BENEDICT, BACOBO CEREMONIAL, MAGIC AND MYTH 151 



three days before he felt strong enough to make the journey- 211 

 Arrangement of the Long House. The Long House, called 

 Dakul I>tilr. has another name that refers, possibly, to its security 

 from evil spirits. It is known in Cxindaya chants as the "Tina- 

 malung Tambubung," or "shady, well-roofed house." The phrase 

 that best combines these various elements is "long, narrow house 

 with a good roof." 



On first entering the Long House, it appeared to be one con- 

 tinuous room, for there were no dividing walls, or noticeable par- 

 titions. Yet there were actually five compartments with distinct 

 functions, in which separate activities connected with the festival 

 took place. The lines of separation between the rooms consisted 

 in strips of bamboo or of palma brava, 215 running the width of the 

 house and projecting barely above the level. These relief partitions 

 were tied to the same timbers to which the slats of the floor were 

 lashed. There was a double floor, the lower one being of balekayo, 

 and the upper of split bamboo of the larger variety (kaivayari). 

 This upper floor, or carpet, was made from internodal sections of 

 bamboo, averaging 12'/.. feet in length. The green sections are put 



2 ' * The following description of a Mandaya ceremonial is interesting to refer to at 

 this point, because it combines, in one complex, elements that appear at several different 

 ceremonies of the Bagobo Ginum: the rectangular altar made of four smaller altars 

 suggesting the sonaran of agongs; the floral decorations; the great bamboo set up in the 

 middle of the space; the drum-call at the opening of the festival; the costumed dancers; 

 the interview with Mansilatan in which the emotional disturbance shown by the priestesses, 

 the following silence, and the devotions as a whole resemble very closely the Bagobo 

 manganito; the offerings of areca {bonga) and of betel {buyo); the feasting and drinking at 

 the close of the ceremony. 



"Otro sacrificio es el Talibung. Para celebrarlo levantan cuatro altares en forma de 

 reetangulo, y cado esquina del altar es adornada con flores. En medio de estos cuatro 

 altares, colocan una cafia gruesa de tres brazas de largo con sus hojas. Se inagura la 

 funcion al son del guimbao 6 tamboril, salen tres 6 cuatro bailanes bien vestidas, organizan 

 un baile al rededor de dichos altares. — Al cabo de cuatro 6 cinco vueltas se sientan k 

 la vez, tiemblan, eruptan prolongadamente, sigue luego un silencio sepulchral en cuyo 

 tiempo fingen el descenso de Mansilatan y su conversacion con ellas, en cuyo tiempo les 

 infunde el espiritu profetico, le adoran luego, y le ofrece cada cual su polio asado y 

 partido, juntamente con algunos camarones, los cuales mezolan con buyo hecho de tabaco, 

 cal, fruta y hoja de la bonga, despues de cuya ofrenda repiten su baile, sientase, tiemblan, 

 eruptan, cscuchan a su dios, anuncian la buena cosecha, la curacion de la enfermedad, 

 el buen viaje, y luego sigue la accion de gracias en el festin y la borachera de costumbrc." 

 P. Pastells: Cartas, vol. 2, pp. 39—40. 1879. 



215 Valma brava: Coripha minor. The Bagobo call it basag. It is a blackish wood, 

 strong and hard-grained, and is much used for building purposes, both for upright timbers 

 and in place of split bamboo for the slats of floors. 



