e journey of ghosts to the spirit land.]

Such an outcast ghost, if he does not seek his revenge by prowling in
the neighbourhood and preying on society at large, will naturally
bethink himself of repairing to his long home in the under world. For
sooner or later the spirits of the dead congregate there. It is
especially when the flesh has quite mouldered away from his bones that
the ghost packs up his little traps and sets out for the better land.
The entrance to the abode of bliss is a cave to the west of Saddle
Mountain. Here in the gully there is a projecting tree-stump on which
the ghosts perch waiting for a favourable moment to jump into the mouth
of the cavern. When a slight earthquake is felt, a Kai man will often
say, "A ghost has just leaped from the tree into the cave; that is why
the earth is shaking." Down below the ghosts are received by Tulmeng,
lord of the nether world. Often he appears in a canoe to ferry them over
to the further shore. "Blood or wax?" is the laconic question which he
puts to the ghost on the bank. He means to say, "Were you killed or were
you done to death by magic?" For it is with wax that the sorcerer stops
up the fatal little tubes in which he encloses the souls of his enemies.
And the reason why the lord of the dead puts the question to the
newcomer is that the ghosts of the slain and the ghosts of the bewitched
dwell in separate places. Right in front of the land of souls rises a
high steep wall, which cannot be climbed even by ghosts. The spirits
have accordingly to make their way through it and thereupon find
themselves in their new abode. According to some Kai, before the ghosts
are admitted to ghost land they must swing to and fro on a rope and then
drop into water, where they are washed clean of bloodstains and all
impurity; after which they ascend, spick and span, the last slope to the
village of ghosts.

[Sidenote: Life of ghosts in the other world.]

Tulmeng has the reputation of being a very stern ruler in his weird
realm, but the Kai really know very little about him. He beats
refractory souls, and it is essential that every ghost should have his
ears and nose bored. The operation is very painful, and to escape it
most people take the precaution of having their ears and noses bored in
their lifetime. Life in the other world goes on just like life in this
one. Houses are built exactly like houses on earth, and there as here
pigs swarm in the streets. Fields are tilled a