The Cycle of Life 



287 



present, excepting only those whose wives are pregnant. Should one 

 of the latter be punished, his wife would suffer a miscarriage. The 

 avowed purpose of this whipping is "to make all the people feel as 

 sorry as the relatives of the dead man." 



Burial in most of the valley towns is beneath the house, "as it is 

 much easier to defend the body against evil spirits, and the grave 

 is also protected against the rain." In Manabo and many mountain 

 villages, however, burial is in the yard. It is customary to open a 

 grave already occupied by several of the relatives of the deceased. 



Toward noon of the last day, some of the men begin clearing away 

 the bamboo, which protects the old burial, and to remove the dirt. 



I 2 3 



Fig. 3. 

 Cross Sections Showing Types of Graves. 



The grave is generally of one of the forms indicated in Fig. 3, and 

 when a depth of about three feet has been reached, the workers en- 

 counter stone slabs which protect a lower chamber. 1 When these are 

 reached, the diggers make an opening and thrusting in burning pine- 

 sticks, they call to the dead within, "You must light your pipes with 

 these." As soon as the slabs are raised, the oldest female relative of 

 the deceased goes into the grave, gathers up the bones of the last per- 

 son interred, ties them into a bundle, and reburies them in one corner. 

 There is at present no such type of burial chamber, as is described 

 by La Gironiere, 2 nor is there a memory or tradition of such an 

 arrangement. As his visit took place less than a century ago, it is 

 unlikely that all trace of it would have been lost. The heavy rainfall 

 in this district would make the construction and maintenance of such 



1 In Manabo a rectangular hole is dug to about five feet, then at right 

 angles to this a chamber is cut to receive the body. This is cut off from the 

 main grave by a stone. A similar type of grave is found in Sumatra (Marsden, 

 History of Sumatra, 3d ed., p. 287, London, 181 1). 



2 According to this author, the Tinguian put the dried remains of their dead 

 in subterranean tombs or galleries, six or seven yards in depth, the entrance 

 being covered with a sort or trap door (La Gironiere, Twenty Years in the 

 Philippines, p. 115, London, 1853). 



