If the victim were a stranger, the Bangal would not take the trouble to bring him back to life, but would leave him where he lay. But if he were some one whom he knew, he would do as described, and moreover he would be careful when laying him out, preparatory to operating on him, to place him in that direction in which the dead of his totem are buried.
The following account was given to me by one of the oldest of the Wotjobaluk people, who was one of the principal actors in it.
Before the white men came to the Wimmera River, a man died at a place beyond Lake Hindmarsh, from having his fat taken by a Bangal. My informant went out with a party of his friends into the bush surrounding the place where the dead man's camp was, and watched in the dark. He said that, after a time, they saw the figure of a man sneaking among the trees, and as he came nearer, they recognised him as the maternal uncle of the deceased. That is, they believed it to be the Gulkan-gulkan, the wraith, or spirit, of the suspected Bangal, sneaking to the camp where his victim lay. The brother of the murdered man struck at the Gulkan-gulkan, when it disappeared. It had just the appearance of a man, and carried its spear in rest in the throwing-stick, just as when he speared the victim, who was his sister's son, for his fat.
The belief that the Bangal always watches at the place where he has killed a victim is common to all the Wotjo tribes, and extends to their neighbours, the Jajaurung.
In the case mentioned, the relatives of the deceased, knowing who the murderer was, buried the body and made up a party to kill him. He was found near to where Nhill is now situated, and a false Wirriki, or messenger, a tribal brother of the deceased, was sent on ahead to the camp. The avengers followed, led by the brothers of the victim. It was arranged that the Wirriki should have three days' start in which to find the offender, and if possible to get him to go out hunting with him to a certain place. He, however, could not do this, and he met his party, and they agreed that they would surprise the camp at night. This
