. Mr. Taplin's account of the proceedings observed on
such an occasion is instructive. It runs thus: "The spirit of the dead
is not considered to have been appeased until his relatives have avenged
his death. They will kill the sorcerer who has caused it if they can
catch him; but generally they cannot catch him, and often do not wish
it. Most probably he belongs to some other tribe of the Narrinyeri.
Messengers pass between the tribes relative to the affair, and the
friends of the accused person at last formally curse the dead man and
all his dead relatives. This constitutes a _casus belli_. Arrangements
are forthwith made for a pitched battle, and the two tribes meet in
company with their respective allies. The tribe to which the dead man
belongs weep and make a great lamentation for him, and the opposing
tribe sets some fellows to dance about and play antics in derision of
their enemies. Then the whole tribe will set up a great laugh by way of
further provocation. If there is any other cause of animosity between
the tribes besides the matter of avenging the dead there will now be a
pretty severe fight with spears. If, however, the tribes have nothing
but the dead man to fight about, they will probably throw a few spears,
indulge in considerable abuse of each other, perhaps one or two will get
slightly wounded, and then some of the old men will declare that enough
has been done. The dead man is considered to have been appeased by the
efforts of his friends to avenge his death by fighting, and the two
tribes are friendly again. In such a case the fight is a mere
ceremony."[175] Thus among the Narrinyeri the duty of blood revenge was
often supposed to be sufficiently discharged by a sham fight performed
apparently for the satisfaction of the ghost, who was supposed to be
looking on and to be gratified by the sight of his friends hurling
spears at the author of his death. Merciful pretences of the same sort
have been practised by other savages in order to satisfy the vengeful
ghost without the effusion of blood. Examples of them will come before
us later on.[176]

[Sidenote: Magical virtue ascribed to the hair of the dead.]

However, the attitude of the Narrinyeri towards their dead was not
purely one of fear and aversion. They imagined that they could derive
certain benefits from their departed kinsfolk, and the channel through
which these benefits flowed was furnished by their hair. They cut off
the hair of the dead a