70 A USTRALIA N ABORIGINES. 



porcupine.' The body of the supposed spell-thrower is removed to the camp, to be 

 eaten according to the custom described in the previous chapter. 



This ends the feud, as life has been taken for life ; but if the murderer 

 should e.scape, and should be known to the friends of the deceased, he gets notice 

 to appear and undergo the ordeal of spear-throwing at the first great meeting of 

 the tribes. 



If he pay no attention to the summons, two ' strong, active men,' called 

 Pseset psesets, accompanied by some friends, are ordered by the chief to visit the 

 camp where he is supposed to be concealed, and to arrest him. They approach 

 the camp about bedtime, and halt at a short distance from it. One of the Psetet 

 pseeets goes to one side of the camp, and howls in imitation of a wild dog. The 

 other, at the opposite side, answers him by imitating the cry of the kuurku owl. 

 These sounds bring the chief to the door of his wuurn to listen. One of the 

 Pseset pajEets then taps twice on a tree with his spear, or strikes two spears 

 together, as a signal that a friend wishes to speak to him. He then demands the 

 culprit ; but, as the demand is generally met by a denial of his being there, they 

 return to their friends, who have been waiting to hear the result. If they stiU 

 believe him to be concealed in the camp, they surround it at peep of day, 

 stamping, and making a hideous noise, to frighten the people in the camp. In 

 the meantime the chief, anticipating the second visit, has very likely aided the 

 culprit to escape while it is dark. When the Pseset pfesets and their friends 

 discover that the man is not in the camp, they freely express their anger and 

 disappointment ; but, without attempting to injure anyone, they start off at once 

 on the track of the fugitive. 



The deaths of adults caused by epidemics are not avenged, nor are the 

 natural deaths of boys before they have beards, or of girls before entering 

 womanhood, or of those who have lost their lives by accident, such as drowning, 

 falling off trees, snake bite, &c. 



When the body of an adult is found with the muscles of the back of the 

 neck ' slack,' and marks of blows on the breast, it is concluded that death has 

 been produced by strokes from a heavy club of quandong wood, called ' yuul 

 marrang,' ' wild hand.' A club of this kind is kept among the associated tribes 

 for the express purpose of killing criminals, and, as the quandong does not grow 

 in the Western District, this club is borrowed by the chiefs around when needed, 

 and especially when they visit tribes with the expectation of avenging death. 

 When a man has been killed by this club, the body is brought home and examined 



