254 ANNALS NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



tambara; 402 the Bila-an have a rice-altar (parabunnian) in form of 

 a little hut much like that of the Bagobo. 4 " 3 



Turning from the formal ceremonial to religious responses of a 

 more informal nature, it appears that throughout the mountain tribes 

 of Mindanao communication is set up with the gods through the 

 medium of priestesses. The Mandaya meeting, in particular, as 

 described by Pastells, corresponds in certain aspects to the manner 

 of giving an oracle among the Bagobo — the emotional disturb- 

 ance, the silence preceding the utterance, the behavior of the 

 medium. 404 



Valiant men, who have slain other men and have therefore 

 received the title of bagani (or m<t<i<nii), are everywhere entitled 

 to the same privileges: the wearing of a closed shirt dyed in solid 

 red, the ceremonial kerchief, and a costume graded (at least among 

 the Bagobo, the Mandaya and the Manobo) by the number of per- 

 sons the wearer has killed — from the kerchief to the full costume 

 of encarnado. 403 Among the Mandaya, the Manobo, the Bila-an, 

 the Tagakaola and the Bagobo, and presumably in all of the neigh- 

 boring tribes, these "brave men' 1 hold a position of great impor- 

 tance, both from the ceremonial and the social point of view, and 

 they exert a profound influence in the tribe. 



Many of the popular beliefs"""' found among the Bagobo are cur- 

 rently accepted throughout the entire island. The appeal to con- 

 stellations to determine the proper time for burning over the ground 

 and for sowing; the cause of an eclipse; the danger of continuing 

 a journey when a slain animal is encountered ob the road; the 

 position of limokun as the omen bird and the interpretation of its 

 cry; the sacredness of thicket growths; the haunting of the baliti 

 and of various other trees associated with evil spirits - all these 

 beliefs arc held iiv many, if not all, of the tribes. Beliefs essen- 



4U1 J. .M. ('i.i.ikt: loc. tit., p. 296. 



- 03 Sec p. 93, footnote. 



»°* P. Pastells: loc. tit. Cartas, vol. 2, pp. 139, Mo. ]*:'.) 



*°* "Jiiis baganit Be distingaen en su vestido scgun el ntimero <le sus asesinatos. De 

 cinco a die/ muertes, llevan en la cabeza pafiuelo encarnado, dc diez a veinte pafiuelo 

 \ rainisa colorada, de veinte en adelante pafiuelo, eainisa y pantalon encarnado." P. Pas- 

 ii i. is; loc. tit., ('arias vol. 2, p. 144. 1879. Cf. also, Santiago Puntas : Carta ... Batuan, 

 19 Diciembre, 1880. Cartas, rol. I. p. 37. 1881. Cf. also, I'. Cohbeb: "Natives of the 

 southern islands." BLAIB and ROBERTSONS op. til., vol. 40, p. 159. 1906. 



-<"> If. (aitas, vol. 8, p. 1 H et scq. 



