188 THE MANOBOS OF MINDANAO— GARVAN Mem0 [vo? xxnt 



Almost invariably my watch, cornet, compass, and barometer were condemned as being the 

 work of malevolent spirits. Instances might be multiplied indefinitely, but the general conclu- 

 sion is that anything that suggests the unintelligible, the unusual, the suspected, the gloomy, 

 is at once attributed to inimical powers. Hence a crow that caws at night is thought to be an 

 evil spirit. The crashing of a falling tree in the forest is the struggle of mighty giants. The 

 rumbling of thunder, the flash of lightning, the tempest's blast, and all the other phenomena of 

 nature are the operations of unseen agencies. The darkness is peopled with hosts of spirits. 

 On the desolate rocks, in the untrodden jungle, on the dark mountain tops, in gloomy caves, 

 by mad torrents, in deep pools, dwell invisible powers whose enmity he must avoid or whose 

 good will he must court, or whose anger he must placate. 



Fear then seems to be the foundation of the Manobo's religious beliefs and observances. 

 Untutored as he is, he fails to understand occurrences which the average trained mind can easily 

 explain. On one occasion I was at the headwaters of the Abaga River, a tributary of the Tago 

 River. I had to cross the river at a point where a mighty rock stood in midstream, dividing the 

 liver in two. I noticed that each of my Manobo carriers deposited a little stone near an aper- 

 ture in the rock. I asked them why they had made their tribute to the spirit dweller of the rock, 

 and I could not convince them that the rock was not placed there by the spirit, but was a natural 

 result of the action of the water. They would never, they said, be able to return to the Agusan 

 unless they showed their good will to the spirit lord of Abaga. 



MEANS OF DETECTING SUPERNATURAL EVIL 



In all the concerns of life the Manobo must secure immunity from the ill will of the multi- 

 tudinous spirits that surround him. But this alone is not sufficient. He must be able to detect 

 future evil, otherwise how can he avoid it? His ancestors for long bygone generations, have 

 taught him how to foresee and avoid evil, for they have learned, often after bitter experience, 

 the signs of present and approaching evil and the means of effectively avoiding it. These 

 signs are embodied in a system of augury, that forms one of the most important parts of Manobo 

 religion. Hence, before all important undertakings, and, above all, whenever there is any 

 suspicion of bodily danger or any apprehension of supernatural ill will, the omens must be 

 sedulously consulted and the machinations of evil or of inimical spirits thereby detected. 



BELIEF IN AN HIERARCHY OF BENEFICENT AND MALIGNANT DEITIES 



Now it happens that at times these omens can not be observed, so that it might seem that 

 the Manobo is left exposed to, and defenseless against, a host of spirit enemies. 1 However, 

 he knows a means of defense, for the good old people of yore have handed down the belief that 

 there is an hierarchy of beneficent divinities called diudta that are ever ready to be his champions 

 against the powers of evil. The old, old, people found this faith justified and experienced the 

 help of the beneficent gods. Why shoidd not he? 



How then is he to communicate with these invisible champions? Evidently through 

 those who have been chosen by the deities themselves for that purpose — the order of priests 

 called baildn. And so, following out the practice of his forefathers, he has recourse to the 

 priests in more important concerns in which he can not otherwise ascertain the schemes of 

 malignant spirits or determine the pleasure of the gods. The priest, in answer to his call, 

 either by means of divination, or by ecstatic communion with his tutelary deity, or by appro- 

 priate offerings, learns the means to ward off the impending or suspected evil. 



Living in a "land of terror," as he had up to about 35 years ago, surrounded on all sides 

 by mortal enemies, and in constant warfare with them, the Manobo, like his forebears, felt the 

 necessity of having recourse to spiritual agents for protection against his enemies and for assist- 

 ance in conquering them. Herein is involved another feature of Manobo religion — the belief 

 in a multitude of warlike spirits called tagbusan with whom communication is held through 

 the mediation of warrior chiefs called bagdni. 



' Bisau. 



