subject to the above condition. The women dance outside their villages,
and, as regards them, there is no pig qualification.

About a month before the date on which the feast is proposed to be
held, a formal invitation is sent out to the community which is to be
invited to it, and who, as above stated, have already been approached
informally in the matter. For this purpose a number, perhaps ten,
twenty, or thirty, of the men of the community giving the feast start
off, taking with them several bunches of croton leaves--one bunch
for each village of the invited community. These men, if the invited
community be some distance off, only carry the croton leaves as far
as some neighbouring community, probably about one day's journey off,
where they stay the night, and then return. During their progress,
and particularly as they arrive at their destination, they are all
singing. Then the men of this neighbouring community carry the croton
leaves a stage further; and so on till they reach their ultimate
destination. This may involve two or three sets of messengers, but
occasionally one or two of the original messengers may go the whole
way. These croton leaves are delivered to the chiefs of the several
clans of the invited community, and they are tied to the front central
posts of the village _emone_, the true _emone_ of the chiefs village,
and, as regards other villages, the _emone_ of the sub-chiefs. [69]

The exact date of the feast depends upon the guests, who may come in
a month after receiving the croton leaves, or may be later; and the
community giving the feast do not know on what date their guests will
arrive until news comes that they are actually on their way, though
in the meantime messengers will be passing backwards and forwards
and native wireless telegraphy (shouting from ridge to ridge) will
be employed.