{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_46024/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_46024","id":"gutenberg_46024","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/46024","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Archaeology & Anthropology","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Creation","Ifugao (Philippine people) -- Religion","Mythology, Philippine"],"text":"ORIGIN MYTHS AMONG THE\n                MOUNTAIN PEOPLES OF THE PHILIPPINES [1]\n\n                           By H. Otley Beyer\n\n   (From the Division of Ethnology, Bureau of Science, Manila, P. I.)\n\n                              Four plates\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBeliefs as to the origin of the earth, and of the men, animals,\nplants, and various topographical features found in it, seem to\nsurvive with greater persistence than any other trait of primitive\nculture. These beliefs lie at the base of nearly all religions, and\nthe myths in which the beliefs are preserved are the foundation of\nliterature. The preservation and study of origin myths is, therefore,\nof much importance in the reconstruction of the history of mankind\nwhich is the chief aim of anthropology.\n\nThe peoples of the Philippines have a rich and varied mythology\nas yet but little explored, but which will one day command much\nattention. Among the Christianized peoples of the plains the myths\nare preserved chiefly as folk tales, but in the mountains their\nrecitation and preservation is a real and living part of the daily\nreligious life of the people. Very few of these myths are written;\nthe great majority of them are preserved by oral tradition only.\n\nUntil recent years, it has been believed that all ancient records\nwritten in the syllabic alphabets which the Filipinos possessed at\nthe time of the Spanish conquest had been lost. It is now known,\nhowever, that two of these alphabets are still in use, to a limited\nextent, by the wild peoples of Palawan and Mindoro; and ancient\nmanuscripts written in the old Bisaya alphabet have been lately\ndiscovered in a cave in the Island of Negros. Many of these Negros\nmanuscripts are written myths, and translations of them are shortly\nto be published. The Bisaya peoples, in general, have preserved\ntheir old pagan beliefs to a greater extent than have the other\nChristian Filipinos, and it is to be hoped that the discovery of\nthese manuscripts will stimulate further investigations.\n\nAmong the pagan mountain peoples, with which this paper will chiefly\ndeal, there are no written myths except those which have been recorded\nby Europeans in modern times. Some of the myths are sung or chanted\nonly, while others are repeated in the form of stories. In nearly\nevery case, the repeating of the myths forms an important part of\nthe religious ceremonies of the people. Many different grades of\nculture are represented among these mountain peoples, and we find a\ncorrespondingly unequal development of their mythologies. All classes\nare represented: primitive, such as the beliefs of the Mangyans of\nMindoro, the Tagbanwas of Palawan, and the Ilongots of northern Luzon;\nmediocre, as the beliefs of the pagan tribes of Mindanao; and highly\ndeveloped, such as the elaborate polytheisms of the Ifugaos, Igorots,\nKalingas, and the other peoples of the Mountain Province in Luzon.\n\nMost of the myths and legends recorded here were collected by men\nwell acquainted with the dialect of the people from whom the myth or\nlegend was obtained; they are, therefore, of much greater value than\nif they had been secured through interpreters.\n\nI shall next discuss a few myths from each of the classes just\nmentioned.\n\n\n\n\nPRIMITIVE BELIEFS\n\nOur knowledge of the more primitive tribes of the Philippines is very\nlimited and is chiefly confined to the material culture, together\nwith a few of the more obvious social traits. Nothing like a complete\nstudy of any one of these tribes has ever been made. Of the Ilongots,\nmost of our knowledge [2] is contained in the records of the early\nSpanish missionaries of the first part of the 18th century, at which\ntime an extensive exploration of the Ilongot country was made. [3]\nThere are two modern sources of information: a paper by Worcester,\n[4] which deals chiefly with the material culture, and the notes of\nDr. William Jones, who was killed while studying the ethnology of\nthis people. Dr. Jones' notes are now in the possession of the Field\nMuseum, Chicago, and have not yet been published. Relating to the\nMangyans, there are three important papers by Worcester, [5] Gardner,\n[6] and