264 The Tinguian 



leg. They lift the victim from the floor, and with the head-axes, which 

 they hold in their free hands, they cut it in two. In this way the 

 mortals pay the spirits for their share in the child, and henceforth 

 they have no claims to it. The spirit and the old man drink basi, to 

 cement their friendship ; and the ceremony is at an end. 



The small pots and other objects used as offerings are placed on 

 the sacred blanket in one corner of the room, where they remain until 

 the child is born, "so that all the -spirits may know that Glpas has been 

 held." A portion of the slaughtered animals and some small present 

 are given to the mediums, who then depart. 



In San Juan a cloth is placed on the floor, and on it are laid betel- 

 nuts, four beads, and a lead sinker. These are divided with the 

 head-axe in the same manner as the pig, but the medium retains 

 for her own use the share given to the spirits. 



In the better class of dwellings, constructed of boards, there is 

 generally a small section in one corner, where the flooring is of 

 bamboo ; and it is here that the delivery takes place, but in the ordinary 

 dwellings there is no specified location. 



The patient is in a kneeling or squatting position with her hands 

 on a rope or bamboo rod, which is suspended from a rafter about the 

 height of her shoulders. 1 She draws on this, while one or more old 

 women, skilled in matters pertaining to childbirth, knead and press 

 down on the abdomen, and finally remove the child. The naval cord 

 is cut with a bamboo knife, 2 and is tied with bark cloth. Should the 

 delivery be hard, a pig will be killed beneath the house, and its blood 

 and flesh offered to the spirits, in order to gain their aid. 



If the child is apparently still-born, the midwife places a Chinese 

 dish close to its ear, and strikes against it several times with a lead 

 sinker. If this fails to gain a response, the body is wrapped in a 

 cloth, and is soon buried beneath the house. There is no belief here, 

 as is common in many other parts of the Philippines, that the spirits 

 of unborn or still-born children form the chief recruits for the army 

 of evil spirits. 



The after-birth is placed in a small jar together with bamboo 

 .leaves, "so that the child will grow like that lusty plant," and is then 



1 This is also the method of delivery among the Kayan of Borneo. See Hose 

 and McDougall, The Pagan Tribes of Borneo, Vol. II, p. 154 (London, 1912), 

 also Cole, The Wild Tribes of Davao District, Mindanao (Field Museum of 

 Natural History, Vol. XII. No. 2, p. 100). Skeat (Malay Magic, p. 334, London, 

 1900) describes a similar method among the Malay. 



2 Among the Bukidnon and Bila-an of Mindanao a bamboo blade is always 

 employed for this purpose. The same is true of the Kayan of Borneo. Hose 

 and McDougall, op. cit., Vol. II, p. 155; Cole, op. cit., p. 143. 



