BENEDICT, BAGOBO CEREMONIAL, MAGIC AND MYTH 167 



manner of its performance, we can get a tolerably clear idea from 

 the several accounts that have leaked out, or that have been ex- 

 tracted by questioning. 



One does not want to betray the confidence of a Bagobo friend, 

 or to place him in an uncomfortable situation with respect to the 

 local authorities, now that the situation has become strained in 

 regard to this native custom. Without, then, mentioning the name 

 of the young man who gave me an account of the sacrifice, I will 

 simply say that the story was told without question on my part; 

 and, on his, with a spontaneity and a nai've dwelling on gruesome 

 details that grew out of his ignorance of the danger of exposure, 

 quite as much as his confidence in my discretion. This was several 

 months before the case occurred that has been published by the 

 United States War Department. 258 My informant had observed a 

 number of sacrifices, and he was a keen observer. I have two or 

 three pictures that he sketched of the slave tied to the sacrificial post. 



As the sacrifice offered up at Ginum is fairly typical, that form 

 may be selected for description. 



The slave to be sacrificed at an approaching festival is selected 

 some time 259 in advance. It may be two or three months before- 

 hand that the purchase, or barter, or transfer of the slave into the 

 family holding the ceremony is agreed upon. During the first and 

 second nights 200 of the festival, the slave-boy is kept in the cere- 

 monial house, tied by his wrists to the wall, and fed "like the dogs" 

 with scraps held to his lips. Clearly there is no suggestion of 

 making the ceremonial victim the subject for special privileges during 

 the hours just before death, or of feasting him before sending him 

 to sacrifice. 



On the last and main day of Ginum, shortly after sunrise, the 

 slave is taken to the forest, or to the beach if the village is not 



2i8 A full report of the governmental investigation that followed the human sacrifice 

 of December 9, 1907, was published in the Annual Report of the United States War 

 Department for 1908, pp. 367—370. Washington, 1909; and is reprinted in F. C. Cole: 

 The Wild Tribes of Davao District, pp. 115—119. 1913. 



259 According to the account in the government report above cited, the appearance 

 of the constellation Balatik is the signal for a sacrifice. This constellation appears early 

 in December. Mr. Cole heard the same statement from Datu Tongkaling. Op. cit., pp. 

 114 — 115. The same writer states that this constellation is identical with Orion. Plasencia 

 called Balatik the Greater Bear. Cf. Blaih and Robertson, vol. 7, pp. 186—187. 1903. 



28 "Among the Hindu also, the victim for the human sacrifice was kept chained all 

 night. Cf. Tawney's footnote to Somadeya-. Katha Saiit Sagara, vol. 1, p. 336. 1880. 