Miller, [7] but these likewise deal chiefly with the material\nand general social culture, and give only fragmentary notes regarding\nthe religious beliefs. Two papers, one by Worcester [8] and one by\nVenturello, [9] relate to the Tagbanwas. The religion of these people\nis interesting, although primitive. The general character of their\nbeliefs may be seen by the following quotation from Worcester: [10]\n\n\n    I was especially interested in their views as to a future\n    life. They scouted the idea of a home in the skies, urging that\n    it would be inaccessible. Their notion was that when a Tagbanua\n    died he entered a cave, from which a road led down into the\n    bowels of the earth. After passing along this road for some time,\n    he came suddenly into the presence of one Tali\u00e1kood, a man of\n    gigantic stature, who tended a fire which burned forever between\n    two tree-trunks without consuming them. Tali\u00e1kood inquired of\n    the new arrival whether he had led a good or a bad life in the\n    world above. The answer came, not from the individual himself,\n    but from a louse on his body.\n\n    I asked what would happen should the man not chance to possess\n    any of these interesting arthropoda, and was informed that such\n    an occurrence was unprecedented! The louse was the witness,\n    and would always be found, even on the body of a little dead child.\n\n    According to the answer of this singular arbiter, the fate of the\n    deceased person was decided. If he was adjudged to have been a bad\n    man, Tali\u00e1kood pitched him into the fire, where he was promptly\n    and completely burned up. If the verdict was in his favour, he\n    was allowed to pass on, and soon found himself in a happy place,\n    where the crops were always abundant and the hunting was good. A\n    house awaited him. If he had died before his wife, he married\n    again, selecting a partner from among the wives who had preceded\n    their husbands; but if husband and wife chanced to die at the same\n    time, they remarried in the world below. Every one was well off\n    in this happy underground abode, but those who had been wealthy\n    on earth were less comfortable than those who had been poor. In\n    the course of time sickness and death again overtook one. In fact,\n    one died seven times in all, going ever deeper into the earth and\n    improving his surroundings with each successive inward migration,\n    without running a second risk of getting into Tali\u00e1kood's fire.\n\n    I could not persuade the Tagbanuas to advance any theories as\n    to the nature or origin of the sun, moon, and stars. Clouds they\n    called \"the breath of the wind.\"\n\n    They accounted for the tide by saying that in a far-distant sea\n    there lived a gigantic crab: when he went into his hole the water\n    was forced out, and the tide rose; when he came out the water\n    rushed in, and the tide fell. The thing was simplicity itself.\n\n    I asked them why the monkey looked so much like a man. They said\n    because he was once a man, who was very lazy when he should have\n    been planting rice. Vexed at his indolence, a companion threw\n    a stick at him which stuck into him; whereupon he assumed his\n    present form, the stick forming his tail.\n\n\nFrom the foregoing, it is evident that the Tagbanwa beliefs are\nnot highly developed. However, several items are of interest for\ncomparison with the beliefs of the more cultured tribes to be later\ndescribed. Of these items, those most to be kept in mind are the\nidea of a seven-storied underworld, and the name of the chief deity\nof that underworld, Tali\u00e1kud. This name comes from the stem t\u00e1kud,\nt\u00fakud, or t\u00f3kod, which is common to many Philippine dialects and\nmeans \"post\" or \"support.\" It is generally applied to the four legs\nor posts of the common Philippine house. Now, the belief in an Atlas,\nor god who supports the earth world, is widespread in the Philippines,\nand the name applied to this god is nearly always derived from this\nsame stem t\u00fakud. The Ifugao Atlas is Tin\u00fakud of the underworld, and\nI suspect that the Tagbanwa Tali\u00e1kud of the underworld is a deity of\nthe same character.