Baloey, a Kagan living at Padada, claims to have seen a Bila-an sacrifice at Ma-al, about ten years ago, while Bagobo Datu Ansig of Talun, and Tongkaling of Cibolan claim to have witnessed several of these events.  As their accounts agree in most particulars with the two just recorded, it seems probable that we have here a fairly accurate account of a rite which no white man has seen or can hope to see.

In studying the decorative art of this people a person encounters the same difficulties as with the Bagobo.  Nearly all garments are covered with elaborate patterns (Plates LVI-LX), to some of which all the people will give the same names and explanations; but by far the greater portion of the designs have only pattern names which are unexplained.  Many designs are readily identified as men and alligators.  In Fig. 41 the forms marked a are identified as men and women, while the conventionalized crocodile is shown in the same plates by the figures marked b.  Fig. 42 is perhaps the most interesting since it shows in one garment the process of conventionalization.  Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4, are realistic representations of the human form; in 5 and 6 the heads are lacking but the figures are easily recognized, while the balance have lost all resemblance to the original, except for the uplifted arms and spread legs, However, the great majority of decorative patterns on clothing are without meaning to the mass of the people, and this is true also of the designs on baskets, in mats, the incised designs often seen on pottery jars, and of the carvings which frequently cover hangers, tobacco tubes, and the like.

FIG. 41.  DESIGNS EMBROIDERED ON MEN’S CLOTHING.

FIG. 42.  DESIGNS EMBROIDERED ON MEN’S CLOTHING.

The language of this tribe, while quite uniform among its divisions, varies considerably from that of any of their coast neighbors.  There is at once noticeable a more common use of obscure vowel and consonant sounds, such as b, f, E, a, and k, in the beginning, end or even in the body of the word; while the letter f, seldom found in Philippine dialects, is here very common; and finally, there is wide variation in vocabulary.

There are certain ill-defined tales to the effect that this tribe once lived about Lake Buluan, and one writer[1] has attempted to show that the tribal name is derived from that early home.  Today they are still in considerable numbers in that region, and this together with the fact that they are now, and have been since the advent of the white man, primarily an interior mountain people, helps to give credence to the belief that they have spread to their present homes from the lake district.  Their language is a further proof that they have long been separated from the people of the Davao Gulf region, for it differs more from all the other dialects studied than did any of these vary among themselves.  Despite the foregoing statement, this brief sketch has shown that in material culture, religion, and even physical type this tribe does not differ radically from the Bagobo.