The Bagobo, while well nourished, are inclined to be of slight build, with very narrow waists.  In color they are a light reddish brown with a slight olive tinge which is more pronounced in the women than in the men.

In a brief summary, we can say that they are a short, slightly built, metsati-cephalic people, with wavy hair, long faces, and broad, full noses and lips.  Individuals are met with who exhibit many of the physical characteristics of the Negrito;[2] while still others, both in color and facial lines, are comparable to the Chinese.

[2] Pygmy blacks of the Philippines.

DRESS—­PERSONAL ADORNMENT.

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.

FIG. 1.  SHELL BRACELET.

FIG. 2.  NECKLACE OF RATTAN OVERLAID WITH FERN AND ORCHID CUTICLE.

The woman wears a jacket which is close fitting about the neck and reaches to the skirt, so that no portion of the upper part of the body is exposed.  The cloth now used in this garment is generally secured in trade, and in recent years decoration in applique has begun to succeed the excellent embroidery seen on older garments.  Frequently the two types of decoration are seen on the same jacket, and to these are added complicated designs in shell or metal disks, or beads.  The narrow tube skirt is of hemp cloth and is made like a sack with both ends open.  At the waist it is held in place by means of a cloth or beaded belt.