\n\n\n\n\nBELIEFS OF THE PAGAN TRIBES OF MINDANAO\n\nThe interior of Mindanao is occupied by some ten pagan tribes, the\nmost important being the Man\u00f3bos, Mandayas, At\u00e1s, Bag\u00f3bos, Bil\u00e1ns,\nTirurais, and Sub\u00e1nuns. These tribes are all remarkably alike in\nculture; much more so, in fact, than any other similar group of peoples\nin the Philippines; and this culture shows a close resemblance to\nthat of the tribes in the interior of Borneo. In the development of\ntheir myths and of their religious beliefs, these peoples occupy a\nmiddle position between the more primitive and the highest developed\ntypes of the Philippines. John M. Garvan has recently completed a\nvery extensive study of the Man\u00f3bo peoples of the Agusan Valley,\nin eastern Mindanao, and the following beliefs and myths are quoted\nfrom his unpublished notes.\n\n\n    ORIGIN OF THE EARTH AND ITS INHABITANTS\n\n    The story of the creation of the world is variable throughout the\n    whole Ag\u00fasan Valley. In the district surrounding Talak\u00f3gon, the\n    creation is attributed to Makal\u00eddung, the first great Man\u00f3bo. The\n    details of his great work are very meager. He set it up on posts\n    (some say iron posts) with one in the center. At the central\n    post he has his abode, in company with a python, according to\n    the version of some, and whenever he feels displeasure toward\n    men, he shakes the post, thereby producing an earthquake, and at\n    the same time intimating to man his anger. It is believed that,\n    should the trembling continue, the world would be destroyed.\n\n    In the same district it is believed that the sky is round and that\n    its extremities are at the limits of the sea. Somewhat near these\n    limits is an enormous hole called the navel of the sea through\n    which the waters descend.\n\n    It is said that in the early days of creation the sky was low,\n    but that one day a woman, while pounding rice, hit it with her\n    pestle and it ascended to its present position.\n\n    Another version of the creation, prevalent among the Man\u00f3bos of\n    the Argauan and H\u00edbung Rivers, gives the control of the world to\n    D\u00e1gau, who lives at the four fundamental pillars in the company of\n    a python. Being a woman, D\u00e1gau dislikes the sight of human blood,\n    and when it is spilled upon the face of the earth she incites the\n    huge serpent to wreathe itself around the pillars and shake the\n    world to its foundations. Should she become exceedingly angry,\n    she diminishes the supply of rice either by removing it from the\n    granary or by making the soil unproductive.\n\n    Another variation of the story to be heard on the Upper Ag\u00fasan,\n    Simulau, and Umayan Rivers, has it that the world is like a\n    huge mushroom and that it is supported upon an iron pillar in\n    the center. This pillar is controlled by the higher and more\n    powerful order of diuw\u00e1ta, who on becoming angered at the actions\n    of men manifest their feelings by shaking the pillar and thereby\n    reminding men of their duties.\n\n\nThree points in the beliefs just mentioned should be kept in\nmind. First, the recurrence of the idea that the earth world is\nsupported by a post created by the chief deity and near which he\ndwells. Second, the belief in the p\u00fasod nang d\u00e1gat, or \"navel of the\nsea,\" which is common to all of the pagan tribes of Mindanao and was\nalso known by the ancient Bis\u00e1yas, Tag\u00e1logs, and other peoples now\nChristianized. It is extremely probable that this belief originated\nfrom some great whirlpool, known to the ancestors of the Philippine\npeoples or passed by them on their voyages. [11] Third, the belief that\nthe sky was once very near the earth, and was raised to its present\nposition by some deity. This belief is also common in northern Luzon.\n\nThe idea of the origin of curious-shaped rocks, hills, or mountains\nby petrifaction of some living animal or plant is common in the\nPhilippines. Garvan gives the two following Man\u00f3bo legends of this\ncharacter:\n\n\n    THE PETRIFIED CRAFT AND CREW OF K\u00c1GBUB\u00c1TANG\n\n    In the old, old days a boat was passing the rocky promontory\n    of K\u00e1gbub\u00e1tang. [12] The occupants espied a monkey and a cat\n    fighting upon the summit of the cliff. The incongruity of the\n    thing suggested itself to them, and they began to give vent to\n    derisive remarks, addressing themselves to the brute combatants,\n    when, lo and behold! they and their craft were turned into rock. To\n    this day the petrified craft and crew may be seen placed upon the\n    promontory, and all who pass must make an offering, [13] howsoever\n    small it be, to their vexed souls. To pass the point without making\n    an offering might arouse the anger of its petrified inhabitants,\n    and render the traveler liable to bad weather and rough seas. [14]\n\n    The imitation of frogs is especially forbidden, for it might be\n    followed not merely by thunderbolts