166 THE MANOBOS OF MINDANAO— GARVAN 



Other instances in which unintentional disrespect toward the person or property of anyone 

 was displayed might be adduced to profusion. It will suffice to say, however, that such acts as 

 the following, even when unintentional, lay the agent under a liability, the commercial value of 

 which must be determined by the circumstances and very frequently by formal arbitration: 

 Spitting upon, or otherwise soiling another; rudely seizing the person of another; unbecoming 

 treatment of another's property, especially of his clothes, as when, for instance, one steps upon 

 another's shirt; opening another's betel-nut knapsack or other concealed property; borrowing 

 things without formal announcement and due permission; going into certain places interdicted 

 by the owner, as bathing, for instance, in that part of a river which the owner has forbidden the 

 use of, 7 or visiting his rice granary; and using disrespectful language, even in joke, about 

 another, as, for instance, speaking of one as an insect, a Mangguaflgan. 8 



These interdictions are necessary among the Man6bos in order that in their social dealings 

 with one another proper deference may be shown toward their person and property. For were 

 a mere "pardon me" a sufficient reparation for an act, however unintentional, advantage might 

 be taken of it to inflict a thousand and one little incivilities that would serve to arouse the relent- 

 less spirit of revenge that centuries of feuds have instilled into the Manobo character. 



' Due, presumably, to the fact that the place, usually a deep pool, is the abode of a water wraith. 

 • This is a term of reproach when applied to a Manobo. 



