114 The Philippine Journal of Science m» 



Many other illustrations might be given of the differences 

 between the Central and Kiangan Ifugao religious conceptions, 

 but the above will suffice for the purposes of the present paper.®* 



One more type of Ifugao origin myth merits our attention 

 before we come to the conclusion. This type consists of the 

 myths invented to explain the origin of the ancient Chinese 

 jars, bronze gongs, amber-agate beads, and other rare articles 

 of foreign manufacture on which the Ifugaos place a high value, 

 and the origin of which they do not know. Many of these 

 objects have been in the possession of the people for at least 

 several hundred years. They were probably brought into the 

 Islands by Chinese traders centuries before the coming of the 

 Spaniards, and gradually found their way to the Ifugaos through 

 the medium of their cursory commerce with the surrounding 

 peoples."" 



One of these myths, explaining the origin of three well-known 

 jars, runs as follows. 



LEGEND CONCERNING BANGGILIT OF HINAGAi?GAN, AND THE JAKS THAT HE 

 BROUGHT FROM THE VILLAGE OF SOULS ^' 



A long time ago, before the coming of the Spaniards, there lived at 

 Hinagangan a man called Banggilit. He was a wealthy man, possessing 

 four rice granaries and a very large house; but he was not a priest. His 

 constant desire was to hunt in the forest. 



One day Banggilit went hunting in the forest and was overtaken by 

 night. He called his dogs but they did not come. He made fire, cooked, 

 and ate. Then one dog came to him, and he took it in lead and departed. 

 Near by he found a path. The dog with him barked and the second dog 

 answered, and they went on. And the dog with Banggilit began to 



"' The frequent repetition of Bugan as the name of a female deity is 

 worthy of further explanation. Biigan is the Ifugao ideal of feminine 

 beauty. There is no single goddess of love and beanty such as Venus 

 or Aphrodite, but an abstract ideal of womanly perfection. Therefore, 

 all beneficent female deities are called Bugan, which is also the most 

 common name among Ifugao women. When a man wishes to praise his 

 wife, he speaks of her as Bugan-ko (my Bugan) , and when a young man 

 goes courting he often speaks of it as mum-Bugan (searching for a Bugan). 

 Light, fleecy clouds, high in the sky, are often called "the wavy hair of 

 Bugan." Such poetic usages are almost innumerable. It is an interesting 

 conception, and is one of the proofs of Ifugao aesthetic development. 



°' A Chinese author, Chao Ju-kua, writing in the year 1280, mentions 

 that porcelain jars and bronze gongs were two of the most important 

 exports from China to the Philippines. — Blair and Robertson, The Phil- 

 ippine Islands (1906), 34, 181-191. 



"' Free translation of an Ifugao text obtained by myself in January, 

 1909, from Tuginai Pait (Plate III, fig. 3), an Ifugao of Amgode clan, 

 Central Ifugao. 



