The Wild Tribes of Davao District, Mindanao Part 8

DECORATIVE ART.

To a stranger entering a Bagobo house, in the absence of its owners, it appears that the people have little artistic development. He sees no paintings, no drawings, and few, if any, attempts to beautify the house with carvings. The pots sitting by the fire, show no decoration nor do the other household utensils exhibit embellishment of any kind. A closer study of the field baskets, however, shows a slight attempt to produce ornamentation by changing the weave of the central band from that at the top and bottom, or by adding a few rude lines in pitch. The moment the people enter, however, all is changed. The clothing they wear is covered with intricate patterns, some realistic, others highly conventionalized (Plate x.x.xI). Wonderful designs in beads or sh.e.l.l disks appear on coats, jackets, and carrying bags, while at neck, waist, shoulder, and at the bottom of sleeves and trousers are other figures in fine embroidery or applique. Strands of beads and seeds exhibiting a great variety of designs surround the necks of both men and women, while rings, armlets, leglets, and anklets of beads, plaited material or metal, are common.

Combs are covered with pitch and inlaid with beads, or patterns are incised in the wood and filled with lime. Ear plugs exhibit beautiful delicate patterns inlaid with bra.s.s or silver.

A glance at the weapons carried by the man shows that his knife has been ornamented with caps of bra.s.s (Plate x.x.xII), the metal guard has cut or cast patterns in its surface, while sheath and carrying belt are covered with thin bra.s.s plates, painted lines, or a beaded cloth (Plate x.x.xIII) with bells attached. Fronts and backs of shields are covered with incised designs, while the metal ferrule next to the spear head seldom lacks in conventionalized figures. So the list might be extended to cover the women's knives and their pocket and carrying baskets, as well as the betel boxes and lime holders used by both s.e.xes. In short, there seems to be no end to the list of personal ornaments and equipment which may be improved by carvings, arrangements of beads or metal castings and inlays. Even the horses are decorated with artificial forelocks of hair and beads. Strings of bells surround their necks, while saddles and whips display the aesthetic taste of their owners.

A part of this decoration is apparently realistic and will readily be identified by any member of the tribe; another part is suggestive and with a widely known meaning, but by far the greater number of designs have no generally accepted signification. The writer spent many hours securing the names of the designs on textiles, ornaments, or on lime boxes, only to receive the reply "done to make pretty," or to find that no two of five or a dozen informants could agree on many patterns, while frequently it was found that some obliging individual had volunteered names at one time which he could not remember on the day following. It is possible that a long residence with the people and diligent inquiry along this line might yield more definite results, but for the present the writer must content himself by showing some typical examples of the decorative art, and adding a few notes to the same.

The great majority of baskets lack in decoration, other than that which can be obtained by a slight change in the weave. In these a central band can be distinguished from those at top and bottom, although the same material is used and there is only a minor variation in the technique.

Small carrying receptacles, or trinket baskets, frequently have designs produced by plaiting the rattan or bamboo of natural color with that which has been blackened (Plate x.x.xIVa). No uniform meaning or pattern name seems to be attached to the designs shown in this specimen, but an incised design on the wooden rim was readily identified as a crocodile.

The small baskets in the coiled weave sometimes have the fronts entirely covered with beads which are woven into the basket in parallel lines.

The tobacco box shown in Plate x.x.xV has been covered with cloth and pitch, in which an artistic design made from the yellow cuticle of an orchid has been inlaid. Plate x.x.xVb shows the wooden tops of three tobacco boxes. Nos. 1 and 2 are carved and inlaid with beads and b.u.t.tons in designs which "look pretty," but number 3 depicts a hunting scene in which two men and a dog are hunting the alligator. Several beads are missing so that it requires quite a stretch of the imagination to secure the impression the native artist meant to impart.

The prized trinket baskets of the women generally have the fronts covered with cloth, to which hundreds of colored beads are sewed, in elaborate designs (Plate x.x.xVI).

