ios Field Museum or Natural History — Anth., Vol. XII. 



( )thcr spirits were named and described by individuals, but as they 

 are not generally accepted by the people of the tribe they are not 

 mentioned here. 



The stars, thunder and lightning, and similar phenomena are 

 generally considered as "lights or signs" belonging to the spirits, yet 

 one frequently hears hazy tales such as that "the constellation Marara 

 is a one-legged and one-armed man who sometimes causes cloudy 

 weather at planting time so that people may not see his deformities," 

 or we are told that "the sun was placed in the sky by the creator, an 1 

 on it lives an evil spirit who sometimes kills people. The sun is moved 

 about by the wind;" again, "the sun and moon were once married and 

 all the stars are their children." 



Despite repeated assertions by previous writers that the Bagobo are 

 fire-worshippers no evidence was obtained during our visit to support 

 the statement. The older people insisted that it was not a spirit and 

 that no offerings were ever made to it. One maballan stated that fire 

 was injurious to a woman in her periods and hence it was best for her 

 not to cook at such times; she was also of the opinion that fire was of 

 two kinds, good and bad, and hence might belong to both good and 

 bad spirits. 



A common method used by the spirits to communicate with mortals 

 is through the call of the limokon. 1 All the people know the meaning 

 of its calls and all respect its warnings. If a man is starting to buy 

 or trade for an article and this bird gives its warning the sale is stopped. 

 Should the limokon call when a person is on the trail he at once doubles 

 his fist and thrusts it in the direction from which the warning comes. 

 If it becomes necessary to point backwards, it is a signal to return, or 

 should the arm point directly in front it is certain that danger is there, 

 and it is best to turn back and avoid it. When it is not clear from 

 whence the note came, the traveler looks toward the right side. If he 

 sees there strong, sturdy trees, he knows that all is well, but if they are 

 cut or weaklings, he should use great care to avoid impending danger. 

 When questioned as to why one should look only to the right, an old 

 man quickly replied: "The right side belongs to you; the left side is 

 bad and belongs to someone else." 



Sneezing is a bad omen, and should a person sneeze when about 

 to undertake a journey, he knows that it is a warning of danger, and 

 will delay until another time. 



Certain charms, or actions, are of value either in warding off evil 

 spirits, in causing trouble or death to an enemy, or in gaining an ad- 



1 See p. 63, note. 



