BENEDICT, BAGOBO CEREMONIAL, MAGIC AND MYTH 157 



interspersed with sharp cries from groups of women and groups of 

 men, and while I was standing at one end of the house listening 

 to the chanting of gindaya, there came a noise of tumult from the 

 next room, and thither everybody began to rush and crowd together. 

 There was a sound of a heavy body falling, followed by low cries 

 and exclamations. Instantly, the wife of Imbal hastened to me 

 and begged me not to be frightened ; she told me that what was 

 happening was very good for the Bagobo, but that I must stay 

 where I was, and not attempt to go to look. As soon as her at- 

 tention was diverted, I succeeded in making my way to a place 

 where I could get a glimpse of Datu Idal. He lay on his back, 

 stretched out at full length on the floor, his eyes closed, his 

 general aspect being that of a person in a faint. Siat (Imbal's wife) 

 sat at his head and gazed fixedly at his face. The old people who 

 were standing about explained that Idal was dead, but that he 

 would come to life again by and by; and they assured me that it 

 was something good for the Bagobo. The crowd gradually thinned 

 out and the Bagobo, one after another, lay down on the floor and 

 fell asleep. After a while Idal's condition of stupor, if it were 

 such, seemed to pass imperceptibly into natural slumber. After 

 keeping her position as watcher for one or two hours, Siat lay 

 down beside the old man, drew over herself a part of the cotton 

 sleeping-blanket which she had spread over him, and soon dropped 

 off to sleep. By that time, nobody was awake except the youths 

 who were relieving one another at the gindaya and myself. I did 

 not venture to lose sight of the sleeping datu, for it seemed highly 

 probable that he would "come to life" suddenly, to bring to some 

 dramatic culmination the events of the night; but nothing unusual 

 occured. The hours wore on toward dawn, while only the monot- 

 onous intoning of gindaya broke the stillness. Soon after sunrise, 

 Datu Idal stirred, opened his eyes, sat up, and began to chew 

 betel as if nothing had happened. Everybody else woke up as 

 usual ; and, as the sun shot rays across the mountain tops, only 

 the soft chanting of the weary boys, each still holding over his 

 lips an edge of the sacred kerchief as the last strains of gindaya 

 came forth, indicated that a great religious festival was drawing 

 to a close. 



In attempting to characterize briefly this festival night as a whole, 

 one would note the high degree of animation that pervaded the 

 rites, a spirit which was quite as plainly apparent before the sugar 



