The Cycle of Life 281 



That night the couple sleep with a pillow between them, 1 and 

 under the groom's pillow is a head-axe. Early in the morning, the 

 girl's mother or some other elderly female of her family awakens 

 them, and leads the way to the village spring. Arriving there, she 

 pours water in a coconut shell, which contains a cigar from which 

 the couple have drawn smoke; 2 she adds leaves of bamboo and 

 agiwas, and washes their faces with the liquid, "to show that they 

 now have all in common ; that the tobacco may keep them and their 

 children from becoming insane; that the agiwas will keep them in 

 health ; and the bamboo will make them strong and insure many child- 

 ren, the same as it has many sprouts." On their way home, the boy 

 cuts a dangla shrub (Vitex negundo L.) with his head-axe, and later 

 attaches it to the door of their home, "so that they may have many 

 children." 



Throughout that day the doors and windows are kept tightly 

 closed ; for should the young people see birds or chickens having inter- 

 course, they are apt to become insane, and their first born have sore 

 or crossed eyes. 



The next morning is known as sipslpot ("the watching"). Ac- 

 companied by the girl's parents, the couple goes to the father's fields. 

 On the way they carefully observe any signs which animals, birds, 

 or nature, may give them. When they reach the fields, the boy shows 

 his respect for his elders by cutting the grass along the borders with 

 his head-axe. This service also counteracts any bad sign which they 

 may have received that morning. He next takes a little of the soil 

 on his axe, and both he and his bride taste of it, "so that the ground 

 will yield good harvests" for them, and they will become rich. 8 



by the eating of rice from the same plate. Other instances of eating together, 

 as a part of the marriage ceremony in Malaysia, are given by Crawley. See 

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

 Natural History. Vol. XII, No. 2, pp. 102, 144, 157, 192) ; Reed, Negritos of 

 Zambales {Pub. Ethnological Survey, Vol. II, pt. 1, p. 58 (Manila, 1904); 

 Worcester, Philippine Journal of Science, Vol. I, p. 811 (Manila, 1906); 

 Loarca, Relacion de las Yslas Filipinas, Chap. X (Arevalo, 1580), translated 

 in Blair and Robertson, The Philippine Islands, Vol. V, pp. i$7, et seq.; Jenks, 

 The Bontoc Igorot (Pub. Ethnological Survey, Vol. I, pp. 68, et seq., Manila, 

 1905); Evans, Journ. Royal Anth. Inst., Vol. XLVII, p. 159; Crawley, The 

 Mystic Rose (London, 1902), pp. 379, et seq. 



1 In Manabo an old woman sleeps between them. Among the Bagobo 

 and Kulaman, of Mindanao, a child is placed between the pair. See Cole, 

 op. cit., pp. 102, 157. 



2 In Likuan they chew of the same betel-nut. Among the Batak of Palawan 

 they smoke, of the same cigar. 



* This part of the ceremony is now falling into disuse. 



