52 Field Museum of Natural History — Anth., Vol. XII. 



The wilder members of this tribe are, to a certain extent, migratory, 

 moving their villages from one location to another according to the 

 demands of their mode of agriculture. Their rice fields are made in 

 mountain-side clearings, and as the ever present cogon grass begins to 

 invade the open land they substitute sweet potatoes or hemp. In time 

 even these lusty plants give way to the rank grass, and the people 

 find it easier to make new clearings in the forest than to combat the 

 pest with the primitive tools at their command. This results in some 

 new fields each year, and when these are at too great a distance from 

 the dwellings the old settlements are abandoned and new ones formed 

 at more convenient locations. 



It is probable that the total number belonging to this tribe does 

 not exceed ten thousand persons. 



INFLUENCE OF NEIGHBORS:— HISTORY. 



The influence of the neighboring tribes and of the white man on the 

 Bagobo has been considerable. The desire for women, slaves, and 

 loot, as well as the eagerness of individual warriors for distinction, has 

 caused many hostile raids to be made against neighboring tribes. 

 Similar motives have led others to attack them and thus there has 

 been, through a long period, a certain exchange of blood, customs, 

 and artifacts. Peaceful exchange of commodities has also been carried 

 on for many years along the borders of their territory. With the 

 advent of the Moro along the sea coast a brisk trade was opened 

 up and new industries introduced. There seems to have been little, if 

 any, intermarriage between these people, but their relations were 

 sufficiently close for the Moro to exert a marked influence on the 

 religious and civil life of the wilder tribe, and to cause them to in- 

 corporate into their language many new words and terms. 



The friendly relations with the Moro seem to have been broken off 

 upon the arrival and settlement of the Spaniards in Davao. The 

 newcomers were then at war with the followers of Mohammed and 

 soon succeeded in enlisting the Bagobo rulers in their cause. A Chinese 

 plate decorated with the picture of a large blue fish was offered for 

 each Moro head the tribesmen presented to the Spanish commander. 

 The desire for these trophies was sufficient soon to start a brisk trade 

 in heads, to judge from the number of these plates still to be seen 

 among the prized objects of the petty rulers. 



After the overthrow of Moro power on the coast, Jesuit missionaries 

 began their labors among the Bagobo, and later established their follow- 



1 Imperata koenigii. 



