seventy-two persons. There
is much the same state of things in the Mariaw Siemship as regards
the electorate. In Rambrai, on a vacancy occurring in the Siemship,
three _lyngdohs_ and two _mantris_ assemble and decide who is to
be Siem. They then summon the sirdars of villages to meet them in
_durbar_ and obtain the approval of the latter to their nomination. If
the sirdars do not approve, the combined durbar than decides who is
to become Siem. In Nongspung there is a tradition that two sisters,
Ka Jah and Ka Jem, came to the village of Nongspung, which was then
ruled by two _lyngdohs_, and that the latter, having ascertained that
the two sisters were of royal birth, married them. They then travelled
to other villages and obtained the consent of the _lyngdohs_ of these
villages to the formation of all their villages into a State, of which
Nongspung became the capital, and over which U Sngi Shaflong, the son
of Ka Jem, was appointed Siem by the five principal _lyngdohs_. After
some generations the lyngdoh of Mairang with his villages became
subject to the Siem of Nongkhlaw, an event which finds mention in the
annals of the Nongkhlaw State as the conquest of the territory of the
"Black" Siem of Nongspung. Another _lyngdoh_ was appointed in place
of the one whose territory had been thus annexed.

In the Mawiong State the ancient custom was that six _basans_ appointed
the Siem, subject to the approval of the people of the Siemship. In
the Nobosohpoh State there are two Siem families, the "Black" and the
"White" from either of which it has apparently been the custom for the
people to select a Siem, as they wished. In Mawsynram the electors of
the Siem are the heads of the four principal clans in the State. On
a recent occasion, the electors being equally divided regarding the
appointment of a Siem, it was necessary to appeal to the people of
the State. In Langrin there are, as in Maharam and Nobosohpoh, two
main branches of the Siem family, i.e. the "Black" and the "White"
Siems. Here there is no special electoral body; all the adults of
the state have the right to vote at the election of a Siem. In Bhawal
State Siems are appointed by the heads of eight clans whose decision
is apparently final, provided that it is unanimous. In Malai-Sohmat
a bare majority of the heads of six clans would be sufficient for
the election of a Siem. Presumably both in Bhawal and Malai-Sohmat,
if the electors were equally divided, there would be a