The patterns brought out in the weaving are as beautiful and intricate as they are confusing. Five typical specimens of cloth used in women's skirts are shown in Plate x.x.xVII. In them can be found several apparently different designs to some of which names were a.s.signed, but as there was no agreement among my informers I refrain from giving them here. The pattern marked X in (c) was generally identified as "alligator," yet the weavers were by no means agreed.

The strip of cloth (Plate x.x.xVIII) was intended for the center breadth in a woman's skirt and shows the typical designs employed in the best garments.

The extensive use of beads is shown in Plates x.x.xIX-XL. Carrying bags, clothing, combs, necklaces, armlets, belts and sheath covers are partially covered with or made up of colored beads, always in designs, yet very few of these patterns have generally accepted meanings or names. The same holds true of the designs in sh.e.l.l disks, which, on the finer garments, take the place of beads. A few exceptions to this are found in which realistic patterns appear in (Plate x.x.xIb and Fig. 34).

FIG. 34. REALISTIC PATTERNS IN BEADS AND Sh.e.l.l DISKS.

Like the bead work, the embroidery and applique found on many garments are added "to make pretty." Some of this work is quite fine, but in general that of recent years is either inferior to that found on old garments or is borrowed from, or made by, the Bila-an women. Some garments, with designs produced by oversewing before dyeing, are seen here, but they are recent importations from the Kulaman or Tagakaolo tribes.

Necklaces and leglets are made of rattan and are decorated with burned lines or by being overlaid with platted strips of orchid and fern cuticle (Fig. 2).

A few rare specimens, such as personal ornaments or basket rims, have sewed in designs in which the sewing has been done with fern cuticle (Plate x.x.xIVb).

Incised patterns appear on nearly all the bamboo lime and tobacco holders, but here individual fancy plays such an important part that a hundred specimens might be examined without finding duplicate patterns.

Fig. 14. shows nine of these tubes covered with cut-in designs, yet only one figure, that marked X in _b_ could be identified. This was said to be the familiar crocodile.

Coming to the work in bra.s.s and copper we encounter an entirely new type of design. In some cases straight inlaid or overlaid strips and twisted wires are used to ornament the specimen; while in the raised and cut-in lines on the bells we find simple patterns. In the main, however, the ornamentation on this cla.s.s of material consists of complicated scrolls (Plate XLI), designs suggesting flower or tree patterns, or conventionalized figures. One only needs to compare these objects with similar specimens from Borneo and the Malayan Islands of the South, to find the source of this type of ornamentation.[53] In fact the imitation of Moro wares is practiced today. In Plate XLIa and b are shown two betel nut boxes--No. 1 the work of the Samal Moro, No. 2 the imitation of the inlaid work on the top of the first specimen. This last was made in my presence, and with the expressed intention of duplicating the Moro box. However, in this case, as in all others, the Bagobo caster did not attempt to exactly reproduce the work of another, but simply borrowed a broad idea, and thus he often creates new forms.

[53] See LING ROTH, Oriental Silver Work.

Not once did the writer receive a name for any pattern or design shown in metal work. A careful study of the method of work, of the articles produced, and of the folk-lore and religious observances connected with the work in bra.s.s and copper brings one to the conclusion that this cla.s.s of work is of comparatively recent introduction and that the instructors in the art were the Samal Moro.

Mention has already been made of the designs incised on combs and other objects which are afterwards filled with lime. Just here it is interesting to note that, so far as is known, the southern end of Mindanao and adjacent small islands, are the only parts of the Philippines in which this decoration, so typical of Melanesia, is to be found.

Realistic carvings were seen used in only two capacities. The first in certain ceremonies, where extremely crude wooden figures were offered to the spirits in exchange for the sick person (see p. 103), and the second, the wooden decoys used in hunting doves (See Plate XVIII).

