academy of sciences] SUR vEY OF MATERIAL AND SOCIOLOGICAL CULTURE 21 



Parturition is effected almost invariably without any difficulty, the umbilical cord is cut 

 usually with a bamboo sliver, the mother sits up to prevent a reflux of the afterbirth into the 

 womb, the child is washed, and the operation is over. If the mother can not suckle her child it is 

 nourished with rice water, sugar cane juice, and other light food, but is not given to another to be 

 suckled. In a few days after her delivery the mother is up and back at her work. A little birth 

 party takes place soon after the birth in which the midwife receives a slight guerdon for her 

 services. 



The child is named, without any ceremony, after some ancestor or famous Manobo, or oc- 

 casionally receives a name indicative of something which happened at the time of the birth. He 

 is treated with the greatest tenderness and lack of restraint. As he grows up he learns the ways 

 of the forest, and about the age of 14 he is a full-fledged little man. If the child is a girl, she helps 

 her mother from the first moment that she is able to be of service. 



Birth anomalies are rare. I have seen several albinos and several people who might be called 

 in a loose sense hermaphrodites. 



Medicine, sickness, and death. — The Manobo attributes some twelve bodily ailments to 

 natural causes, and for the cure of such he believes in the efficacy of about as many herbs and 

 roots. For wounds, tobacco juice and the black residue of the smoking pipe are considered a 

 good remedy. Betel nut and betel leaf are a very common cure for pains in the stomach. The 

 gall of snakes has a potency of its own for the same trouble. 



As a rule, all natural remedies are applied externally until such time as they prove unavailing, 

 and the symptoms assume a more serious aspect. 



Whenever an ailment is of a fingering character, especially if accompanied by increasing 

 emaciation and not classifiable as one of the familiar maladies, it is attributed to magic causes. 

 Certain individuals may have the reputation of being able to compound various noxious sub- 

 stances, the taking of which, it is believed, may superinduce lingering ailments. The pulverized 

 bone from a corpse or the blood of a woman, dried in the sun and exposed to the light of the moon 

 and then mixed with finely cut human hair, are example of such compounds. Other magic 

 medicines exist such as aphrodisiacs, and bezoar stones. When it is decided that the ailment 

 is due to any of these magic causes, neutralizing methods must be resorted to, the nature and 

 application of which are very secret. 



Epidemics are attributed to the malignancy of sea demons, and by way of propitiation, and 

 inducement to these plague spirits to hurry off with their epidemic, offerings placed on raftlets 

 are launched in the nearest rivers. 



As soon as it is realized that the malady is beyond the power of natural or of magic resources, 

 recourse is had to the deities or good spirits, as will be explained under the resume' of religion. 

 Upon the occurrence of a death, wild scenes frequently take place, the relatives being unable to 

 restrain their grief. Signals, by bamboo horns, are often boomed out to neighboring settlements 

 to warn them to be on their guard. War raids to settle old feuds are sometimes decided upon on 

 these occasions, so all trails leading to the house are closed. 



The corpse is washed and laid out on its back in its best apparel. The coffin is a hexagonal 

 piece of wood made out of a log with a three-faced lid also hewn out of a log. The body is often 

 wrapped in a grass mat before being laid in the coffin. 



Before decomposition sets in, the coffin is borne away by men amidst great grief and loud 

 shouts. A high piece of ground is selected in a remote part of the forest for the last resting place 

 of the deceased. A shallow grave is dug, a roof of thatch is erected, a potful of boiled rice is 

 placed over the grave as a last collation for the departed one, and the burial party hurry back in 

 fear to the settlement. As soon as they can provide themselves with temporary huts they almost 

 always abandon the settlement. 



Social and family enjoyments. — Music, instrumental and vocal, and dancing are the two great 

 sources of domestic enjoyment. There are several kinds of instruments, which I will mention 

 in the order of their importance and frequency of use. The drum, the gong, four varieties of 

 flutes, four species of guitars, a violin, and a jew's-harp. With the exception of the first two, the 



