THE ATNINGA OR AVENGING PARTY

Any death which is not clearly due to a wound received during a fight, or to an accident–that is, any death due to what we call “ natural causes ”–is a mystery to the native because he has no conception of illness as due to disease. He has to find some satisfactory explanation, and has come to the conclusion that any such death, or any illness, is the result of evil magic of some kind. The culprit who is guilty of putting this evil into the patient may be either a human being or one of the spirits. Only a medicine man who is himself very strong in magic has the slightest chance of treating successfully a patient suffering from the evil magic of a spirit. There is however a better chance of recovery if the cause of illness be a poison bone or stick implanted in the body by a human being. If the medicine man be successful, the recovered patient ascertains who it was who “ gave him the bone ” and retaliates when he feels able to do so. If death results–that is, if the evil magic be too potent for the medicine man–then, sooner or later, the relatives discover who placed the magic in the dead man's body and an avenging party, called “ Atninga ” by the Arunta natives, is organised.