BENEDICT, BAGOBO CEREMONIAL, MALIC AND MYTH 5 



the same rites are celebrated on mountain tops and beside the sea, 

 the same tabus are respected, the same precautions taken against 

 ghosts and demons. Although the new doctrines and the new 

 litis suggested to the Bagobo fresh safeguards against evil spirits, — 

 safeguards which might well be added to their already ample collec- 

 tion of magic spells and of charm objects, — ■ although they eagerly 

 accepted foreign amulets and untried formula- that might, per- 

 chance, subdue a fever or expel a cough, there are unmistakable 

 signs that even those coast Bagobo who have felt most strongly 

 the impelling force of the new forms of worship are at heart as 

 sincere pagans as they ever were. In all essentials, they believe 

 and think and behave like those remote mountain Bagobo who 

 have been scarcely touched by foreign influences. 



Recent history accounts easily for this situation. The Bagobo 

 who have settled at the coast during the last half century have 

 c<ime with a religion well organized, and fixed by centuries of 

 tradition. Furthermore, there has been continuous and unbroken 

 intercourse between the mountain people and the coast people, 

 particularly on occasions of ceremonial gatherings and for purposes 

 of trade. Intermarriage between mountain Bagobo and coast Bagobo 

 has not been lacking. More than this, there has occurred an inter- 

 mittent flow of whole families from the hills and from the nearer 

 mountains to the coast, and from the sea back to the upland villages, 

 in regulated response to a varying pressure of conditions both 

 ecclesiastical and economic. Particularly has this pressure been 

 operative since the American occupation, on account of the demands 

 of labor. Many houses at Santa Cruz, for example, which were 

 built and occupied by the Bagobo early in the present century 

 were deserted as soon as a return to their little hemp fields on 

 the mountain slopes was made possible by a change in the local 

 administration. 



Throughout these fluctuations, the presence of the older chieftains, 

 like Ali, Tongkaling, Imbal, Oleng, Yting, and others of no less 

 dominating personality, as well as the existence of such permanent 

 centers of influence as Talun, Sibulan and Tubison, has operated to 

 preserve the old traditions and the integrity of the tribal religion, 

 so that no group at the coast has been swamped by foreign in- 

 fluences. During the last few years, however, the death of several 

 leading datu ; and the transference of entire mountain groups to 

 provide native labor for American plantations have been operative 



