BENEDICT, BAGOBO CEREMONIAL, MAGIC AND MYTH 165 



In the north on the seashore lie nine million kalati: 249 in the north on the 

 seashore lie nine rows of sequins. To fifty trees the branches cling; in the 

 south they drop showers ; in the north the breeze makes branches sway. 



There is a place in the Salikala mountains where there grows a bontia 250 

 pebble on the rocks. Wire cannot dent it ; iron and knives cannot cut it." 



GlNDAYA. 251 



Gindaya chanted antiphonally by Ynok and Abe against Atab and Luma. 

 Vnok sings to Atab: 



"Now here we are. I have been traveling eight years to find my own 

 brother; these many years I have sought him, and now we have met in the 

 house called Tinamalung Tambobung 252 (narrow long house with a good 

 roof). Now I want to ask you, my brother, 253 if you have any areca-nut 

 and buyo leaf with you. You have probably come from a town a long way 

 off and if you have no betel you will be hurt by the wind and the hot 

 sun in my town. I have something to ask you. I want you to show me 

 the way to Tangos, 254 the little island near to this town. 1 must meet some- 

 body there; and I have lost the way to my own town. I have not been 

 back for eight years. I should not know my own areca-palm plantation nor 

 my buyo. But this month I am going to find my way, and we will make 

 our luas, 255 not to speak each other's names. "We will meet in one month 

 and one day. Now I am goiug toward my own town ; and do not you say 

 anything bad about me after I am gone, because we are very intimate 

 friends. 



Atab sings in reply to Ynok : 



"•Here I am, my nearest brother. I came from Tangos island, near to the 



2 4 9 Small discs of mother-of-pearl that are ground and pierced for beads by the Bila-an, 

 the Tagakaola and the Kularaan tribes. The Bagobo get kalati in trade for use in 

 decorating festival garments. 



250 Bontia is said to be a tiny white stone of magic properties. If kept wrapped in 

 a cloth and put away in a bamboo tobacco case or other tightly covered vessel, it will 

 after a time reproduce itself. It will have one child at a time, several years apart. If 

 the case or box it is kept in be not securely covered, the bontia may run away. This 

 magic white stone is described as "a little larger than a grain of rice, but smaller than 

 a kernel of corn." The bontia was once found in a bird's nest by a Bagobo of Tuban. 

 There is one variety of bontia — the bontia tigaso — that never gets children, however 

 carefully kept. 



251 This chant may, perhaps, refer to the wanderings of mythical ancestors, but I am 

 not able to make a definite statement as to this. 



* 6 * A shady house with a good roof; that is, the Long House. Except in the chants, 

 they always call it dakul bale, or "big house." The main elements of this term are 

 -mailing, shady; tam-, prefix with a sense of "good;" bobung, "roof." 



253 "B ro ther," or "own brother" is equivalent here to "close friend." 



2iU Tangos was explained as meaning any small island near to a town. From this it 

 would seem as if, perhaps, this song had its origin at a festival on the coast. 



26:1 The names of certain persons are luas or tabu. 



