Page:The Aborigines of Victoria and Riverina.djvu/104

99 always be a sad stumbling block in the way even of these means.

They have implicit belief in another spirit called Konikatnie, whose habitat is in the profound depths of the lakes and waterholes, or else in the dark, deep eddies of the rivers, from whence he only occasionally rises, and then only when he has a mission of evil on hand. The mere fact of his crossing the vision of any blackfellow (not being a bangal) is sudden death, so that unless it be the bangals no one can speak of him from personal observation.

If a blackfellow suddenly disappear from his tribe through being assassinated by some lurking foe, and his end is never discovered, by reason of the murderers having successfully hidden the body, the fatal presence of Konikatnie is unhesitatingly credited with the disappearance. The matter is therefore not inquired into to any great extent, but is merely put down as a tribal loss, and so forgotten.

The bangals duly impress upon their people the folly of too closely criticising the actions of what are even only supposed to pertain to the water spirit, as he is most impatient as regards interference, and entirely unforgiving.

It does occasionally happen that some too curious member of the tribe is caught prying rather closer into the mysteries of bangalism than the professor thereof has any thought of allowing. This always gives mortal offence; in fact, the death of the offender is the only means by which it can be wiped out; therefore the bangal lies in wait for the offender, and slays him by strangulation, which to the aborigines tells no tales as to the manner of his death. Of course the