234 A NATUBALIST IN CELEBES ch. ix 



and gongs (kolintang). The men and women of his village 

 — for field-labour is by no means restricted to the sterner 

 sex— come to join him, and, when there are enough of them, 

 they proceed with songs and laughter to the field, where 

 each one has his work allotted to him. 



When the sun sinks to rest, and work for the day is 

 done, the merry party of free labourers repair to the house 

 of the owner of the field. A pig is killed for the occasion, 

 a sumptuous allowance of rice and sagoweer provided for 

 each guest, and the evening is spent in feasting, singing, 

 dancing, and general fun and frolic. 



The social part of the proceedings in the evening is 

 no doubt considered by the younger people to be the most 

 important part of the mapalu. It is on such occasions 

 that the young maidens win the hearts of their faithful 

 swains ; it is then they learn to dance, to sing, and to 

 recite ; at mapalus they learn the gossip of the district. 

 All the old songs of love, romance, of peaceful agriculture 

 and terrible war are repeated, the legends of their ancestors 

 and the stories of their gods are recited, the vUlage poet 

 reads his compositions, the musician plays his variations on 

 the bamboo flute, while the walians, or priests, sanction by 

 their presence the proceedings of the night, and secure the 

 blessings of the gods on the labours of the day. 



When we reached Kakas Omar changed his horse and 

 brought with him a spare one for the journey. For the 

 first few miles our road ran between low marshy fields, where 

 several men and women could be seen up to their knees 

 in mud, sowing rice or trudging leisurely beside the buffaloes 

 that dragged the plough. Approaching the village of Paso 

 the road began to rise a little, affording pretty glimpses of 

 the surrounding country, but it was not until we had passed 

 Eemboken and were mounting the hillside which leads to 

 the Tompusu Pass that the glorious panorama of the lake, 



