148 THE MANOBOS OF MINDANAO— GARVAN fMEMO fvo£ A xxu£ 



DEBTS AND SEXUAL INFRINGEMENTS 



Long-continued failure to pay a debt is very frequently the remote cause of war. This is 

 easy to understand if we consider the sacredness with which debts are regarded in Manoboland. 

 An excessive delay in meeting obligations gives rise to hot and hasty words on the part of the 

 creditor; the debtor takes umbrage and retorts, a quarrel with bolos ensues, thereby giving rise 

 to a feud that, under favorable conditions, may continue for generations with its fierce mutual 

 reprisals. A feature that serves to increase the number of these financial bickerings is the fact 

 that questions of indebtedness are almost invariably discussed while drinking is going on and 

 as a result, according to an immemorial rule the world over, the creditor frequently indulges in 

 personalities. 



Sexual infringements are a cause of war. Only one case passed under my personal notice 

 but instances of olden days were related to me. There is no doubt in my mind as to the result 

 of a serious sexual misdemeanor; it is death by the lance or the bolo for the offender without 

 much parleying, if one may give credence to the universal outspoken Manobo opinion on the 

 subject. 



INCEPTION OF WAR 



DECLARATION OF WAR 



No heralds go forth to announce to the enemy the coming conflict. On the contrary, the 

 greatest secrecy is maintained. If the grievance is a sudden and serious one, such as the death 

 of a clansman, a set of ambushers may be dispatched at the earliest moment that the omens are 

 found favorable. Or it may be decided to attack the settlement of the enemy in full force. 

 If the latter decision is reached, a party is sent out to reconnoiter the place of attack. All 

 information possible is obtained from neighbors of the enemy, and, if the reconnaissance shows 

 conditions favorable for an attack, the march is begun in due form. Should the reconnoitering 

 party, however, report unfavorably, the attack is put off until, after weeks, months, or years of 

 patient, but close, vigilance and inquiry, a favorable opportunity presents itself. 



Sometimes a bolder warrior chief who has a personal grievance may send a war message in 

 the shape of a fighting-bolo, 7 or of a lance with an abusive challenge, but this is rare, as far as I 

 have been able to ascertain. It is common, however, for the more famed war chiefs to keep their 

 personal enemies on the qui-vive, by periodic threats. "I will begin my march 10 nights from 

 now," "I will reap his rice," "I will eat his heart and liver," "He won't be able to sow rice for four 

 years, " "I need his wife to plant my camotes" — are samples of the messages that reach a clansman 

 and keep him and his family on some mountain pinnacle for many a long year till such time 

 as the threat is carried out and the posts of his house, all wreathed with secondary growth, tell 

 the grim tale of revenge. I have seen such posts scattered over the face of eastern Mindanao — 

 a memory of the dead. 



TIME FOR WAR 



The usual time for war is either on the occasion of death in the family or at the time of 

 the harvest season. The former is selected both to soften, by the joy of victory, the sorrow felt for 

 the loss of a dear relative, and to check the jubilation that the enemy would naturally feel and 

 frequently express on such an occasion. The latter is chosen for the purpose of destroying the 

 enemy's rice crop or at least of making it difficult for him to harvest it. 



War is undertaken at other times also. Thus a sudden and grievous provocation would 

 cause an expedition to start just as soon as the necessary number of warriors could be assembled, 

 and a favorable combination of omens obtained. 



It often happens, I have been told over and over again, that when an attack proves unsuc- 

 cessful, those who repelled the attack set out at once to surprise their enemies by a shower of 

 arrows while the latter are returning to their homes, or, if possible, reach the settlement before 

 them and massacre the defenseless women and children. 



» Li-kud-li-kud. 



