DANCING ON THE EQUATOR 



the breast, or round the waist, and sometimes bells are 

 worn on the ankles. Much time and care is devoted to 

 decorating their persons before the dance takes place. 

 The older a Moran, the more care he takes over his ap- 

 pearance, and in consequence he generally arrives some- 

 what later than the younger members of the party. As 

 for the women, their costume is exactly the same as that 

 which they wear at their work. The relationship of dress 

 represents the same priority to dance partnership as with 

 us but it belongs to the opposite sex. The male is as 

 highly decorated as the tropical bird while the woman 

 is content with her workaday goat skins. 



On the day previous to the M'goiyu dance, the women 

 folk collect a huge pile of firewood. These are generally 

 chips which have been formed when cleaving slabs of 

 Mutarakwa for the walls of their huts. This fuel pro- 

 vides warmth, light, protection and incense. The wood 

 is stacked in the centre of the village and as soon as it 

 is dark a circle of camp fires is lit. This is always in pro- 

 portion to the number of people who have assembled. 



In the middle of the M'goiyu season, a huge circle of 

 camp fires — perhaps twenty in all — is often kindled. 

 Five hundred couples may take part in this dance. First 

 the younger men form a circle round the camp fires, 

 while the girls walk round and come to a standstill in 

 front of the partners of their choice. The woman 

 chooses her partner, the highly decorated male seeking 

 to make himself as attractive as possible to the opposite 



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