_Of their belief concerning the dead_
It is said that the souls of those who are stabbed to death, eaten
by crocodiles, or killed by arrows (which is considered a very
honorable death), go to heaven by way of the arch which is formed
when it rains, and become gods. The souls of the drowned remain in
the sea forever. By way of honor to these, they erect a tall reed
and hang upon it a garment--that of a man, if the dead be a man; but
a woman's, for a woman. This garment is left there until it falls to
pieces through age. When the children or other relatives of drowned
persons are sick, the relatives are taken and placed in a barangay,
in company with a _baylana_, who is a sort of priestess; and, at the
place indicated by the priestess, they throw into the sea a chest
filled with robes and other articles, which they have brought with
them. At the same time their ancestors are invoked to protect and
help the sick man during his illness.
_Belief regarding the dead_
If those who die from disease are young, the Pintados say that the
_mangalos_, who are goblins, are eating their bowels, wherefore they
die; for these people do not know that the corruption of humors causes
diseases. They say of those who die in old age that the wind comes
and snatches away their souls. And of those who die thus, the Arayas
(which is a certain alliance of villages), they say, go to a very
high mountain in the island of Panay, called Mayas. The souls of
the Yligueynes, who comprise the people of Çubu, Bohol, and Bantay,
go with the god called Sisiburanen, to a very high mountain in the
island of Burney.
_The god Sidapa_. They say that there is in the sky another god, called
Sidapa. This god possesses a very tall tree on mount Mayas. There he
measures the lives of all the new-born, and places a mark on the tree;
when the person's stature equals this mark, he dies immediately.
_Belief concerning the destination of souls_. It is believed that
at death all souls go directly to the infernal regions; but that,
by means of the _maganitos_, which are the sacrifices and offerings
made to the god Pandaque in sight of the mount of Mayas, they are
redeemed from Simuran and Siguinarugan, gods of the lower regions.
It is said that, when the Yligueynes die, the god Maguayen carries
them to Inferno. When he has carried them thither in his barangay,
Sumpoy, another god, sallies forth, takes them away, and leads them to
Sisiburanen, the god before mentioned, who keeps them all. Good or bad
alike, he takes them all on equal terms, when they go to Inferno. But
the poor, who have no one to offer sacrifices for them, remain forever,
in the inferno, and the god of those regions eats them, or keeps them
forever in prison. From this it will be seen how little their being
good or bad avails them, and how much reason they have to hate poverty.
_Baylanas_. The natives of these islands have neither time nor place
set apart for the offering of prayers and sacrifices to their gods. It
is only in case of sickness, and in times of seed-sowing or of war,
that sacrifices are offered. These sacrifices are called _baylanes_,
and the priestesses, or the men who perform this office, are also
called _baylanes_. The priestesses dress very gaily, with garlands
on their heads, and are resplendent with gold. They bring to the
place of sacrifice some _pitarrillas_ (a kind of earthen jar) full of
rice-wine, besides a live hog and a quantity of prepared food. Then
the priestess chants her songs and invokes the demon, who appears to
her all glistening in gold. Then he enters her body and hurls her to
the ground, foaming at the mouth as one possessed. In this state she
declares whether the sick person is to recover or not. In regard to
other matters, she foretells the future. All this takes place to the
sound of bells and kettle-drums. Then she rises and taking a spear,
she pierces the heart of the hog. They dress it and prepare a dish
for the demons. Upon an altar erected there, they place the dressed
hog, rice, bananas, wine, and all the other articles of food that
they have brought. All this is done in behalf of sick persons, or to
redeem those who are confined in the infernal regions. When they go
to war or on a plundering expedition, they offer prayers to Varangao,
who is the rainbow, and to their gods, Ynaguinid and Macanduc. For
the redemption of souls detained in the inferno above mentioned,
they invoke also their ancestors, and the dead, claiming to see them
and receive answers to their questions.
_Belief concerning the world. The god Macaptan._ They believe that
the world has no end. They say that Macaptan dwells highest in
the sky. They consider him a bad god, because he sends disease and
death among them, saying that because he has not eaten anything of
this world, or drunk any pitarrillas, he does not love them, and so
kills them.
_The god Lalahon_. It is said that the divinity Lalahon dwells in a
volcano in Negros island, whence she hurls fire. The volcano is about
five leagues from the town of Arevalo. They invoke Lalahon for their
harvest; when she does not choose to grant them good harvests she sends
the locusts to destroy and consume the crops. This Lalahon is a woman.
_Burials_. These natives bury their dead in certain wooden coffins,
in their own houses. They bury with the dead gold, cloth, and other
valuable objects--saying that if they depart rich they will be well
received in the other world, but coldly if they go poor.
