Sentence:  Drought is the inherent vice of the climate of Africa, and the frequent destruction of the hopes of the husbandman which occurs from this cause, might have given origin to the function of "<WSD>Rainmaker</WSD>," among a less superstitious population. ... To procure rain, an ox is killed; the fat of it is chopped and mixed with different kinds of wood and leaves of trees; the whole are then burned. The secret of the business is to gain time by various artifices, until the <WSD>rainmaker</WSD> sees clouds arising in that direction from which rain generally comes. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  An African or Native American medicine man who seeks to induce rain through performing rituals.