BENEDICT, BAGOBO CEBEMONIAL, MAGIC AND MYTH 209 



buso, children wear, attached to their necklaces or to strings round 

 their necks, small figures, usually human figures, not more than 

 one-half to three-fourths of an inch in length and two or three 

 millimeters in thickness. The buso of the disease is expected to 

 leave the body of the child and to pass into the little manikin, 

 which thus becomes a substitute; eventually, the buso returns to 

 the forest. 



During the great festival, two large figures of wood are set up 

 in thickets by the path to act as buso-scarers, as substitutes for 

 living men whom the buso traditionally fear to encounter. 



Another charm for scaring off evil beings by the substitution 

 plan is the representation of a crocodile, 34n a figure which women 

 weave into their textiles, and which men paint on guitars and on 

 bamboo boxes and carve on coffins. In place of the real animal, 

 a mere figure of this greatly-dreaded reptile of the rivers, that for 

 centuries has taken his toll of natives, is expected to fill the demons 

 with fear. 



We have some interesting cases of the performance of little cere- 

 monies in order to render harmless a sale that is under tabu, and 

 here again the principle of substitution is the center of attention. 

 The rite is called Iiccm, and whether the object parted with be 

 a new article or an old object that is thought to belong to the 

 gods, a brief ritual is performed. Two or three illustrations will 

 show the nature of this little function. 



At Datu Yting's house, his wife Oleng sold to me two strips 

 of an extremely fine textile stiff from the loom, for it had not 

 yet been treated to the process of softening and polishing. Oleng 

 parted with the material rather unwillingly, at the solicitation of 

 her husband who was hard pressed for cash. After receiving the 

 money, she asked me to let her have the textile again. On my 

 handing it to her, she stepped toward the wall, turned her back 

 to us so that she faced the stationary bench of bamboo that ran 

 along the wall, and performed the Iwan. Upon the folded textile 

 in her arms, she laid one areca-nut and one piece of betel-leaf, 

 and said, at the same moment, words to the effect that she was 



3U "The crocodile motive is widely used throughout Celebes, where it is carved on 

 the timbers of the ceremonial house (Lobo) and on the coffin of a chief; it forms also 

 one of the decorative designs on the swords of the Toradja. Cf. P. and F. Sabasin: 

 Reiscn in Celebes, vol. 1, pp. 218, 229, 268—270; vol. 2, p. 46. 1905. 



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