BENEDICT, BAGOBO CEREMONIAL, MAGIC AND MYTH 141 



bamboo on the rice to his left, thus keeping the two apart as Muku 

 had done in filling- the vessels. The two halves of the sacred food 

 were marked by two sarabak leaves that Ido laid upon it, one leaf 

 on the right-hand portion and one on the left, with a very narrow 

 space between the ends of the leaves to mark the dividing line. 

 Upon each sarabak leaf he put eight pieces of areca-nut, and in 

 front of the aisle between the leaves, one entire areca-nut upon a 

 buyo leaf. Standing before Ido were two white bowls for balabba. 



Immediately in front of the sacred food, Ido sat, while Oleng 

 took his place a little to the left, at the southeast corner of the 

 altar, and Malik, son-in-law to Oleng, sat between the two datu. 

 At the south end of the taroanan, were Buak, Inok and Ayang, 

 watching with deep interest the proceedings, and ready to assist in 

 handing about utensils. The chief of Bansalan sat on the dega-dega 

 but fell asleep during the ceremony, and did not waken until near 

 its close. 



The only material offerings to be seen besides the food and drink 

 were a small pile of shells, little brass linked chains and miscel- 

 laneous ornaments that lay on the floor at Oleng's left hand. 

 This collective gift, called pa/mading, was put there, I was told, 

 so that the Bagobo would get rich ; but I did not observe that it 

 was touched during the ceremony, or that attention was directed 

 toward it. No doubt it was a case of simply laying before the 

 gods valued objects, with an expectation of receiving back a mani- 

 fold increase. 



Mention should here be made of four vessels called garong, 2U 

 which had an important part to play at the altar ceremonial. 

 They were large cylinders of freshly-cut laya bamboo, with fitted 

 lids shaped from the nodal joints. The four garong were of uni- 

 form size, and each had, perhaps, five or six times the containing 

 capacity of the lulutan in which the rice was cooked. They had been 



1 ' ' Bamboo vessels, looking much alike, receive different names, according to the function 

 of each type. The sekkadu is a water-flask; the balanan is a vessel with handles and 

 contains sugar cane wine; the lulutan is the vessel in which the red rice and cocoanut 

 mixture is steamed, while the garong is a vessel decorated with shavings and reserved 

 especially for altar use, including the sacred function of being elevated to the shelf with 

 its contents of food or of wine. Each of these vessels consists of one internode of bamboo, 

 of which one of the nodes forms the bottom of the vessel and the other node is utilized, 

 often, for the lid. 



I have no record of the specific name for the bamboo vessels that contained the chicken ; 

 possibly they, too, are called lulutan. 



