| caption: |
chapter one - introduction |
| caption: |
the Western Nzemi; general features and western influence, about 1,000 |
| note: |
footnotes indicated by boxes within square brackets |
| text: |
The Western Nzemi inhabit the relatively low and hot plateau-land west of Haflong. They number approximately 1,000. They represent a late migration of Northern Nzemi driven out by Angami pressure in the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century. Their costume and dialect resemble those of the Northern Nzemi villages rather than those of the intervening Central Nzemi, and like the Northern Nzemi, they call themselves Nzemi. The Central Nzemi call them Nkhangmi, the 'Lower Men'. Their villages are small, ranging in size from 2 to 40 houses, and some are split into Pagan and Christian settlements. Because of the ease of travel on the level plateau the Western Angami have been subjected both to Mission influence and to the predominantly Hindu influences of immigrant graziers and the trading community in Haflong, the subdivisional headquarters, with whose market the Western Nzemi are in frequent contact. |
