[Note: this transcription was produced by an automatic OCR engine]

THE NIMANGKI AND NELEMEW 36!
some with ï¬Åbre tassels hanging from them. In their hair a bunch
of fowls' feathers or a single ï¬Åne long feather was thrust, and roimd
their foreheads, dusted white with lime or French face powder,
they bound blue or red silk handkerchiefs. Some painted half the
face black, while others put dabs of powder on the cheeks.
“Their decoration being completed, the men emerged again,
and, each providing himself with a short cane, all gathered round
the principal gong. The women were not present, for they too
had retired after the pig—distribution to adorn themselves, and
did not return to the dancing ground until after dark. When the
rhythm of the dance had been begun on the gangs, an old man in
the group standing around them stepped forth and began to strike
the deoorated gong with his cane. As he did so he ‘lilted' from
one foot to another, in time with the gently pulsing gongs, singing
the while in a clear, high voice, the introductory part of one of
the songs of the dance. Gradually all took up the striking of the
gong and the ‘lilting’ ; the pulse of the gongs hecame louder and
more staccato ; the old man ï¬Ånished the introduction, and with a
magniï¬Åcent burst all broke into the song—a kind of chanty.
“ In beating the decorated gong with the canes the painted
face and the fowl were especially hit, and, of course, very much
damaged and destroyed in the process. This seems rather
paradoxical. The heating, stoning, spearing, or shooting of arrows
at sacred objects is prominent in the ceremonial of the Nalawan
and Nevinbur at South-West Bay and in the Lapas, while in the
Nimangki of the east coast part of the normal ritual is the breaking
of a house in which all dance. In the last instance the explanation
was given that it was done from sheer joy. Witnessing-the beating
of the beautiful ‘ sugar-iced ’ face of the gong at Nernwelew, this
explanation recurred to me forcibly, for it was clear that the
dancers were in a very ecstasy of delight, throwing themselves from
side to side and shrieking with uncontrollable, joyous excitement.
They were smashing the paint off the face they had shown rne
with such pride a little time before, apparently from sheer joy in
it. The whole spirit of the night was that of carnival, or of a
fancy-dress ball.
“ As the last evening light faded, ï¬Åres were lit by the dancing
place and on the trees around were hung lanterns some five feet
or more above the ground. Overhead, beyond the scarlet blossomed
coral trees, the stars carne out one by one at ï¬Årst, then suddenly
in hundreds, and the tropical night fell softly, encircling the ï¬Åres
and the dancers, till the ground became a ring of flame, set in the
darkness of the surrounding trees. A procession of torch-hearers
entered, carrying their lighted bamboos aloft and sloping before
them like lances. They divided in two and passed round the
dancing ground in opposite directions, so as to form an outer and
an inner ring, circling clock-wise and counter clock-wise, moving
solemnly and festally to the slow rhythm of the gongs."
Here the account breaks off, and we must leave the company
dancing through the night.