September, 19 13. Wied Tribes of Davao District — Cole. 61 



intervals, for several days until they become a shiny black. A second 

 method is to use a powder known as tapEl which is secured from the 

 lamed tree. The writer did not see this tree but, from the description 

 given of it, believes it to be the tamarindus. This powder is put on 

 leaves and is chewed. During the period of treatment the patient is 

 under certain restrictions. He may neither drink water, cook or eat 

 anything sour, nor may he attend a funeral. Should he do so his teeth 

 will have a poor color or be "sick." When the teeth have been properly 

 beautified the young man or woman is considered ready to enter society. 



Boys run about quite nude un- 

 til they are three or four years of 

 age. Until about the same age 

 the girls' sole garment is a little 

 pubic shield, cut from a coconut 

 shell and decorated with incised 

 lines filled with lime (Fig. 7). 

 Not infrequently bells are at- 

 tached to the sides of this "gar- 

 ment." When children do begin 

 to wear clothing their dress 

 differs in no respects from that 

 little girls' pubic Shields. of their elders. 



SKETCH OF FUNDAMENTAL RELIGIOUS BELIEFS. 



Although we shall treat religion more fully in a later paragraph, it 

 is desirable that we now gain an idea of those beliefs which enter inti- 

 mately into every activity of the daily life of this people. 



The Bagobo believes in a mighty company of superior beings who 

 exercise great control over the lives of men. Above all is Eugpamolak 

 Manobo, also called Manama, who was the first cause and creator 

 of all. Serving him is a vast number of spirits not malevolently in- 

 clined but capable of exacting punishment unless proper offerings and 

 other tokens of respect are accorded them. Below them is a horde of 

 low, mean spirits who delight to annoy mankind with mischievous 

 pranks, or even to bring sickness and disaster to them. To this class 

 generally belong the spirits who inhabit mountains, cliffs, rocks, trees, 

 rivers, and springs. Standing between these two types are the shades 

 of the dead who, after they have departed from this life, continue to 

 exercise considerable influence, for good or bad, over the living. 



