weaved with buka roots. People must abandon witchcraft, incest and adultery. In return the spirits would sweep all European settlers into the sea. The Xhosa people would be able to replenish the granaries, and fill the kraals with more beautiful and healthier cattle. Obeying the prophecy During this time many Xhosa herds were plagued with "lung sickness", possibly introduced by European cattle. Mhlakaza did not believe her at first but when Nongqawuse described one of the men, Mhlakaza (himself a diviner) recognised the description as that of his dead brother, and became convinced she was telling the truth. Mhlakaza repeated the prophecy to Sarili. The cattle-killing frenzy affected not only the Gcaleka, Sarili's clan, but the whole of the Xhosa nation. Historians estimate that the Gcaleka killed between 300,000 and 400,000 head of cattle. Not all Xhosa people believed Nongqawuse's prophecies. A small minority, known as the amagogotya (stingy ones), refused to slaughter and neglect their crops, and this refusal was used by Nongqawuse to rationalize the failure of the prophecies over a period of fifteen months (April 1856–June 1857). Aftermath Nongqawuse predicted that the ancestors' promise would be fulfilled on February 18, 1857, when the sun would turn red. Initially, after the failure of Nongqawuse's prophecy, her followers blamed those who had not obeyed her instructions. They later turned against her. Chief Sarili visited the Gxarha River mouth, and spoke with Nongqawuse and Mhlakaza. When he returned, he announced that the New World would begin in eight days. On the eighth day the sun would rise, blood-red, and before setting again, there would be a huge thunderstorm, after which "the dead would arise". During the next eight days the cattle-killing rose to a climax. These prophecies also failed to come true. In the aftermath of the crisis, the population of British Kaffraria dropped from 105,000 to fewer than 27,000 due to the resulting famine. The chief of Bomvana handed Nongqawuse over to Major Gawler, and she stayed at his home for a period. One day Mrs. Gawler decided to dress her, along with the Mpongo prophetess Nonkosi, and have their portrait taken by a photographer. This is the widely circulated image of Nongqawuse with which most people are familiar. After her release, she lived on a farm in the Alexandria district of the eastern Cape. She died in 1898. Today, the valley where Nongqawuse alleged to have met the