Guarding the warriors are two powerful beings, Mandarangan and his wife, Darago, who are popularly supposed to make their home in the crater of the volcano.  They bring success in battle and give to the victors loot and slaves.  In return for these favors they demand, at certain times, the sacrifice of a slave.  Dissentions[sic], disasters, and death will be sure to visit the people should they fail to make the offering.  Each year in the month of December the people are reminded of their obligation by the appearance in the sky of a constellation known as Balatik,[1] and soon thereafter a human sacrifice doubtless takes place in some one or more of the Bagobo settlements.

[1] Orion.

A man to come under the protection of these two deities must first have taken at least two human lives.  He is then entitled to wear a peculiar chocolate-colored kerchief with white patterns in it.  When he has killed four he may wear blood-red trousers, and when his score has reached six he may don a full blood-red suit and carry a sack of the same color.  Such a man is known as magani and his clothing marks him as a person of distinction and power in his village.  He is one of the leaders in a war party; he is chosen by the datu to inflict the death penalty when it has been decreed; and he is one of the assistants in the yearly sacrifice.  It is not necessary that those he kills, in order to gain the right to wear a red suit, be warriors.  On the contrary he may kill women and children from ambush and still receive credit for the achievement, provided his victims are from a hostile village.  He may count those of his townspeople whom he has killed in fair fight, and the murder of an unfaithful wife and her admirer is credited to him as a meritorious deed.

The workers in iron and brass, the weavers of hemp cloth, and the mediums or shamans—­known as mabalian—­are under the protection of special deities for whom they make ceremonies at certain times of the year.

The mabalian just mentioned are people—­generally women past middle life—­who, through sufficient knowledge of the spirits and their desires, are able to converse with them, and to make ceremonies and offerings which will attract their attention, secure their good will, or appease their wrath.  They may have a crude knowledge of medicine plants, and, in some cases, act as exorcists.  The ceremonies which art performed at the critical periods of life are conducted by these mabalian, and they also direct the offerings associated with planting and harvesting.  They are generally the ones who erect the little shrines seen along the trails or in the forests, and it is they who put offerings in the “spirit boxes” in the houses.  Although they, better than all others, know how to read the signs and warnings sent by the spirits, yet, all of the people know the meaning of certain omens sent through the medium of birds and the like.  The call of the limokon[1] is recognized as an encouragement or a warning and its message will be heeded without fail.  In brief, every natural phenomenon and every living thing is caused by or is subject to the will of unseen beings, who in turn can be influenced by the acts of individuals.  As a result everything of importance is undertaken with reference to these superior powers.