but also by petrifaction of\n    the offender, and in proof of this is adduced the legend of Ang\u00f3\n    of Bin\u00e1oi. [15]\n\n\n    THE LEGEND OF ANG\u00d3, THE PETRIFIED MAN\u00d3BO\n\n    Ang\u00f3 lived many years ago on a lofty peak with his wife and\n    family. One day he hied him to the forest with his dogs in quest\n    of game. Fortune granted him a fine big boar, but he broke his\n    spear in dealing the mortal blow. Upon arriving at a stream, he\n    sat down upon a stone and set himself to straightening out his\n    spear. The croaking of the nearby frogs attracted his attention,\n    and, imitating their shrill gamut, he boldly told them that\n    it would be better to cease their cries and help him mend his\n    spear. He continued his course up the rocky torrent, but noticed\n    that a multitude of little stones began to follow behind in his\n    path. Surprised at such a happening, he hastened his steps. Looking\n    back he saw bigger stones join in the pursuit. He then seized his\n    dog, and in fear began to run, but the stones kept in hot pursuit,\n    bigger and bigger ones joining the party. Upon arriving at his\n    sweet-potato patch, he was exhausted and had to slacken his pace,\n    whereupon the stones overtook him and one became attached to his\n    finger. He could not go on. He called upon his wife. She with\n    the young ones sought the magic lime [16] and set it around\n    her husband, but all to no avail for his feet began to turn\n    to stone. His wife and children, too, fell under the wrath of\n    An\u00edtan. The following morning they were stone up to the knees,\n    and during the following three days the petrifying continued\n    from the knees to the hips, then to the breast, and then to the\n    head. Thus it is that to this day there may be seen on Bin\u00e1oi\n    peak the petrified forms of Ang\u00f3 and his family. [17]\n\n\nThe sun, moon, and stars are great deities, or the dwelling place\nof such deities, in nearly all Philippine religions. The following\nMan\u00f3bo myth is interesting because of its resemblance to others from\nnorthern Luzon.\n\n\n    THE ORIGIN OF THE STARS AND THE EXPLANATION OF SUNSET AND SUNRISE\n\n    It is said that in the olden time the Sun and the Moon were\n    married. They led a peaceful, harmonious life. Two children\n    were the issue of their wedlock. One day the Moon had to attend\n    to one of the household duties that fall to the lot of a woman,\n    some say to get water, others say to get the daily supply of food\n    from the fields. Before departing, she crooned the children to\n    sleep and told her husband to watch them but not to approach lest\n    by the heat that radiated from his body he might harm them. She\n    then started upon her errand. The Sun, who never before had been\n    allowed to touch his bairns, arose and approached their sleeping\n    place. He gazed upon them fondly, and, bending down, kissed them,\n    but the intense heat that issued from his countenance melted them\n    like wax. Upon perceiving this he wept and quietly betook himself\n    to the adjoining forest in great fear of his wife.\n\n    The Moon returned duly, and after depositing her burden in the\n    house turned to where the children slept but found only their\n    dried, inanimate forms. She broke out into a loud wail, and in\n    the wildness of her grief called upon her husband. But he gave no\n    answer. Finally softened by the loud long plaints, he returned\n    to his house. At the sight of him the wild cries of grief and\n    of despair and of rebuke redoubled themselves until finally the\n    husband, unable to soothe the wife, became angry and called her\n    his chattel. At first she feared his anger and quieted her sobs,\n    but, finally breaking out into one long wail, she seized the\n    burnt forms of her babes, and in the depth of her anguish and\n    her rage threw them to the ground in different directions. Then\n    the husband became angry again, and, seizing some taro leaves\n    that his wife had brought from the fields, cast them in her face\n    and went his way. Upon his return he could not find his wife,\n    and so it is to this day that the Sun follows the Moon in an\n    eternal cycle of night and day. And so it is, too, that stars\n    stand scattered in the sable firmament, for they, too, accompany\n    her in her hasty flight. Ever and anon a shooting star breaks\n    across her path, but that is only a messenger from her husband\n    to call her back. She, however, heeds it not, but speeds on her\n    way in never-ending flight with the marks of the taro leaves [18]\n    still upon her face and her starry train accompanying her to the\n    dawn and on to the sunset in one eternal flight.