A RECONNAISSANCE FROM DAVAO. 505 



We started from the barrio of Kalilidan on the fifth day of the 

 journey with twelve men all armed with spears and two with shields. 

 No Moros live along the Salmg Biver north of Kalilidan, and we met no 

 one who could siDeak Spanish until we reached Veruela on the Agasan 

 Eiver, where some of the municipal officials talk that language. 



The iancas were abandoned about 3 kilometers north of Kalilidan at a small 

 barrio termed Mantinlad. The river widened from about 15 meters to approxima- 

 tely 30 between Kalilidan and Mantinlad, but it also shoaled very much, so that a 

 short distance beyond Mantinlad, it became impossible to float a loaded banco. 

 Several more deposits of black, semidecomposed and partially carbonized vegetable 

 matter resembling peat were observed on the banks. 



We traveled in a northeasterly direction from Mantinlad through a 

 rather thick forest, climbing two hills about 75 meters high, and return- 

 ing to the Sahug, where we cossed over to the right bank. The ground 

 was too thickly covered with vegetation to permit of determining the 

 underlying geologic formation, but to judge frorn its configuration, from 

 occasional bowlders and from the character of the soil, it is presumably 

 sedimentary and probalDly an argillaceous sandstone. In the bed of the 

 Sahug Eiver we picked up numerous bowlders of coralline limestone 

 and calcareous conglomerate of apparently such recent origin as to bear 

 out the theory that this part of Mindanao has been elevated above sea 

 level in a comparatively recent period. 



The boundary line between the Mandayas and the Manguanas is at approxi- 

 mately this point. Tlie Manguanas differ but little from the Mandayas in personal 

 appearance. Their dialect is not quite the same and their habitations arc a 

 departure from any we had previously observed. For the most part their villages 

 consist of small groups of dwellings built on high posts, strongly braced to prevent 

 swaying in high winds or earthquakes. Access to the house is gained by means 

 of a long, round pole, about 12 or 15 centimeters in diameter, which passes through 

 a hole in the floor 4.5 to 6 meters above the ground. This primitive scaling ladder 

 is set at a very steep angle, and instead of rungs it has notches about 5 centimeters 

 deep cut into the front of it. The floor space is about 3 by 7.5 meters, and the 

 liouse is usually entirely open at the sides with the exception of about two or 

 three widths of boards immediately above the floor. Although these people all 

 possess long and highly ornamented spears and bolos, the bow and arrow is the 

 more commonly used weapon. 



The unusual elevation of their houses is commonly svipposed to be for the purpose 

 of sleeping out of reach of a spear. However, the floors which might be made 

 of boards as readily as the sides are in all the houses we saw made of split bamboo. 

 Whether or not this is the main purpose for elevating the houses, they serve well 

 as watch towers to guard tlie camote and corn patches which usually surround 

 them. 



Our carriers deserted at this point, and when after great difficulty we 

 had secured others, the journey was continued northward through a 

 practically uninhabited country, for the most part along a thickly wooded 

 ridge about 100 meters in elevation. Outcrops were very few and far 

 between, but from pieces of float we determined the underlying formation 



