EDITORIAL. 195 



the first part of the month of December. This constellation of stars is called 

 by the Bagobos "Balatic" and is the sign of the sacrifice; that is, if a sacrifice is 

 to occur, it must take place during the period when the stars are in this position. 

 Tlie old men meet and decide if enough misfortune has overtaken the tribe or 

 village during the period since the last 'sacrifice to render necessary another 

 tribute to the god of evil. It is not necessarj' to ofi'er a sacrifice for each evil, 

 but when the misfortunes are considerable, a sacrifice is held to cover all. 



In this case it appears that two widows went to the datu and requested that 

 he arrange a sacrifice to appease the spirits of their departed husbands who 

 were bothering them. The datu called a meeting of the old men; there were 

 present, besides himself, three other Bagobos, and these four decided that as 

 there had not been a sacrifice since the great drought ( about three years before ) , 

 and that since that time many evils had befallen them, it would be well to offer 

 a sacrifice. Tliese four men were sent out to find a slave for the sacrifice, the 

 finder becoming the chief of ceremonies. A henchman of the datu purchased 

 from a Bagobo a Bilan slave boy named Sacum, about 8 years old, who was deaf 

 and cross-eyed, and who had other defects of vision making him of little or no 

 value as a laborer. This boy was originally received as a slave from a Bilan as 

 a wedding present, when the Bagobo married the Bilan's daughter about a year 

 before. 



The henchman of the datu agreed to pay five agongs for the boy aiid took 

 him to the house of a friend where arrangements were made for the sacrifice 

 by calling on all who, for any reason had need to appease the evil spirits, to 

 come and take part. Three days after the slave was Ijrought to this house, the 

 people met at Talon near the Inolia River a short distance from the house, this 

 being the regular place of sacrifice. Among those present were sixty prominent 

 men and twenty-two women of the tribe. (The datu whose picture is shown on 

 PI. I was there.) 



Being taken from the house, the boy Saoum was seated on the ground near the 

 place of sacrifice. He was naked but no other preparation was made with regard 

 to his person. Upon a platform or bench of bamboo about 2 feet high and a foot 

 or two square was placed a small basket or receptacle made of the bark of the 

 bunga tree, in which each person present and taking part in the sacrifice placed 

 a piece of betel nut; over this the men placed their head handkerchiefs and over 

 the handkerchiefs the women laid strips of the bark of the palma tree. Upon 

 this the men laid their bolos, and spears were then stuck in the ground in a circle 

 around the platform. Next, the datu, as chief of the sacrifice, made an oration 

 which was about as follows: 



"0 Mandarangan, chief of evil spirits and all the other spirits, come to our 

 feast and accept our sacrifice. Let this sacrifice appease your wrath and take 

 from us our misfortunes, granting us better times." 



After this the boy Sacum was brought forward, and placed against a small 

 tree about 6 feet high; his hands were tied above his head and his body was tied 

 to the tree with rattan strips at the waist and knees. A spear was then placed 

 at his right side at a point below the right arm and above the margin of the 

 rib. This lance was grasped by the two Avidows who, at a signal from the leader 

 of the sacrifice, forced it through the child's body, so that it came out on the 

 other side. The spear was then immediately withdrawn and the body cut in two 

 at the waist by bolos in the hands of two Bagobo men, after which the body was 

 cut down and chopped into bits by the people present, each of wliom was allowed 

 to take a small portion as a memento of the occasion, the remainder of the body 

 being buried in a hole prepared for it. 



It is said that the child was deaf and almost blind and that he did not realize 