\n\n\nOn myths such as these the religions of the pagan tribes of Mindanao\nare built up. These religions are by no means primitive, but are\naccompanied by sacrifices, sometimes human, and the ceremonies are\nperformed by a well-developed priest class. [19]\n\nLet us now turn to the highest type of Philippine beliefs:\n\n\n\n\nTHE WELL-DEVELOPED POLYTHEISTIC RELIGIONS OF NORTHERN LUZON\n\nI shall mention chiefly the Igorot, Bontok, and Ifugao peoples, as\nthese three, in addition to holding the highest order of beliefs,\nare the best developed in general material and social culture of\nany of the Philippine mountain tribes. The Tinggi\u00e1n, Kalinga, and\nother tribes in that region also have religions of high type, but\nour information concerning them is more limited. [20]\n\nThe literature relating to the Igorot-Bontok-Ifugao group is very\nconsiderable in extent, and I shall refer only to a few of the more\nimportant papers dealing particularly with religion and mythology.\n\nBefore taking up the mythology proper, we should have some idea of\nthe religion as a whole. These peoples believe that the regions of\nthe sky world, earth world, and underworld are peopled by an almost\nincalculable number of deities of varying character and powers. Some of\nthese deities are the great beings who inspire the phenomena of nature,\nwhile others are guardian spirits, messenger spirits, or mischievous\ntricksters. The great nature deities are mostly of malevolent\ncharacter, and are much feared. Ancestral souls and the souls of sacred\nanimals are looked upon as mediators between gods and men. Pigs and\nchickens are sacrificed to the deities, and other articles of food\nand drink are provided for them. Many elaborate religious feasts\nand ceremonies are held at which priests officiate. The priests\nform a well-defined class, and in some districts there are also\npriestesses. A religious ceremony is required for every important\nact of life, and the priests and priestesses are usually busy people.\n\nIt would seem that a religion of this same general type was also\ncommon among the lowland peoples of the Philippines before they were\nChristianized by the Spaniards. Pigafetta, the first European to write\nof the Philippines, describes a ceremony, which he saw performed in\nCebu in the year 1520, as follows: [21]\n\n\n    In order that your most illustrious Lordship may know the\n    ceremonies that those people use in consecrating the swine, they\n    first sound those large gongs. Then three large dishes are brought\n    in; two with roses and with cakes of rice and millet, baked and\n    wrapped in leaves, and roast fish; the other with cloth of Cambaia\n    and two standards made of palm-tree cloth. One bit of cloth of\n    Cambaia is spread on the ground. Then two very old women come,\n    each of whom has a bamboo trumpet in her hand. When they have\n    stepped upon the cloth they make obeisance to the sun. Then they\n    wrap the cloths about themselves. One of them puts a kerchief with\n    two horns on her forehead, and takes another kerchief in her hands,\n    and dancing and blowing upon her trumpet, she thereby calls out to\n    the sun. The other takes one of the standards and dances and blows\n    on her trumpet. They dance and call out thus for a little space,\n    saying many things between themselves to the sun. She with the\n    kerchief takes the other standard, and lets the kerchief drop,\n    and both blowing on their trumpets for a long time, dance about\n    the bound hog. She with the horns always speaks covertly to the\n    sun, and the other answers her. A cup of wine is presented to\n    her of the horns, and she dancing and repeating certain words,\n    while the other answers her, and making pretense four or five\n    times of drinking the wine, sprinkles it upon the heart of the\n    hog. Then she immediately begins to dance again. A lance is given\n    to the same woman. She shaking it and repeating certain words,\n    while both of them continue to dance, and making motions four or\n    five times of thrusting the lance through the heart of the hog,\n    with a sudden and quick stroke, thrusts it through from one side\n    to the other. The wound is quickly stopped with grass. The one\n    who has killed the hog, taking in her mouth a lighted torch,\n    which has been lighted throughout that ceremony, extinguishes\n    it. The other one dipping the end of her trumpet in the blood\n    of the hog, goes around marking with blood with her finger\n    first the foreheads of their husbands, and then the others;\n    but they never came to us. Then they divest themselves and go\n    to eat the contents of those dishes, and they invite only women\n    (to eat with them). The hair is removed from the hog by means of\n    fire. Thus no one but old women consecrate the flesh of the hog,\n    and they do not eat it unless it is killed in this way.