106 THE MANCBOS OF MINDANAO— GARVAN [Mem0 [vo? a xxiii' 



tion " to recapture the girl or to collect the marriage payment would take place, I asked that I 

 might be allowed to accompany the party. 



We arrived at the house of the datu and found everything and everybody prepared for war. 

 This datu informed me that he anticipated trouble, as the Mangguangan was of a different breed, 

 being at times altogether unamenable to reason. During the rest of that day nothing occurred, 

 but no one ventured out of the clearing without a strong guard, and during the night the strictest 

 watch was maintained. The datu said that among Manobos and Mandayas a wife capture was 

 easy of arrangement and was never attended with any trouble, provided they had the wherewithal 

 to pay the marriage price, but that the Mangguangan was an unruly character and in a fit of 

 rage or drunkenness was liable to commit acts of atrocity even against his nearest relatives. 

 He cited the case of a Mangguangan from Salug who discovered the whereabouts of his son-in- 

 law and of the captured bride and killed them without further ado. 



About 2 a. m. we were disturbed from our slumbers by one of the watchers who had heard a 

 distinct crackling in the adjoining forest. This report brought everybody to his feet and pro- 

 voked a chorus of yells of intimidation, that never ceased till sunrise. 



About 6 a. m. we espied forms in the forest, approaching from all sides. When they, 

 some 60 altogether, had taken up their positions on the edge of the clearing wherein stood the 

 house, they sounded their weird and wild war whoop, 18 and four warriors, headed by the warrior 

 chief referred to, and armed with all the accouterments of war, rushed forward toward the house, 

 yelling, prancing around, defying, challenging, and cursing. The warrior chief speared one 

 of the two large pigs under the house and proceeded, aided by his three companions to cut down 

 the house posts, never ceasing to yell in the most stentorian voice I ever heard. At this 

 juncture the datu let down with a long strip of rattan a silver-banded lance, a silver-sheathed 

 war knife, and a silver-sheathed Mandaya dagger. As everybody was howling, it was difficult 

 to follow the tenor of conversation, but I observed that the warrior chief accepted the gift though 

 he did not apparently relax his fury. He jumped around, menacing, and animating his compan- 

 ions to fire the house. The datu kept letting down presents of lances, Mandaya cloth, pigs, and 

 other things until everyone of the assailants had received a token of his good will. Their fury 

 very visibly diminished, and the datu was finally able to hold a colloquy with his new cofather-in- 

 law, in which he persuaded him to come up into the house and hold a conference 19 over the matter. 

 The latter, after numerous reiterations that he would never enter the house except to chop heads 

 off, finally ascended the notched pole, followed by his braves. We of the house retired to the 

 further half, all armed, while the newcomers squatted in that portion of the house near the lad- 

 der. Then began the conference which lasted till breakfast was ready. It resembled in all 

 respects the usual marriage haggling, except that the warrior chief asseverated persistently that 

 the act of the datu's son was deception and robbery, and that only blood would atone for it. 

 His companions howled assent and clutching their bolos, half rose as if to begin a massacre. 

 They were invited to sit down and regale themselves, but that only made them howl all the 

 more. Finally the datu ordered out a stack of weapons and other presents, and made another 

 allotment to the visitors, in due proportion to relationship. This had a soothing effect and in- 

 duced them to drink copious draughts of sugarcane brew, which kept on soothing them more 

 and more as the end of the meal approached. During all this time special attention was paid 

 to the warrior chief, so that before long he was feeling so happy that he ordered his followers to 

 remove all weapons from then- persons, and began to feed huge chunks of half-raw hog meat into 

 the mouth of the datu according to the immemorial custom. 



After the feast I returned to the Agiisan but learned later that everything had been settled 

 amicably, the datu having provided a superabundance of wordly effects, in payment for the cap- 

 tured woman. Among them were two slaves valued at 11*30 apiece. 



« Duk-i-iu. (Mandaya, duk-tia). » Pa-wad-j&iwn. » BUa. 



