RELIGION. 35 
stars is called by the Bagabos “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. 
‘The 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 necessary to offer a sacrifice for each evil, 
but when the misfortunes amount to considerable a sacrifice is held to cover 
the entire lot. 
In this case it appears that two widows, Addy and Obby, went to Datu 
Ansig and requested that he arrange a sacrifice to appease the spirits of their 
departed husbands, which were bothering them. Ansig called a meeting of 
the old men at which were present, besides himself, Bagobos Oling, Pandaya, 
and Ansing, and these four decided that, as they had not had a sacrifice since 
the great drought (about three years ago), and that since that time many evils 
had befallen them, it would be well to offer a sacrifice. ‘These four men sent 
out to find a slave for sacrifice, the finder becoming the chief of the sacrifice. 
Ongon, a henchman of Datu Ansig, purchased from Bagobo Ido a Bilan 
slave boy, named Sacum, about eight years old, and who was deaf and cross- 
eyed and had other defects of vision, making him of little or no value as a 
laborer. Ido originally received this slave from Duon, a Bilan, as a wedding 
present when he married Duon’s daughter about a year ago. 
Ongon agreed to pay Ido five gongs for the boy and took him to the 
house of Ansig, 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 brought to the house of Ansig the people 
met at Talon near the river Inoli, a short distance from Ansig’s house, this 
being the regular place of sacrifice. 
Leaving the house of Ansig, the boy, Sacum, was seated upon 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 two 
feet high and a foot or two square was placed a small basket or receptacle made 
of the bark of the bonga tree; in this each person present and taking part in 
the sacrifice placed a piece of betel-nut; over this the men placed their head 
kerchiefs, and over them 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 Datu Ansig, as chief of the sacrifice, 
made an oration, which was about as follows: 
“Oh! 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 by Ongon, placed against 
a stnall tree about six feet high, his hands tied above his head and his body tied 
to the tree with bejuco strips at the waist and knees. Ansig then placed a spear 
at the child’s right side at a point below the right arm and above the margin of 
the ribs. The lance was grasped by the widows, Addy and Obby, who at a 
signal from Ansig forced it through the child’s body, it coming out at the other 
side. It was immediately withdrawn and the body cut in two at the waist by 
bolos in the hands of Modesto Barrero and Ola, after which the body was cut 
down and chopped into bits by the people present, each of whom 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. 
Datu Ansig, a man about sixty years of age, says that in his life he has 
attended or officiated at fifty human sacrifices, more or less, both among the 
Bagobos and the Bilanes; and that human sacrifice is also a practice among 