\n\n\nThis ceremony, almost the same as described by Pigafetta, is in use\namong the Ifugaos to-day, although it is performed by men instead of\nby women and differs in a few minor details.\n\nI shall next discuss the religion and mythology of the Igorots,\nBontoks, and Ifugaos, treated separately and in more detail.\n\n\n\n\nTHE IGOROTS\n\nThese people occupy the subprovinces of Benguet, Lepanto, and Amburayan\nin the Mountain Province. The region of their purest culture is in\nnorthern Benguet and eastern Lepanto. Of the religion of this region,\nwe have considerable information from the writings of Fr. Angel Perez,\nan Augustinian missionary; Sr. Sinforoso Bondad of Cervantes, Lepanto;\nand a number of personal observations made by myself.\n\nThe sun gods, and the deities of the sky world in general, occupy the\nmost important place in the Igorot religion. Place-spirits and animal\ndeities are likewise highly developed. At a place called K\u00e1gub\u00e1tan,\n[22] at the foot of the sacred mountain M\u00fagao in eastern Lepanto,\nis a small lake full of sacred eels which the people guard with great\ncare. They believe that if these eels were killed the springs would all\ndry up and they would have no water for their terraced rice fields. The\neels are fed every day with rice and sweet potatoes by the children\nof the village, who, as they approach the lakelet, sing a peculiarly\nsweet and mournful song, upon hearing which the eels all rise to the\nsurface of the water and approach the shore to receive their food.\n\nThe Igorots have both priests and priestesses, and they perform\nmany public and private ceremonies, both for the benefit of the\ngreat deities and for the countless minor spirits which inhabit the\nsacred mountains, cliffs, groves, trees, and bushes that are scattered\nthroughout the Igorot country. Sacrifices of pigs or chickens are made\nat every ceremony. The ceremonies of the common people are more or\nless of a private nature, but those of the aristocracy and of wealthy\nmen are nearly always public and general. The greatest ceremonies are\nthose connected with war and marriage and the great public festival\nwhich proves a man's right to the title of nobility.\n\nThe Igorots have a high code of morals which is closely associated\nwith their religious belief. They also have a scientific calendar\nand a considerable knowledge of astronomy which has effected many\nmodifications in their religion. Their mythology is extensive, and\nthey have a rich unwritten literature of epic poems, hero-stories,\nand historical legends. Most of the myths are too long to be given\nhere, but for purposes of comparison I give the following short one\nwhich was collected by the Dominican, Fr. Mariano Rodriguez:\n\n\n    It has been mentioned above that among their tales and stories\n    they preserve a tradition relating to their origin and beginning,\n    after a great and dreadful flood which, a very long time ago, as\n    their old people relate, covered the earth. All the inhabitants\n    except a brother and sister were drowned. The brother and sister,\n    though separated from each other, were saved, the woman on the\n    summit of the highest mountain in the District of Lepanto, called\n    Kalau\u00edtan, and the man in a cave of the same mountain. After the\n    water had subsided, the man of the cave came out from his hiding\n    place one clear and calm moonlight night, and as he glanced around\n    that immense solitude, his eyes were struck by the brightness of a\n    big bonfire burning there on the summit of the mountain. Surprised\n    and terrified, he did not venture to go up on the summit where the\n    fire was, but returned to his cave. At the dawn of day he quickly\n    climbed toward the place where he had seen the brightness the\n    preceding night, and there he found huddled up on the highest peak\n    his sister, who received him with open arms. They say that from\n    this brother and sister so providentially saved, all the Igorots\n    that are scattered through the mountains originated. They are\n    absolutely ignorant of the names of those privileged beings, but\n    the memory of them lives freshly among the Igorots, and in their\n    feasts, or whenever they celebrate their marriages, the aged people\n    repeat to the younger ones this wonderful history, so that they\n    can tell it to their sons, and in that way pass from generation\n    to generation the memory of their first progenitors. [23]\n\n\nThis myth of the great flood, and of the brother and sister who\nsurvived it, is common throughout northern Luzon. It is most highly\ndeveloped by the Ifugaos, as we shall later see.