September, 19 13. Wild Tribes of Davao District — Cole. 203 



the belief that the right side of the body is under the care of good 

 influences and the left subject to the bad, is well nigh universal in the 

 District. 



In conclusion note should be made of oft repeated assertions to the 

 effect that a part of the people of Davao District are white, and that 

 they are also cannibals and headhunters. The first can be dismissed 

 with the statement that so far as the writer has been able to observe 

 or to learn from trustworthy sources, there is no justification for such 

 a story. It can be just as positively stated that neither the Mandaya 

 nor any other tribe here described practice cannabalism. Warriors 

 do eat a part of the livers and hearts of men who have shown great 

 valor, the eaters thus securing some of the good qualities of the victims. 

 The Kulaman warriors always taste of the liver of the slain "in order 

 to become like Mandalangan," but they expressed the greatest disgust 

 when it was suggested that the balance of the body might make good 

 food. 



While it is true that the Kulaman take the heads, and sometimes 

 the arms, 1 of slain foes, and that the same custom is sometimes followed 

 by individual warriors of the other tribes, head-hunting for the sake of 

 the trophy is not practiced here, as is the case in Northern Luzon. 

 The skull or other portions of the body are kept only long enough to 

 prove the murder, or until they can be mutilated by the women and 

 children, "who thus become brave." 



1 This is also the custom of the Bukidnon. 



