BENEDICT, BAGOBO CEREMONIAL, MAGIC AND MYTH 215 



wak-wak!" you must call to him: "I am not fat; I am skinny. 

 I eat rotten wood. I eat baguiang" Then the wakwak cannot 

 hurt you; but you must speak again, saying, "You go on to Bago; 

 there are many fat men there." By means of this spell, such 

 unpleasant suggestions are flung at the evil bird as to induce him 

 to seek prey elsewhere. If the baguiang leaf is chewed, it is said 

 to give itching lips and to leave a bad taste in the mouth. 



Sore throat is cured by hanging round the neck a string which 

 has attached to it four bits of wood cut from the trees most fre- 

 quently haunted by Buso — the magbo, the benati, the barayung 

 and the lawaan. The inflammation of the throat, being itself one of 

 the buso, is attracted into one of the pieces of wood and eventually 

 returns to the tree from which the wood was chipped. 



A Bagobo man eats the liver of another man reputed for valor 

 and worth, presumably in order that he may acquire those qualities 

 which he associates with that organ. The liver of a fallen foe 

 may be eaten, or the liver of a good Bagobo who is selected for 

 human sacrifice. One boy told me that his grandfather had eaten 

 the livers of as many as forty brave men. 



A charm to discover lost property is to burn some beeswax 

 with a few red peppers, and to note carefully which way the 

 smoke goes. This will give the direction where one must go 

 in search of the lost articles. It is the S'iring, that troublesome 

 wood-demon, who hides one's things, and the smoke behaves in this 

 manner because the S'iring is afraid of red peppers and of the wax 

 made by bees. It would appear to be the mingling of the S'iring's 

 fear with his knowledge of where the things are hidden that turns 

 the smoke in a direction to reveal the secret. 



A magical necklace to make a horse run fast consists of narrow 

 strips of deer-skin, or of goat-skin, with the hair left on them, the 

 strips being pierced and run on a cord. This is called very good 

 medicine for the horse, for since both deer and goat are fleet of foot 

 the train of associations would naturally set the horse to running. 



A charm for tracking deer consists in a substance that is rubbed 

 on the bit and called "medicine to catch the deer." I saw one fine 

 old brass bit with cheek-pieces decorated in the casting which the 

 owner refused to part with because it had acquired great value by 

 reason of this medicine. 



A charm for catching fish (bam ha seda) involves the response 

 of the fish to suggestion. The fish-line is measured by fathoms 



