A woman who was passing into the bush in order to cut wood, saw a man feeding a wild-cat--the animal which is thought to be specially devoted to the evil spirit. Terrified at the sight, she tried to escape unseen; but the man perceived her, pushed the animal aside, and bribed her to be silent about what she had seen. However, she went home, and straightway told the chief’s head wife, who told her husband, and from that moment the man’s doom was fixed. Evidence against a supposed wizard is always plentiful, and on this occasion it was furnished liberally. One person had overheard a domestic quarrel, in which the man had beaten his eldest wife, and she threatened to accuse him of witchcraft; but he replied that she was as bad as himself, and that if he was executed, she would suffer the same fate. Another person had heard him say to the same wife, that they had not been found out, and that the accusers only wanted their corn. Both man and wife were summoned before the council, examined after the usual method, and, as a necessary consequence, executed on the spot. CHAPTER XIX. SUPERSTITION--_Concluded_. RAIN-MAKING -- EFFECTS OF A DROUGHT -- THE HIGHEST OFFICE OF A KAFFIR PROPHET, ITS REWARDS AND ITS PERILS -- HOW THE PROPHET “MAKES RAIN” -- INGENIOUS EVASIONS -- MR. MOFFATT’s ACCOUNT OF A RAIN-MAKER, AND HIS PROCEEDINGS -- SUPPOSED POWERS OF EUROPEANS -- KAFFIR PROPHETS IN 1857 -- PROGRESS OF THE WAR, AND GRADUAL REPULSE OF THE KAFFIRS -- KRELI, THE KAFFIR CHIEF, AND HIS ADVISERS -- STRANGE PROPHECY AND ITS RESULTS -- THE PROPHETS’ BELIEF IN THEIR OWN POWERS -- MORAL INFLUENCE OF THE PROPHETS -- THE CELEBRATED PROPHET MAKANNA AND HIS CAREER -- HIS RISE, CULMINATION, AND FALL -- MAKANNA’S GATHERING SONG -- TALISMANIC NECKLACE -- THE CHARM-STICK OF THE KAFFIRS -- WHY THE PROPHETS ARE ADVOCATES OF WAR -- A PROPHET WHO TOOK ADVICE. The highest and most important duty which falls to the lot of the prophets is that of rain-making. In Southern Africa, rain is the very life of the country; and, should it be delayed beyond the usual time, the dread of famine runs through the land. The Kaffirs certainly possess storehouses, but not of sufficient size to hold enough grain for the subsistence of a tribe throughout the year--nor, indeed, could the Kaffirs be able to grow enough food for such a purpose.