70 Field Museum oe Natural History — Anth., Vol. XII. 



above the fire until roasted. This primitive paper bag cooking yields 

 a most excellent dish. 



Grasshoppers are relished, and are secured in the following manner: 

 A clear grass spot is selected and several deep holes are dug in one end. 

 Back of them, and leading toward them, is a high tight fence made 

 in a V. By beating the grass with boughs as they walk toward the 

 trap, the people drive the grasshoppers before them until they are 

 finally forced into the pit, from w r hich they are collected by the bushel. 



I was told that meat w r as sometimes salted, dried, and stored away 

 fcr future use. The climate seems to be absolutely opposed to such 

 foresight, and the one time that I saw the process being used, the odors 

 were such that I beat a hasty retreat and chcse to accept, without 

 proof, the verdict of the natives, that venison thus prepared was excel- 

 lent. 



Of almost as much importance as food is the use of the betel or areca 

 nut, 1 which is chewed almost constantly by young and old of both sexes. 

 The nut is divided into quarters and a piece of buyo leaf" is wrapped 

 about each bit. To this is added a little lime and a pinch of tobacco, 

 and it is ready for the mouth. The resultant deep red saliva is dis- 

 tributed indiscriminately on the floor, walls, and furniture where it 

 leaves a permanent stain. To hold the materials necessary for this 

 practice brass betel nut boxes, secured from the Moro or of their own 

 manufacture, as well as plaited grass boxes and pouches are constantly 

 carried (Plates XVIIa and XLJ). The brass boxes generally have 

 three compartments; the first for nuts, the second for leaves and 

 tobacco, and the third for lime. Lime is also carried in small bamboo 

 tubes (Fig. 14), in the decoration of which a great deal of time is con- 

 sumed. The open end is fitted with a rattan sifter so that the powder 

 is distributed evenly on the nut and leaf. 



Aged persons and those whose teeth have been so mutilated that 

 they cannot chew T , make use of an outfit which includes a small mortar 

 and pestle (Plate XVIIb). Cutting open green betel nuts, the chewer 

 wraps the pieces in leaves and, after adding a liberal supply of lime, 

 mashes them in the mortar until all are reduced to a soft mass. 



Lime is secured by placing snail shells in a fire, from which they are 

 taken while hot and dropped into cold water. They can then be 

 crushed into powder with the fingers. 



Although the Bagobo raises a considerable quantity of tobacco he 

 seldom, if ever, smokes it unless the leaf is furnished him, already pre- 



1 Catechu L. 

 - Piper betel L. 



