168 ANNALS NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



too far from the coast. All the people from several miles around 

 gather to attend the ceremony, except the younger children who 

 remain at home, where they later have a little supplementary per- 

 formance. 



At the place picked out for the ceremony, a frame — the ta- 

 kosan — is set up. This consists of three posts, vertically placed, 

 with a cross-piece connecting- them at top. The three upright ele- 

 ments form the patindog, and the horizontal cross-bar ia the balabag. 

 The balabag is decorated from end to end with fresh young shoots 

 from fhe areca palm. Directly in front of the middle patindog, a 

 hole is dug in the ground, to which the slave's body will finally 

 he consigned; the pit is called kutkut. 



Near to the sacrifical frame, there is set up a small shrine (tam- 

 bara) consisting of the usual white china bowl wedged into the split 

 end of a rod of bamboo set upright on the ground, and secured to 

 a tree or other support, in the bowl of the tambara the usual of- 

 ferings of areca-nuts and buyo-leaf are laid. Before this shrine, the 

 old men gather for the office called gamg-dun, which is recited by 

 one or two of them acting in the capacity of priests. The burden 

 of the rite is a prayer to Mandarangan, dwelling on Mount A.po, 

 asking him to accept the sacrifice, and to keep the IJagobo from 

 diseases and from all calamity. At the close of the garug-dun. or 

 just before it, the slave is brought forward for the saksakdn, or the 

 rite of killing and cutting the body to pieces. 



The slave is fastened to the middle post of the takosan. his hands 

 uplifted, his wrists and ankles bound to the patindog by strong 

 cords of vegetable fibre (glana). Often he is tied so tightly that he 

 cries out more in physical pain than in fear: "The fetters hurt me! 

 Take them off! I can't bear the bands! Untie them for this time!" 

 Immediately many of the men begin the dance with war-shields — 

 the palagise - a performance of remarkable maneuvers, demanding 

 considerable practice as well as athletic skill. The leaping, the 



bending at the knee, the agile passes with the shield in presenting, 

 drawing back, springing lightly from one to another position - all 

 of these feats are done with a high degree of dramatic effect that 

 is intensified by the character of the occasion. As they dance, 

 they draw nearer to the takosan, ami with spears and kampilan 

 begin to make stabs at the victim. Others of those present, men 

 and women, rush forward and each tries to inflict a wound on the 

 slave, each one stimulated by the hope of a benefit to be gained 



