126 THE MANOBOS OF MINDANAO— GAR VAN 1Mem Tol N xxiil 



DEATH AND BURIAL OF ONE KILLED BY AN ENEMY, OF A WARRIOR CHIEF, AND OF A PRIEST 



As one killed by an enemy is thought to have suffered no ill through the machinations of 

 the evil ones, his death is considered a glorious one, and he is buried fearlessly. It sometimes 

 happens that, due to the distance between the place where he was killed and his home, it is found 

 impossible to convey his body to the settlement. He is, accordingly, buried in some convenient 

 spot in the forest without further ceremony. No mortuary feast is held for him because he 

 is supposed to enter the abode of his chief's war deity and there to await the coming of his 

 chief. 



I never witnessed the death of a warrior chief, but I made numerous inquiries from which 

 I gleaned the following particulars: The death and burial of a warrior chief seems not to differ 

 from that of an ordinary person except in the greater pomp displayed and in the absence of 

 fear. The tutelary war deities, either one or several, of the warrior chief are present and the 

 evil spirits are said to maintain a respectful distance. The war chief's spirit companions or souls, 

 which it is maintained are susceptible to injury at the hands of demons, are present and accom- 

 pany him to the home of his tutelar deities, as do also Mandalafigan or Mandayaflgan, the great 

 ancestral hero of Manoboland. 



The war chief has no special burial ground, nor any special mode of sepulture, though I 

 heard on the upper part of the Tago River, in the eastern part on Mindanao, that a certain 

 Onkui, an acquaintance of mine, had been buried in a dugout placed on the summit of a moun- 

 tain. This report appears from further investigation to be true. I have heard of a similar prac- 

 tice at the headwaters of the Ihawan River. 



There is no material difference between the mortuary customs at the death of a priest 

 and those practiced at that of a warrior chief. The tutelar deities of the priest are all present, 

 together with all their relatives and friends of the unseen world. His seven spirit companions 

 or souls are also present, so that little or no fear of the uncanny demons is exhibited by the 

 mourners. 



THE AFTER WORLD 



The land of Ibu is described as being somewhere down below the pillars of the earth. It 

 is said to resemble, in all particulars, this world of ours. Lofty mountains, lakes, rivers, and 

 plains, such as are seen in the Agiisan Valley, exist there. About halfway between this world 

 and the big country of Ibu, mistress of the lower world, is a large river described to me as being 

 as big as the Agiisan, but with red water. Here lives Manduyapit, the ferryman. From 

 Manduyapit's to Ibii's is said to be a journey of seven days along a good broad trail. Americans, 

 Spaniards, and peoples of other nations do not pass on the Man6bo's trail because each is said 

 to have its own, and the country of Ibu is said to be divided into districts, one for each nation. 



Hence, when the soul or spirit companion of the deceased finds that it is all alone, its fellow 

 spirit having been ruthlessly seized and devoured, it begins its long journey to Ibu's. One 

 week's travel brings it to the great red river. Here it is ferried across gratuitously by Man- 

 duyapit, and begins the second half of its journey. On arriving at Ibu's it naturally seeks the 

 spirits of its relatives, preferably its nearest relative, and takes up its abode with them. If 

 Manduyapit, for one reason or another, should refuse to ferry it across, it returns to its starting 

 place and plagues its former friends for aid. The priest is made aware of this and interprets 

 to the relatives of the returning one the reason for its failure to pass the great red river. 



If the souls of the deceased should desire to pay a visit to their living relatives, they invoke 

 the family deities and are borne back to the world on the wings of the wind, without having 

 to undergo the fatigues of the 14 days' journey. 



Ibii's great settlement is no gloomy Hades, nor, on the other hand, is it a paradise of celes- 

 tial joy. It is simply a continuation of the present life, except that all care and worry and trouble 

 are ended. The spirits of deceased earthly relatives take up their abode in one house and pass 

 a quiet existence under the mild sway of Ibu. There they eat, work, and even marry. Occa- 

 sionally, with the aid of the family deities with whom they can commune, they pay a brief 



