academt of soENCEsi DOMESTIC LIFE AND MARITAL RELATIONS 109 



expected, in view of the favor that he has received and the debt that he has incurred, to help 

 his father-in-law when called upon. If he should happen on a definite occasion to prove recalci- 

 trant, he is gently reminded of his debt and of the sacredness with which a good Manobo pays 

 it, and so he goes off on his errand and the matter is concluded. 



Remarriage takes place frequently, owing to the fact that a widow does not command so 

 high a price as a maiden and that she has something to say in the selection of her new husband. 

 She can not, however, be married if a funeral feast M for a near relative of the family is still 

 unfulfilled. 



There is absolutely no trace of a levirate system by which the nearest male kinsman must 

 marry his deceased brother's widow. On the contrary, a marriage with any relative's widow 

 is absolutely tabooed, and this taboo, as far as my observations warrant the assertion, is never 

 violated. 



MARRIED LIFE AND THE POSITION OF THE WIFE 



Married life appears to be one of mutual good understanding and kindliness. The hus- 

 band addresses his wife as budyag (wife) and leaves to her the management of the establishment 

 in everything except such little business transactions as may have to be carried on. The wife 

 gets the wood and water every day, toihng up and down the steep mountain sides. She goes off 

 to the farm once or twice a day and returns with her basket of camotes. In the meantime the 

 husband whittles out his bolo sheath or his lance shaft, or occasionally goes off on a fishing 

 expedition or a hunt, if the omens are good. Every once in awhile, especially during the winter 

 months, he sets up his wild boar traps, and they may keep him busy about two days a week. 

 Then comes the news of a wedding feast, two days' journey hence, and off he goes for perhaps a 

 week, or there may be a big question to settle in another part of the country and he must attend 

 the discussion because there is a relative of his involved; anyhow, it will end up with a big pig and 

 plenty of brew. So he goes away and has a roaring time, and comes back after a week with a 

 nice piece of pork and some betel nuts for his wife and tells her all about the doings. She bears 

 it all, makes her comments on it, and then goes to get the camotes for dinner, with never a com- 

 plaint as to her hard work. It is the custom of the tribe, and the institution of the great men of 

 bygone days, that the woman should toil and slave. 



I have known of very few domestic broils and have never known of a case of ill treatment, 

 except when in a drunken fit the husband wreaked his wrath on his wife. 



Faithfulness to the marriage tie is a remarkable trait in Manoboland, due to the stringent 

 code of morals upheld by the spear and the bolo. The few cases of adultery related to me among 

 the non-Christian Manobos were mere memories. I heard of one case of fornication just before 

 leaving the upper Agusan. It was narrated to me by a warrior chief of the upper Kati'il. 

 His fourth wife, a relative of the datu who figured in the case of wife capture described in this 

 chapter, had in the days of her maidenhood secretly fallen from grace, which fact she revealed 

 to her warrior husband, together with the name of the offender. The warrior chief thereupon 

 made a two-day march to Compostela and located the house of his enemy, publicly vowing 

 speedy vengeance. I visited the latter's house a few days after and found it in a state of defense, 

 a large clearing having been made, with a mass of felled trees, underbrush, and bamboo pegs 

 all around. This man was a Manobo of the Debabaon group who had spent many years under 

 the tuition of the older Christians of the Agusan Valley. 



Rape, incest, and other such abominations are practically unheard of. 



From what has been stated frequently throughout this monograph, it may be seen that the 

 position of the woman is merely that of a chattel. In moments of anger, which are not frequent, 

 the husband or the father-in-law addresses the object of his wrath as binotung, that is, purchased 

 one, chattel. A woman, the Man6bo will tell you, has no tribunal, or tHibund; 2l she was born 



13 Ka-ta-pu-san. 



« The meaning is that she has not enough brains to take part in the discussions held in the town halls, called in Spanish " tribunal," and erected 

 by the Spaniards in the various Christianized settlements (or the arbitration of judicial and administrative matters pertaining to the settlement. 