Summing up our present information we can say: first, that the Bagobo makes use of certain realistic designs which in some cases have become conventionalized but still retain their former significance; second, that the greater part of decoration in beads, sh.e.l.l disks, embroidery or applique, as well as the incised designs in lime boxes and the like, have no meaning to the people of the present day, and are added only to make the objects more beautiful in the eyes of the owners. In this work there are no set patterns and each artist gives full reign to the fancy in producing these figures. Third, that the ideas for the patterns inlaid, incised, and cast in bra.s.s or copper, are furnished by the examples of this work coming from the Malays to the south, but that even in these the artist has taken great liberties in the execution of the design. Fourth, that one type of decoration, i. e., the incised figures filled with lime, suggests the possible influence of Melanesia on the artistic ideas of this people.

MYTHOLOGY.

During my stay with this tribe I heard parts of many folk-tales, some chanted, others told with gravity, and still others which caused the greatest levity. My limited knowledge of the dialect and pressure of other work caused me to delay the recording of these tales until I should begin a systematic study of the language. Owing to unforeseen circ.u.mstances, that time never came, and it is now possible to give only the slightest idea of a very rich body of tales.[54]

[54] Since this was written MISS BENEDICT has published an excellent collection of Bagobo Myths (_Journal of American Folklore_, 1913, XXVI.

pp. 13-63.)

In the main these stories are an attempt to account for the present order of things. In the tale which we quoted in part, at the beginning of the paper, we are told of an all-powerful being who created the earth and all that is. Other spirits and many animals inhabited the sky and earth which the creator had made. Of the latter only one, the monkey, is named. He and his kind, we are told, once inhabited and owned all the world, but were dispossessed by two human beings, Toglai and Toglibon, from whom all the people of the world are descended. After their death a great drought caused the people to disperse and seek out new homes in other parts. They journeyed in pairs and because of the objects which they carried with them, they are now known by certain names. One couple, for instance, carried with them a small basket called _bira-an_, and for this reason their children are known as Bira-an (Bila-an). From the time of the dispersion until the arrival of the Spaniards we learn that certain mythical heroes performed wonderful feats, in some cases being closely identified with the spirits themselves, in others making use of magic, the knowledge of which seems to have been common in those times.

The two following tales are typical of those commonly heard in a Bagobo gathering. The first was told by Urbano Eli, a Bagobo of Malilla.

"After the people were created a man named LumabEt was born. He could talk when he was one day old and the people said he was sent by Manama.

He lived ninety seasons and when still a young man he had a hunting dog which he took to hunt on the mountain. The dog started up a white deer and LumabEt and his companions followed until they had gone about the world nine times when they finally caught it. At the time they caught the deer LumabEt's hair was grey and he was an old man. All the time he was gone he had only one banana and one camote with him for food. When night came he planted the skin of the banana and in the morning he had ripe bananas to eat, and the camotes came the same way. When he had caught the deer LumabEt called the people to see him and he told them to kill his father. They obeyed him and then LumabEt took off his headband and waved it in the air over the dead man, and he at once was alive again. He did this eight times and at the eighth time his father was small like a little boy, for every time the people cut him in two the knife took off a little flesh. So all the people thought LumabEt was like a G.o.d.

"One year after he killed the deer he told all the people to come into his house, but they said they could not, for the house was small and the people many. But LumabEt said there was plenty of room, so all entered his house and were not crowded. The next morning the _diwata_, _tigyama_, and other spirits came and talked with him. After that he told the people that all who believed that he was powerful could go with him, but all who did not go would be turned into animals and _buso_.

Then LumabEt started away and those who stayed back became animals and _buso_.

"He went to the place Binaton, across the ocean, the place where the earth and sky meet. When he got there he saw that the sky kept going up and down the same as a man opening and closing his jaws. LumabEt said to the sky 'You must go up,' but the sky replied 'No.' At last LumabEt promised the sky that if he let the others go he might catch the last one who tried to pa.s.s; so the sky opened and the people went through; but when near to the last the sky shut down and caught the bolo of next to the last man. The last one he caught and ate.

