the hut, and there heats a rock-crystal in a calabash.​[995] In order to procure rain the Wagogo of German East Africa sacrifice black fowls, black sheep, and black cattle at the {p291} graves of dead ancestors, and the rain-maker wears black clothes during the rainy season.​[996] Among the Matabele the rain-charm employed by sorcerers was made from the blood and gall of a black ox.​[997] In a district of Sumatra, in order to procure rain, all the women of the village, scantily clad, go to the river, wade into it, and splash each other with the water. A black cat is thrown into the stream and made to swim about for a while, then allowed to escape to the bank, pursued by the splashing of the women.​[998] The Garos of Assam offer a black goat on the top of a very high mountain in time of drought.​[999] In all these cases the colour of the animal is part of the charm; being black, it will darken the sky with rain-clouds. So the Bechuanas burn the stomach of an ox at evening, because they say, “The black smoke will gather the clouds and cause the rain to come.”​[1000] The Timorese sacrifice a black pig to the Earth-goddess for rain, a white or red one to the Sun-god for sunshine.​[1001] The Angoni, a tribe of Zulu descent to the north of the Zambesi, sacrifice a black ox for rain and a white one for fine weather.​[1002] Among the high mountains of Japan there is a district in which, if rain has not fallen for a long time, a party of villagers goes in procession to the bed of a mountain torrent, headed by a priest, who leads a black dog. At the chosen spot they tether the beast to a stone, and make it a target for their bullets and arrows. When its life-blood bespatters the rocks, the peasants throw down their weapons and lift up their voices in supplication to the dragon divinity of the {p292} stream, exhorting him to send down forthwith a shower to cleanse the spot from its defilement. Custom has prescribed that on these occasions the colour of the victim shall be black, as an emblem of the wished-for rain-clouds. But if fine weather is wanted, the victim must be white, without a spot.​[1003] [Sidenote: Frogs and toads in relation to rain. Frogs used in rain-charms.]