au»wt or scbmhi DOMESTIC LIFE AND MAKITAL RELATIONS 103 



up, dipped in a mixture of red pepper, salt, and water and thrust, nolens volens, into the mouth 

 of the good fellow whom it is desired to honor. And it is not good etiquette to remove it. It 

 must be gorged at once and the fortunate man must proceed to reciprocate in the same way. 

 The brew is distributed in tumblerfuls or in bamboo joints holding about a tumblerful each. 

 To refuse the allotted portion would degrade one in the eyes of everyone, for here it is a sin to 

 be sober and a virtue to get drunk. Gluttony finds no place in a Manobo dictionary— one is 

 merely full, 7 but always ready to go on; friend divides his rice with friend, when he sees that 

 the latter's supply is getting low, and his own is immediately replenished by one of the women- 

 folk, or slaves that attend to the culinary work. Nor must one finish before anybody else. 

 It is not polite. Nothing must be left on the plate, a fact that each one makes clear by washing 

 the plate clean with water. 



The pandemonium increases in direct proportion as the brew diminishes. One's neighbor 

 may be yelling to somebody else at the other end of the house while the latter is trying at the 

 top of his voice to reach the fellow that sits far away from him. Goodnatured, though rather 

 inelegant, jokes and jests are howled at the bride, who coyly conceals herself behind a neighbor, 

 and at the bridegroom, who does not seem at all abashed. The women, who eat all together near 

 the hearth, carry on the same operations but in their own more gentle way, never falling under 

 the influence of the liquor. The meal is usually finished in about three hours, when the pig and 

 rice are exhausted. 



After a chew of betel nut, comes the supreme moment for payment, 8 ushered in by many a 

 "ho" and "ha," with another discussion. The tenor of this is that the father of the bridegroom 

 is not as well provided with goods 9 as he had desired to be, owing, let us say, to a failure to 

 obtain certain effects he had ordered from so-and-so, together with numerous other pretexts and 

 excuses that on the face of them are untrue. Pointing out his slaves, he descants on them; and 

 goes on to explain how much trouble he had to get them; he could not value them for less than 

 ^80 apiece. Or, if they are captives, he describes the fatigues of his march and the imminent 

 danger to which he was exposed during the attack, together with such other reasons, mostly 

 fictitious, as would tend to enhance their value and thereby avoid subsequent haggling. He then 

 delivers the other goods demanded. 10 Where two slaves had been asked he gives two kinds of 

 goods, 11 say a lance and a bolo, whereupon there is invariably a howl of dissatisfaction, according 

 to custom. But things are settled nicely either by granting a few plates or some such thing for a 

 solace, or by playing on the good will or simplicity of the person who objected. The distribution 

 is not completed in one day. Usually about one-third of the entire amount of goods is held over 

 with a view to observing if there is anyone who is not quite pleased with his portion, and also 

 for the purpose of keeping up their hopes. 



THE RECIPROCATORY PAYMENT AND BANQUET 



The following day, or whenever the payment has been completed, begins the reciprocatory 

 payment 12 in which the bride's relatives return to those of the bridegroom a certain amount of 

 goods varying in value, but approximately one-half of what has been paid as the marriage portion. 

 As a soother, they also kill a pig and right earnestly set about putting their new circle of relatives 

 in good humor. It may be noted that the duration of these feasts depends on the rapidity with 

 which the pig is dispatched. I have known a marriage feast to cover a period of seven days, 

 though it may be said that it is generally terminated the second day, at least in the case of less 

 well-to-do Manobos. 



The reciprocatory payment being successfully carried through, it now remains for the bride- 

 groom's relatives to give the farewell feast and carry off the bride. But it often happens that 

 the girl's relatives have ascertained that there are still a number of goods in the possession of 

 their new relatives and it is considered proper to secure them. 



7 Mahdnloi. ,0 By his cofather-in-law and relatives. 



' A'bat. ii Da-du-a no baiyo no ming-gad. 



• Ming-gad. » Su-bak. 



