BENEDICT, BAGOBO CEREMONIAL, MAGIC AM) MYTH 73 



sess the artistic skill to produce such ornamentation. Only in 

 the decoration of objects that are worn on the person - — garments, 

 ornaments, weapons — and of tools used in the industries, does 

 their aesthetic taste find a channel for discharge. Yet as for such 

 a luxurious form of living as would suggest a basis for the 

 mythical romance, it is certain that no Bagobo, at least for many 

 generations, has come into contact with anything of the sort. It 

 should be observed, too, that the ulit, which embodies all of the 

 episodes in the legendary existence of Bagobo ancestors, is essen- 

 tially different from other stories in the range of native fiction, and 

 it points, both in character and in literary form, to an origin other 

 than Malay. No more interesting problem could arise in connec- 

 tion witli Bagobo culture than an attempt to trace the manner of 

 dissemination of the peculiar elements that make up this mythical 

 romance which has now become so intimately associated with the 

 social life of the Bagobo, as well as with their artistic and poetic- 

 interests. In the formation of the ulit complex, it is not unlikely 

 that, originally, Hindu sources were rather heavily drawn upon, 

 though we do not yet know the precise manner of contact by 

 means of which this borrowing took place. The Moorish incre- 

 ments must form a very recent, and perhaps a negligible, contri- 

 bution. There is little doubt but that the component parts of the 

 stories came to the Bagobo as a literary possession a very long 

 time [ago, and have been gradually modified by Malay tradition, 

 and enriched by elements associated with recent tribal and with 

 individual experiences. 



An ulit 15? told me in Bagobo, by Tungkaling, son of Kaba, pic- 

 tures the mythical surroundings of those old mona people at the 

 dawn of Bagobo tradition, and I will give a part of the story here 

 in a translation as close to the original as is consistent with clearness. 



Tuglay, the very wise one, lived by a white lake. He had one hundred 

 carabao, and horses, and seven thousand cows, and goats — all on one 

 mountain. He made kamagi; 158 lie patterned brass by stamping; he made 

 brass finger rings. He had kept silver hidden under the ground since long' 



1 5 7 The ulit is the Bagobo mythical romance, the scene of which is laid in prehistoric 

 times ; and the characters that figure in the action are the ancient mona, the malaki, 

 the bia and several other well-marked personages. 



158 A type of necklace highly treasured by the Bagobo. It is a line, flexible cord 

 formed of small and extremely thin discs of gold that overlap slightly, after the manner 

 of fish-scales. It is said to be of Moro make. 



