THE RAIN-MAKER. 443 



siasm, saw already their corn-fields floating in the breeze, and 

 their flocks and herds return lowing homeward by noonday 

 from the abundance of pasture. He told them how, in his 

 wrath, he had desolated the cities of the enemies of his peo- 

 ple by stretching forth his hand and commanding the clouds 

 to burst upon them ; how he had arrested the progress of a 

 powerful army by causing a flood to descend, which formed 

 a mighty river, and stayed their course. These, and many 

 other pretended displays of his power, were received as sober 

 truths, and the chief and the nobles gazed on him with silent 

 amazement The report of his fame spread like wildfire, 

 and the rulers of the neighboring tribes came to pay him 

 homage. 



In order to carry on the fraud, he would, when clouds ap- 

 peared, command the women neither to plant nor sow, les, 

 the seeds should be washed away. He would also requir^ 

 them to go to the fields, and gather certain roots and herbs, 

 with which he might light what appeared to the natives 

 mysterious fires. Elate with hope, they would go in crowds 

 to the hills and valleys, collect herbs, return to the town with 

 songs, and lay their gatherings at the magician's feet. With 

 these he would sometimes proceed to certain hills, and raise 

 smoke ; gladly would he have called up the wind also, if he 

 could have done so, well knowing that the latter is frequent- 

 ly the precursor of rain. He would select the time of new 

 and full moon for his purpose, aware that at those seasons 

 there was frequently a change in the atmosphere. But the 

 rain-maker found the clouds in these parts rather harder to 

 manage than those of the Bahurutsi country, whence he came. 



One day, as he was sound asleep, a shower fell, on which 

 one of the principal men entered his house to congratulate 

 him on the happy event ; but, to his utter amazement, he 

 found the magician totally insensible to what was transpir- 

 ing. "Hela ka rare! (halloo, by my father!) I thought you 

 were making rain," said the intruder. Arising from his 



