182 ANNALS NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



that arc to furnish the wedding music into the house of the girl's 

 parents. This performance occurs at about seven a. m., and is 



called piid Vagong. The instruments are supposed to be furnished 

 by the bridegroom, and include those that he brings as the mar- 

 riage price, and others that he borrows for the occasion if his 

 purchase falls short. 



When the sun is about two hours high that is to say, about 



eight o'clock — the couple to be married, their families and all the 

 friends who have arrived, go in procession to the river, where a 

 convenient place has been selected for the ceremony. Two small 

 flat bowlders that lie close together and project above the water 

 are picked out in a narrow part of the stream's bod wince the 

 water runs shallow. The young man and the young woman are 

 directed by the old people to sit down on these two stones, while 

 the people (duster at the edge of the river. The sitting on the 

 stones is a rite called gunsad. 



There follows the pamalugu, or ceremonial washing. The old 

 man or the old woman who officiates as priest steps down into the 

 stream, holding in his hand a bunch of medicine {iili-idi) composed 

 of small branches, leaves and stems of freshly-plucked plants of 

 many varieties that possess magic properties. The priest stands 

 over the young couple, and having dipped the bunch of medicine 

 into the stream he holds it above them, and lets the water drip 

 down upOD their heads and bodies. Then with the uli-uli la- 

 rubs the head and joints of the pair, giving one downward 

 stroke to each joint, in the following order: top of head, back of 

 neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, knuckles, finger-joints, hips, knees. 

 ankles, toes, jaw. and last of all the face. The object of the 

 pamalugu is to make the bodies of the young people strong and 

 vigorous, and to keep out disease. 



A magical rite for warding off sickness and misfortune is that 

 of bracing the mountain (T'okud ha Pabungan). The priest takes 

 two short spears and points them at one of the neighboring moun- 

 tains (it \v;is Mount Koparan when <>nn married I'ne) and at the 

 same time recites a formula to the effect that the mountain 

 may not roll down on the young couple and bring them sickness. 

 Then he puts the spears in place, one back of the boy, and the 

 other back of the girl, letting the spears stand braced by stones. 

 They say they do this because it is Bagobo custom (butasari), and 

 that it is .<'<ilnl or BOmething to keep sickness away, because it 



