Economic Life 403 



a bit of sikag is also hidden inside a bundle of rice, which has been 

 placed at each corner pole. Near one post is a small pig with its head 

 toward the east, and over it the medium recites a dtam. As usual, the 

 animal is killed, and its blood mixed with rice is offered to the spirits. 

 A part of the flesh is wrapped in banana leaves, and a bundle is buried 

 at the foot of each post. The skull is cooked, and after being cleaned, 

 is hung up inside the roof. The rest of the meat is cooked, and is 

 served with rice to the little company of friends who have gathered. 

 Each guest is also given a few stalks of the rice from the bundles at 

 the corner posts. 



Just before the new rice is placed in the granary, a jar of basi is 

 placed in the center of the structure, and beside it a dish filled with oil 

 and the dung of worms. Five bundles of palay are piled over these, 

 and the whole is presented to the spirit, who will now allow the rice 

 to multiply until it is as plentiful as the dung. 



In Buneg and nearby villages, all of which are strongly influenced 

 by immigrants from the Cagayan valley, a small clay house known as 

 lablabon or adug is placed with the rice, and from time to time 

 offerings are put in them for the spirit who multiplies the rice 

 (Plate XXIX). 



Certain restrictions always apply to the granary. It may never be 

 opened after dark, for evil spirits are certain to enter, and the crop 

 will vanish quickly. It can be opened only by a member of the family 

 "whom the spirit knows ;" and should another attempt to remove the 

 grain, sickness or blindness will befall him. So rigorously is this en- 

 forced that a bride never opens her husband's granary until he has 

 presented her with a string of beads, which she wears about her neck 

 to identify her. It is further necessary that she receive a similar gift 

 before she eats of his rice, otherwise she will become ill. However, 

 this does not apply to others, even strangers being fed without this 

 gift being made. 



A custom which formerly prevailed, but is now falling into dis- 

 use, was for the bride and groom to visit the family fields, where the 

 youth cut a little grass along the dividing ridges. He then took up a 

 bit of earth on his head-axe, and both tasted of it, "so that the ground 

 would yield them good harvests, and they would become wealthy." 



Cultivated Plants and Trees. — Near every settlement will be 

 found a number of small gardens, in which a variety of vegetables are 

 grown. Occasionally a considerable planting of bananas will be found, 

 while many villages are buried beneath the shade of coconut trees, but 



