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THE NIMANGKI SOCIETY 307
stamp rhythmically and one of the others present cries out:
" W&—.¢-—ei! NambaL—e—ei1 Mbwil ab-—e—e—¢1' I " Then
the old man breaks through the nisaim, and while all those present
give him a " whoop! " as a send-off he runs at full speed in the
direction oi the gongs. Just before he reaches them, he springs into
the air, with extended arms and fluttering hands, in imitation of
the nambnl hawk. He lands near the gongs, dances round them
once, and then speeds back to the mlseilu. Everyone once more
cries out " Mbwil all"; the men at the gongs beat a rapid
tattoo and then gradually change into a solemn introductory
rhythm. At this point those who have been forming the m'seiLu
cast down their coco-nut fronds, and the old man again runs
towards the gongs. Again he leaps with extended arms and
fluttering hands as he nears them ; but then the gongs change
to the rhythm lemilmd, and all those present swing into the
dance. '
It is now time to invest the candidate with a new hawk‘s
feather, a badge of all Nimangki grades. For this he pays his
introducer one pig, the two men circling round the gongs as
usual. The next pig to be paid is one to the old man who
represented the nambal hawk, for a netel muluwmi ï¬Ållet, which
the latter had been carrying in his hand throughout his dance,
and which he now gives to the candidate. When this transaction
is ï¬Ånished the candidate retires into the amel nitzmn and is
-painted with the designs oi his new rank—the same designs
iwhioh~were used to decorate the old man in the niseilu. When
ihoisieady, the gongs beat and he springs out and dances towards
-‘them.’ >He now tells a friend to go and ietch one of his—the
-ta.ndidate's—pigs. Meanwhile he himself takes a spear in his
Iright hand and a conch in his left; the spear he hands to one
‘of the introduoer’s " mates " the conch to another. These two
men and the candidate then dance round the gongs, return to
their ï¬Årst position and lay the conch and spear on the ground.
Two of the introducer‘s peers from another village now come
up and receive the conch and spear from one of the mates. Then
this man and the two peers dance round the gangs, just as the
candidate and the two mates had done, returning to their ï¬Årst
position and laying down both spear and conch. Three old
men of high rank now step forward; one picks up the spear,
another the conch, and the third remains empty~handed. As