BENEDICT, BAGOBO CEREMONIAL, MAGIC AND MYTH 171 



ficed human beings;" 210 but the Recollects, in 1624, found many 

 instances of this rite, and recorded that in Yisayan groups a sac- 

 rifice, either of a hog or of a human being, had to be made be- 

 fore a battle, in sickness, at seed-time, when building a house, and 

 at other special times. 271 



In regard to the wild tribes of the south, Pastells and Retana 

 state: "the human sacrifice. . . . called h,uaga, is only practised among 

 the Bagobo, and the most barbarous heathen of Mindanao." 272 



Furness 2 ™ obtained an account of the sacrifice among the Be- 

 rawan of Sarawak, and here two points are of special interest for 

 our discussion : first, that the slave is killed to take the place of 

 a head hunt; and second, that everybody present at the sacrifice 

 is allowed to have a thrust, a distribution of privilege which, from 

 various accounts, seems to be stressed by the Bagobo. 



Ceremonial at Rice-sowing, called MarUmmas 



Rice may be sown while the constellations Mamare, Marara, and 

 Buaya are visible, May and June being the months in which the 

 most numerous rice-plantings take place. If a new field is to be 

 cleared 274 , the work is done two or three months before Marummas. 



170 Cf. ibid., vol. 16, p. 133. 1904. 



J " Cf. ibid., vol. 21, p. 203. 1905. 



> 7J Cf. ibid., vol. 12, p. 270. 1904. 



273 "In former days, on the death of any influential chief, if his people were either 

 too lazy or too cowardly to go head-hunting, a male or female slave was purchased and 

 sacrificed in honor of the dead. From far and near, friends were invited to take part 

 in the high ceremony. When the poor wretch of a slave was thrust into a cage of 

 bamboo and rattan, he knew perfectly well the death by torture to which he was destined. 

 In this cage he was confined for a week or more, until all the guests had assembled 

 and a feast was prepared. On the .'appointed day, after every one had feasted and a 

 blood-thirsty instinct had been stimulated to a high pitch by arrack, each one in turn 

 thrust a spear into the slave. No one was allowed to give a fatal thrust until every 

 one to the last man had felt the delight of drawing blood from living, human flesh. 

 We were told by the Berawans that the slaves often survived six or seven hundred 

 wounds, until death from loss of blood set them free. The corpse, of the victim was 

 then taken to the grave of the Chief, and the head cut off and placed on a pole over- 

 hanging the grave. Frequently some of the guests worked themselves into such a blood- 

 thirsty frenzy that they bit pieces from the body, and were vehemently applauded when 

 they swallowed the raw morsel at a gulp." Home life of Borneo head-hunters, p. 

 140. 1902. 



174 See the account of the ceremonial clearing of the fields at Sibulan, and of the 

 religious preparation therefor, given by F. C. Cole, op. cit., p. 86. 



