398 The Tinguian 



Campbell 1 holds to the belief that it was practised centuries before 

 the Christian era and prior to the Hindu invasion of Java. There 

 seems to be no dissent, however, among these writers to the belief 

 that its introduction antedated the arrival of the European in the 

 Orient by several centuries. The fact that dry land farming, carried 

 on with planting sticks and the like, is still found among the Igorot 

 and Tinguian, and for that matter all over the Philippines, cannot be 

 advanced as an argument that the irrigated fields are of recent date, 

 for upland fields and primitive tools are still used in Java and Sumatra, 

 where, as we have just seen, the wet field culture is an old possession. 



Magical Rites and Ceremonies Connected with the Rice. 

 —The importance of rice to this people is nowhere better evidenced 

 than in the numerous and, in some cases, elaborate rites with which 

 its cultivation and care is attended. Some of these observances appear 

 to be purely magical, while others are associated with the consulting 

 of omens, acts of sacrifice, propitiation, and finally of thanksgiving. 

 All are interwoven with tribal law and custom to such an extent that 

 neglect, on the part of the individual, amounts to a crime against the 

 community, and hence is punished with public indignation and ostra- 

 cism. 



When a new field is to be prepared, or a granary erected, strict 

 watch must be kept for omens, for should the inhabitants of the spirit 

 world be unfavorable to the project, they will indicate their feelings 

 by sending snakes, large lizards, deer, wild hogs, or certain birds to 

 visit the workers. Should any of these appear, as the task is begun, the 

 place is generally abandoned at once, but if doubt still exists, or it is 

 deemed abvisable to try to persuade the spirits to reconsider, a small 

 pig will be sacrificed. Its blood, mixed with rice, is scattered about on 

 the ground as an offering, while the medium recites a proper diam. 2 

 After a suitable time has elapsed for the spirits to partake, the liver of 

 the animal is removed, and is carefully examined (cf. p. 307). If the 

 omens are now favorable, the work may be resumed, but should they 

 still be unpropitious, it is folly to proceed, for disaster is certain to 

 follow. 



The next anxiety is to secure a lusty growth of plants in the seed 

 beds, and to accomplish this, sticks known as salogEgEy, are stuck in 

 each plot. The surface of such a stick has been pared so that shavings 

 stand out on it in opposite directions, for such a decoration "is pleas- 



1 Campbell, Java Past and Present, Vol. II, p. 977 (London, 1915). 



2 See Traditions of the Tinguian, this volume, No. I, p. 177. 



