in the heavens to shew the people when to plant their crops: they plant when it is in a certain position early in the night. A dancing-song begins:--“When the Pleiades meet the moon, the people assemble etc.”[579] The Masai know whether it will rain or not according to the appearance or non-appearance of the Pleiades, and the last month of the period of the great rains, in which their evening setting falls, is named after them. When they are no longer visible the people know that the great rains are over, and they are not seen again until the following season--the season of showers--has come to an end. The Masai call the sword of Orion ‘the Old Men’, and his belt ‘the Widows’ who follow them[580]. To the Isubu in Kamerun the constellations, which they combine in certain groups, shew the course of the seasons; such constellations are e. g. _tole a nyou_, the _tole_ of the elephants, in contradistinction to _tole a moto_, the _tole_ of men; another is ‘the Orphans’. These are summer signs, they are all found in the eastern part of the sky[581]. In Sierra Leone the proper time for planting is shewn by the position in which the Pleiades are to be seen at sunset: the Bullom do not observe or name any other stars[582]. The Bakongo associate these stars with the rainy season: the rain comes from them, they are called ‘the Caretakers-who-guard-the-rain’[583]. When the constellation _kole_[584] reaches the meridian, the Bangala plant more than at any other time, because the rains, though not infrequent, are then fairly certain[585]. In Loango Sirius is called ‘the Rain-star’, since as long as he is visible the rains persist. Alongside of him Orion is regarded as a sign of the rainy season[586]. In French Guinea the people know that when the winter constellations appear above the horizon, indicating that the end of the rains has come, it is the time of harvest[587].