_How they guard the dead_. When anyone dies, the people light many
fires near his house; and at night armed men go to act as sentinels
about his coffin, for fear that the sorcerers (who are in this
country also) may come and touch the coffin; for then the coffin
would immediately burst open and a great stench issue from the corpse,
which could not any longer remain in the coffin. For this reason they
keep watch for several nights.
_Slaves killed at the death of chiefs_. When any chief descended from
Dumaguet dies, a slave is made to die by the same death as that of the
chief. They choose the most wretched slave whom they can find, so that
he may serve the chief in the other world. They always select for this
a slave who is a foreigner, and not a native; for they really are not
at all cruel. They say that the reason for their killing slaves, as
we have said, at the death of any chief is very ancient. According to
their story, a chief called Marapan more than ten thousand years ago,
while easing his body asked a slave of his for some grass with which
to clean himself. The slave threw to him a large stalk of reed-grass,
which seems to have hit the chief on the knee, causing a wound. As he
was at the time a very old man, he died, as they say, from the blow;
but before his death he gave orders that, when he should die, the
slave and all his children should be put to death. From this arose
the custom of killing slaves at the death of a chief.
_Mourning indicated by fasting_. When the father or mother or any near
relative died, they promised to eat no rice until they should seize
some captive in battle. The actual sign of mourning among them was the
wearing of armlets made of bejucos [rattans] which covered the entire
arm, with a similar band around the neck. They drank no pitarrilla,
and their only food was bananas and camotes, until they had either
taken a captive or killed some one, when they ceased their mourning;
it might thus happen that they would eat no rice for a whole year,
and therefore they would be, at the end of that period, very languid
and weak. Sometimes a man determined, soon after a relative's death,
to eat nothing, but to abandon himself to death. But his timaguas
and slaves quickly assembled, and made a collection throughout the
village; bananas were given him for food, and _tuba_ (which is a wine
made from the palm-tree) for drink, so that he should not die. These
gains were the perquisites of the chiefs. This kind of mourning is
called among them _maglahe_.
_Mourning among the women_. The mourning observed by the women they
call _morotal_. It is similar to that of the men, except that the
mourner--instead of going to capture or kill some one before she is
allowed to cease mourning and to eat rice again--embarks in a barangay
with many women; they have one Indian man to steer, one to bail, and
one in the bow. These three Indians are always chosen as being very
valiant men, who have achieved much success in war. Thus they go to
a village of their friends, the three Indians singing all along the
way, keeping time with their oars; they recount their exploits, the
slaves whom they have captured, and the men whom they have killed in
war. The vessel is laden with wine and pitarrillas. When they reach
the village, they exchange invitations with the inhabitants, and
hold a great revel. After this they lay aside their white robes, and
strip the bejuco bands from their arms and necks; the mourning ends,
and they begin to eat rice again, and to adorn themselves with gold.
_Larao of the dead_--_that is, mourning_. One of the observances
which is carried out with most rigor is that called _larao_. This
rule requires that when a chief dies all must mourn him, and must
observe the following restrictions: No one shall quarrel with any
other during the time of mourning, and especially at the time of the
burial. Spears must be carried point downward, and daggers be carried
in the belt with hilt reversed. No gala or colored dress shall be
worn during that time. There must be no singing on board a barangay
when returning to the village, but strict silence is maintained. They
make an enclosure around the house of the dead man; and if anyone,
great or small, passes by and transgresses this bound, he shall be
punished. In order that all men may know of a chief's death and
no one feign ignorance, one of the timaguas who is held in honor
goes through the village and makes announcement of the mourning. He
who transgresses the law must pay the penalty, without fail. If he
who does this wrong be a slave--one of those who serve without the
dwelling--and has not the means to pay, his owner pays for him; but
the latter takes the slave to his own house, that he may serve him,
and makes him an ayoey. They say that these rules were left to them
by Lubluban and Panas. To some, especially to the religious, it has
seemed as if they were too rigorous for these people; but they were
general among chiefs, timaguas, and slaves.
_Wars_. The first man who waged war, according to their story, was
Panas, the son of that Anoranor, who was grandson of the first human
[parents: _crossed out in MS_.] beings. He declared war against
Mañgaran, on account of an inheritance; and from that time date the
first wars, because the people were divided into two factions, and
hostility was handed down from father to son. They say that Panas
was the first man to use weapons in fighting.
_Just wars_. There are three cases in which these natives regard war
as just. The first is when an Indian goes to another village and is
there put to death without cause; the second, when their wives are
stolen from them; and the third is when they go in friendly manner to
trade at any village, and there, under the appearance of friendship,
are wronged or maltreated.
_Laws_. They say that the laws by which they have thus far been
governed were left to them by Lubluban, the woman whom we have already
mentioned. Of these laws only the chiefs are defenders and executors
There are no judges, although there are mediators who go from one
party to another to bring about a reconciliation.