In 1854, the lungsickness disease spread through the cattle of the Xhosa. The disease arrived in South Africa with infected animals imported from the Netherlands by the settlers in 1853 to improve their herds. Widespread cattle deaths resulted. In April, 1856 two girls, one named Nongqawuse, went to scare birds out of the fields. When she returned, she told her uncle Mhlakaza that she had met three spirits at the bushes, and that they had told her that all cattle should be slaughtered, and their crops destroyed. On the day following the destruction, the dead Xhosa would return and help expel the whites. The ancestors would bring cattle with them to replace those that had been killed. Mhlakaza believed the prophecy, and repeated it to the chief Sarhili.