THE ALCOHOL INDUSTRY OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS, III. 117 
indulge so deeply as the men. As a rule, women and children do 
not drink with the men, but a man sometimes invites a woman or 
child to drink with him, in which case the invitation is usually 
accepted. 
Drink is offered not only to men, but to souls of the dead 
and to various classes of spirits. It is usual at feasts to offer 
little jars of drink to spirits whom it is desired to conciliate, 
as well as food, betel-nut, and cigarettes. The drink is placed 
on or beneath the altar or the image, and the spirits are formally 
invited by a medicine man to partake. Even apart from feasts, 
when a favor, for example, such as the cure of a sick man, is 
requested from the spirits, drink is usually a necessary part of 
the offering. 
It is, of course, impossible to give any figures as to the extent 
of drinking among the Subanuns. Certain facts, however, are 
patent to direct observation. Drinking among these people is 
not a daily habit. I have never met any Subanuns who could 
be called drunkards. Most Subanuns drink freely, but only on 
certain occasions. These occasions do not come very often. In 
a given district half a dozen important feasts may occur in a 
year if the crops have been good. Aside from these more im- 
portant feasts, each of which may last five or six days, charac- 
terized by free indulgence in gas?, lesser occasions for drinking, 
such as religious ceremonies, marriage, or the entertainment of 
guests, occur from time to time throughout the year, but not 
often enough to tempt the people into drinking enough to do 
themselves serious harm. Drinking is greatly enjoyed by the 
Subanun, who by means of it is lifted for a short time to a 
plane of existence more interesting than that of his colorless 
daily life. Whether he would abuse this means of escape from 
the flatness of existence if he had the means, I do not know. 
It is only a small number of chief men who would have the 
necessary surplus of rice to do so if they wished, and among 
them I have not noted habitual drunkenness. 
On Sindangan Bay, I have never seen Subanuns drinking any 
but home-made liquor. The only instance in which J have 
observed a Subanun using imported intoxicants was on Duman- 
kilas Bay, where a leading chief once showed me a few bottles 
of gin and anisado of inferior quality from Manila. I am 
inclined to think that so long as the Subanuns confine their 
indulgence in drinking to an occasional social jar of gasi with 
visitors and to drinking bouts a few times a year at their feasts, 
they are not in danger of injuring themselves seriously with 
alcohol. 
