No wild tribe in the Islands gives more attention to dress than does the
Bagobo. By an intricate process hemp is colored and woven into excellent
garments, which, in turn, are decorated with embroidery, applique, or
designs in shell disks and beads. The men wear their hair long and after
twisting it around the head hold it in place with kerchiefs, the edges
of which are decorated with beads and tassels.
A close fitting undershirt is often worn, and above this is an
elaborately beaded or embroidered coat which generally opens in front.
The hemp cloth trousers scarcely reach to the knee, and the bottom of
each leg is decorated with a beaded or embroidered band. Two belts are
worn, one to hold the trousers, the other to support the fighting or
working knives which each man carries. In lieu of pockets he has on his
back an elaborately beaded hemp cloth bag bordered with tassels and
bells of native casting. Highly prized shell bracelets, worn as cuffs by
some men, are made of a large, conical sea-shell (Fig. 1) the base and
interior spirals of which have been cut away. Necklaces made of rattan
strips decorated or overlaid with alternating layers of fern and orchid
cuticle (Fig. 2) are frequently seen, while many strands of beads and
carved seeds surround the necks of both men and women. Both sexes also
wear, above the calf of the leg, plaited or beaded leglets to some of
which magical properties are ascribed.