176 ANNALS NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



articles of clothing and the ornaments to be presented before the 

 gods were brought from various parts of the house by different 

 members of the family, and put in piles upon the agongs, in the 

 informal manner that characterizes this part of the ceremony at 

 Ginum as well as at harvest. Many pieces of hemp and cotton 

 doth were brought by the women, including a great number of 

 the cotton textiles woven in small checks that had very recently 

 been taken off the loom in Yting's house. On the top of the pile 

 of garments they put the ornaments — strings of beads, wide 

 woven necklaces (sinalapid) and bracelets of brass. A good-sized 

 betel-box (katakia) was placed on the floor at the side of the altar, 

 dust back of the heap of textiles stood a large, high burden-basket 

 (bokub) partly filled with rice (palay) in the husk, intended as a 

 thank offering to the spirits. Later there was placed in the basket 

 a green spray of palay and a section of bulla-leaf twisted into the 

 shape of a spoon. 



The women proceeded, then, to arrange the leaf-dishes, and the 

 crockery of some foreign white ware that stood in confusion on 

 the altar. Every dish was handled by the old priestess, < >dal. and 

 from her received its final placing. She sat directly in front of 

 the central point of the altar, erect, dignified, exact in the manip- 

 ulation of every detail; yet all the time she was watched, closely 

 and critically, by Kaba's wife, who knew the orthodox forms of 

 arrangement equally well with Odal. Datu Yting's younger wife, 

 Hebe, and a son of Yting's prepared dishes of food by placing rice 

 and grated cocoanut on the plates; and Hebe's sister helped her 

 in the handing of areca-nuts to Odal, as from time to time the) 

 were needed. Yting's older wife, Soleng, walked about the room 

 ami neai' the altar, and made suggestions here and there about 

 the arrangements, or gave some definite direction to the younger 

 women — even to Odal. Occasionally, Soleng or Datu Yting 

 would detect some little break and hastily interfere; or would 

 cheek some intended move of Odal's with a hastily uttered caution 

 that this or that would be madal (bad), or that it would bring 

 upon them all the sickness called /muni///. One of these warnings 

 was uttered when Odal attempted to break the spray of bulla. 



The priestess arranged in a straight line, directly across the 

 altar before her. nine saucers of thick white ware, each of which 

 contained white food, of mingled cocoanut meat and boiled rice, 

 she placed betel on the rice in several of the saucers immediately, 



