I was explicitly told that if fighting breaks out between two lineages, then other lineages should intervene to stop it. One informant in Elbashï denied this. As far as Elbashï went he was at least realistic since, in the fighting reported there in the recent past, the whole village was split into two factions. But many others confirmed the traditional duty of intervention in the interests of peace even during a major clash. Yet such intervention is always ad hoc, and no formal or recognised procedure exists. It is unlikely to achieve more than the immediate separation of the contestants. The state of küs persists.
Vengeance likewise seems to lack a formal or recognised procedure. No one lays down even in theory who is responsible for carrying it out, or who is a proper victim of vengeance. On four occasions, two in each village, one of the principals in a dispute was the object of an attack, twice by day and twice by night. On one occasion the attacker was said to be unknown, but it seemed to be generally assumed that it was the man with whose son's betrothed the victim had eloped a year or two earlier. In the other three cases, the aggressor was also definitely a principal. Premeditated attacks on close agnates of the principals are said to be within the rules, but in fact they did not happen to my knowledge. On the other hand, if two lineages are in a state of küs, any minor quarrels involving members of the two sides will easily lead to fresh violence.
Feuding between lineages is a matter of years; in theory, of generations. Acts of violence are often separated by long periods of uneventful küs. It is therefore impossible to unearth reliable details in a stay of a few months, particularly as people are very unwilling to discuss quarrels and fights, and when they do talk, they give highly tendentious accounts. Even in Sakaltutan, in spite of considerable knowledge of the village people, I found the complexity of quarrels and alliances baffling.
The largest lineage in Sakaltutan, V lineage, had two quarrels in progress, one with S lineage, and another with M lineage (p. 162). Both were of long standing, and both