"That day LumabEt's son Tagalion was hunting and caught many animals which he hung up. Then he said he must go to his father's place; so he leaned an arrow against a _baliti_ tree and sat on it. It began to grow down and carried him down to his father's place, but when he arrived there were no people there. He saw a gun, made out of gold, and some white bees in the house. The bees said 'You must not cry; we can take you to the sky,' So he rode on the gun, and the bees took him to the sky and he arrived there in three days.

"One of the men was looking down on the land below, and all of the spirits made fun of him and said they would take out his intestines so that he would be like one of them and never die. The man refused to let them, and he wanted to go back home because he was afraid; so Manama said to let him go.

"The spirits took leaves of the _karan_ gra.s.s and tied to his legs, and made a chain of the gra.s.s and let him down to the earth. When he reached the earth he was no longer a man but was an owl."

(2) The second tale, which was recorded by P. Juan Doyle, S. J., is as follows:

"In one of the torrents which has its origin at the foot of Apo, there were two eels which, having acquired extraordinary magnitude, had no room in so little water, on account of which they determined to separate, each one taking a different direction in search of the sea or the great lakes. One arrived, happily, at the sea by the Padada river, and from it came eels in the sea. The other descending a torrent, swimming and confining himself as well as he might, enclosed in these narrow places, said to himself 'I haven't the slightest idea of what the sea is, but it appears to me that when I see before me an extraordinary clearness on a limpid surface, that must be the sea, and with one spring I will jump into it.' So saying, he arrived at a point where the torrent formed a cascade. He noticed that it cut off the horizon and to his view it appeared of an extraordinary clearness; he thought he could swim there without limit, and at his pleasure, and that this, in fine, must be the sea. He darted into it, but the unhappy one was dashed against the rocks, and too fatigued to swim through the rough waters, he lost his life. His body lay there inert and formed undulations which are now the folds which the earth forms to the left of Mt. Apo."

OTHER BRANCHES OF THE TRIBE.

To the south and southwest of Mt. Apo, and west of Digos, are seven settlements, the inhabitants of which are known as Obo or Tigdapaya. On the south they meet the Bila-an, and, like this latter people, extend over the watershed into the valley of the Cotabato river. On the northwest they come in contact with the Ata. They have intermarried with both of these tribes, have adopted many of their customs, and in some cases their manner of dress. However, they consider themselves, and are considered by the Bagobo, as a part of that tribe, and recognize Tongkaling as their chief. Bagobo customs and blood predominate, although intermarriage with the Negrito was evident in nearly every individual of this division seen by the writer.

Immediately wrest of Daliao are three villages whose people are known as Eto or Ata. Aside from a slightly greater percentage of individuals showing negroid features, these people do not differ in any respect from the Bagobo. It does not seem that they should be cla.s.sed with the people later referred to as Ata. To the north, their lands join the territory held by the Guianga.

The habitat of the division called Guianga begins a few miles back of the Gulf and extends west to the watershed. An east and west line drawn through the village of Taloma marks their southern boundary, while to the north they approach the Lasan river. They are found in a number of scattered settlements which owe allegiance and are subject to five petty _datu_. Tongkaling is not recognized as having any authority in the district, and there seems to be no remembrance of a time when any of the Bagobo rulers held authority over the Guianga. Physically and culturally they do not seem to be far removed from the Bagobo, while their language is so closely related that individuals of the two divisions, meeting for the first time can carry on a conversation. There is, however, considerable variation between the dialects, both in intonation and vocabulary.

Further study may result in raising this branch to the dignity of a tribe, but the information at hand does not justify us in considering them other than a dialect group of the Bagobo.

II. BILA-AN.

SYNONYMS.

(a) TAGALAGAD--"dwellers in the back country" is the name generally applied to this tribe by the coast natives.

(b) TAGKOGON--"dwellers in the cogon"--The group living on the gra.s.s plains west of Malalag.

(c) BULUAN, BULUANES--The members of this tribe dwelling near to Lake Buluan. This group is sometimes identified with the Tagabili or Tagabulu who also reside in that region.

(d) BIRA-AN, BARA-AN--Synonym for BILA-AN, often used by the neighboring Bagobo.