After his possession experience Swaleyi left his dengu la nsomba (fish in a basket) and everything at Lirangwe market and went down on foot all the way from Blantyre to Ulongwe. When he arrived at Ulongwe he settled in Mpanga's village, bordering village headman Ligwangwa to the east and Kalimila's village
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to the west where .he recovered temporarily. It seems that during this time Swaleyi was not settled at one place but kept on moving between the old Bimbi and Mpanga's village. It was while he was in the old Bimbi village that one day Swaleyi climbed a mkuyu
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tree (sesamumi a n golense) . He stayed on the tree for a very short time and came down. Later on he went back to Mpanga's village. One day when Swaleyi was in Mpanga's village he became overpowered by the
spirits. He was excessively possessed and consequently ran away into the bush and climbed a njale tree -
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sterculia appendiculatar. The tree is forty metres high. It seems that originally the tree comprised one stem but now it has proliferated into several ones as time passed by. Akumbirika Mtsamila II is said to have climbed it in 1 9 2 7 . ^
Jilati biti Nedi of Kamwana village furnishes us with an eyewitness account of what she saw. She has this to say:
"I saw the present Bimbi Swaleyi Mkwanda on the njale tree at the time he became Bimbi. I was living in Kamwana village. From Kamwana village I went to see
Swaleyi Mkwanda's mother-in-law near Ligwangwa village to receive from her mankhwala wobelekela [Medicine for
child b e a r i n g ] . At that time I was still young. When I went to the village, to a great surprise of mine,
I saw a great commotion of people running to the njale tree. When I
asked what was going on, I was told that Swaleyi Mkwanda had become insane and that he had run into the bush and that he had climbed a njale tree. I saw many people running towards that
direction. I too went there running. I wanted to see for myself what was happening. There were very many people there from almost all the surrounding villages. It was as if a car accident had taken place for there were many spectators. People were just wondering what was happening
When Irreached the spot where the
tree s t o o d , I saw Swaleyi Mkwanda already on the tree high up. It was frightening and no one expected that Swaleyi could be in his right mind again. He was
holding himself tight on the tree between two branches. I never saw him climbing up and down. When he was on the tree he was not saying anything or shouting. He was very quiet but holding himself tight to the branch. At the time he was wearing a pair of trousers but
he was not wearing a shirt. He was' not foaming or doing anything. He made an awful sight. Many people were crying. I too was crying. I was crying because when I saw him on the tree I was
overpowered by great grief 1ligongo chaliji.i mpela chiwa [because it was d e a t h - l i k e ] .
I do remember that his wife stood at a distance perplexed w ith a sad face. I did not know what to do at the moment. I left the place before he came down from the tree. I do not know for how long he stayed on the tree but I heard that he stayed there that day and came down at night. From the tree he w ent to his h o u s e . During the night of the same day ku-Tambala, che Mposa, che Kasenjera and che ku-Maninji went about telling people to come to the village where Mkwanda was. On that day in order to show that he was Bimbi he mentioned the names of the
ancestral s p i r i t s . He mentioned the dates of the first rains but he warned people not to plant. He mentioned the date of good rain and for people to plant.
We now have a fair picture of what actually happened w hen Swaleyi Mkwanda was called to Bimbiship although there are big gaps of major events and ceremonies w hich might have taken place. According to Abasi Tambala, w hen Mkwanda climbed the njale tree the
former k u - M a l e k a n o , who had served under three Bimbis including the present one before he died, went t<b report immediately to che Masiwire, the former ku- Tambala. Che Masiwire in turn sent a word to Swaleyi
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asking him to come down and go to a h o u s e . It is not known for certain how long he stayed on the tree. But
according to Alexander Manjaule, Swaleyi stayed on the tree for the whole night and came down the following
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day in front of many people. Nandumbo Kasira, however, alleges that Swaleyi stayed on the tree for
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three days. Some of the elders who go to Bimbi for milawe went to see him there. These village headmen comprised Mmaniwa, Mkanda, Mposa, abiti Chilembwe, che Majawa, che Kamwanawe and che Kasenjera. Nandumbo goes further to indicate that when these village
headmen reached there they clapped their hands and asked Swaleyi Mkwanda why he climbed the tree. It was while on the tree that Swaleyi mentioned the names of the old spirits namely Mkulukutwa, Sokopic, Sakasaka, K a p e n d e k a ,
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M t a n g a l u w e m b e , Nyangu, and Mtsamila . While Swaleyi was still on the tree ku-Tambala sent che Mposa to report to Group Village Headman Nandumbo about this. Word was also sent to village headman Msungu to inform
chief Liwonde about this. Then ku-Tambala,.che Mposa and Nandumbo Kasira went to tell chief Kalembo about the o c c u r e n c e . When they reached at K a l e m b o 1s che Mposa told chief Kalembo saying: "We now have a new Bimbi. He is not yet in the village but still in the bush." Kalembo said: "Yes, I have heard about it." He did not take action. Nandumbo too did not go to see what was happening for himself. He left the matters
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