acadekt o» scikncks] TRE GREAT RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT OF 1908-1910 231 



assistants the movement spread among the Debabdons of the Salug country, among the Mafiggu- 

 afigans of the Manat and Salug districts and among the Manobos of the upper Agusan, the 

 Ba6bo, the Ihawan, and the Simulau Rivers. 



This great religious movement was known as "Tungud." 10 



ITS EXTERIOR CHARACTER AND GENERAL FEATURES 



When I arrived on the upper Agusan the movement was in full swing, and I had every oppor- 

 tunity to hear the messages and rumors from Libagdnon and to watch the proceedings of the 

 high priests and of their assistants. I was handicapped by my inability to follow the language 

 used in the sacred songs and supplications, but I had many of them interpreted to me. With 

 this exception the following statements as to the character of the movement are first hand. 



The first and most tangible feature o'f the revival was the lack of food. No rice nor taro 

 had been planted because of the Magbabaya's injunction, so that the whole population of the 

 upper Agusan and of the Mandaya country had been compelled to subsist for the months pre- 

 ceding my arrival on the taro that had already been planted and on the camote crop. Hence on 

 my arrival rice was so scarce that it cost me three days' wandering, no little amount of begging, 

 and a good round sum of money to procure a supply sufficient for my own needs. The scarcity 

 or utter lack of food was further made evident by the fact that on several occasions I had to 

 leave settlements because I was unable to get food. 



When in their homes the people showed fear at all hours, but especially during the night. 

 The fading of a tree in the forest, the rumbling of thunder, an earthquake, an untoward report 

 from Libagdnon, and similar tbings would draw from them the repetition, in low fearful tones, 

 of the mystic word "tungud," and would send them off in a hurry to the religious house. In 

 Compostela the people vehemently denied to the visiting Catholic missionary their adherence to 

 the new movement, but as he was leaving the town an earthquake occurred and the words "tun- 

 gud, tungud," broke from the lips of one of the most influential men in the town. 



Another and very noticeable feature of the movement, indicative of its profound influence 

 upon these people, was the cessation of all feuds and quarrels. After all that has been said on 

 the subject of Man6bos in general and their social institution of revenge in particular, one can 

 readfiy realize and greatly marvel at the paramount influence exerted by the great revival of 

 those two years. Bisayas and others more or less conversant with Manobo ways and character 

 were amazed at the wonderful effect which this religious movement exerted on these peoples, one 

 and all. From tribe to tribe, from settlement to settlement, from enemy to enemy, traveled 

 priests, assistants, everybody. Mafigguangans, who seldom or never visited Compostela, might 

 be found performing their religious services there. Some of them even went so far as to peneti'ate 

 into the almost inaccessible haunts of the upper Manorigao Mandayas, the hereditary and tru- 

 culent enemies of Compostela whom even the Catholic missionaries could never convert. Deba- 

 baons from the Sdlug-Libagdnon region went fearlessly over to the Karaga, Kasauman, and 

 Mandi districts and returned unscathed. Many a time in Compostela and other places I heard 

 it remarked concerning a particular individual that, were it not for the order of the Magbabaya 

 of Libagdnon to refrain from quarrels and to forego revenge, he would be killed. 



So great then was the sway of this religious movement that the natural law of vengeance 

 yielded to it and its adherents almost starved themselves for it. 



THE PRINCIPAL TENETS OF THE MOVEMENT 



NEW ORDER OF DEITIES 



In the first place the spirit that received a particular individual under his tutelary protec- 

 tion was either a new divinity communicable to others or one of a new class of divinities. I 

 incline to the latter interpretation as being more in accordance with general Manobo religious 



» I am unable to give any suggestion as to the meaning of this word, nor have I been able to find anyone, from high priests down, who pretended 

 to know its meaning. 