\n\n\n\n\nTHE BONTOKS\n\nThe Bontoks are sometimes wrongly called Igorots, but have no more\nright to that name than have the Ifugaos. They are a distinct people,\noccupying a part of the subprovince of Bontok. They are in some\nrespects unique, and possess certain social institutions and traits\nwhich have not been found elsewhere in the Philippines. Most of our\ninformation concerning them is contained in the monograph by Jenks;\n[24] in the bulky volume on the language by Seidenadel; [25] and\nin my own observations on the general culture and ethnology of the\nBontoks. Jenks' monograph is excellent as an economic paper, but\nthe few myths given are mostly children's stories. Seidenadel [26]\ngives several myths in the form of texts, and some of these I have\nfreely translated as follows:\n\n\nSTORIES ABOUT LUM\u00c1WIG\n\n    The sons of Lum\u00e1wig went hunting. In all the world there were\n    no mountains, for the world was flat, and it was impossible to\n    catch the wild pigs and the deer. Then said the elder brother:\n    \"Let us flood the world so that mountains may rise up.\" Then they\n    went to inundate at Mab\u00fad-bod\u00f3bud. Then the world was flooded. Then\n    said the elder brother: \"Let us go and set a trap.\" They used as\n    a trap the head-basket at Mab\u00fad-bod\u00f3bud. Then they raised the\n    head-basket and there was much booty: wild pigs and deer and\n    people--for all the people had perished. There were alive only\n    a brother and sister on Mt. P\u00f3kis. Then Lum\u00e1wig looked down on\n    P\u00f3kis and saw that it was the only place not reached by the water,\n    and that it was the abode of the solitary brother and sister. Then\n    Lum\u00e1wig descended and said: \"Oh, you are here!\" And the man said:\n    \"We are here, and here we freeze!\" Then Lum\u00e1wig sent his dog and\n    his deer to Kalauw\u00edtan to get fire. They swam to Kalauw\u00edtan,\n    the dog and the deer, and they got the fire. Lum\u00e1wig awaited\n    them. He said: \"How long they are coming!\" Then he went to\n    Kalauw\u00edtan and said to his dog and the deer: \"Why do you delay\n    in bringing the fire? Get ready! Take the fire to P\u00f3kis; let me\n    watch you!\" Then they went into the middle of the flood, and the\n    fire which they had brought from Kalauw\u00edtan was put out! Then\n    said Lum\u00e1wig: \"Why do you delay the taking? Again you must bring\n    fire; let me watch you!\" Then they brought fire again, and he\n    observed that that which the deer was carrying was extinguished,\n    and he said: \"That which the dog has yonder will surely also be\n    extinguished.\" Then Lum\u00e1wig swam and arrived and quickly took the\n    fire which his dog had brought. He took it back to P\u00f3kis and he\n    built a fire and warmed the brother and sister. Then said Lum\u00e1wig:\n    \"You must marry, you brother and sister!\" Then said the woman:\n    \"That is possible; but it is abominable, because we are brother\n    and sister!\" Then Lum\u00e1wig united them, and the woman became\n    pregnant. They had many children * * * and Lum\u00e1wig continued\n    marrying them. Two went to Maligkong and had offspring there;\n    two went to Gin\u00e1ang and had offspring there; and the people\n    kept multiplying, and they are the inhabitants of the earth *\n    * *. Moreover, there are the Mayinit-men, the Baliwang-men, the\n    Tuk\u00fakan-men, the Kani\u00fa-men, the Barlig-men, etc. Thus the world is\n    distributed among the people, and the people are very many! * * *\n\n\nAnother story runs as follows:\n\n\n    The brother-in-law of Lum\u00e1wig said to him: \"Create water, because\n    the sun is very hot, and all the people are thirsty!\" Then said\n    Lum\u00e1wig: \"Why do you ask so much for water? Let us go on,\" he\n    continued, \"I shall soon create water.\" Then they went on, and at\n    last his brother-in-law said again: \"Well, why do you not create\n    water? It should be easy, if you are really Lum\u00e1wig!\" Then said\n    Lum\u00e1wig: \"Why do you shame me in public?\" And then they quarreled,\n    the brothers-in-law. Then they climbed on up the mountain, and\n    at last the brother-in-law said again: \"Why do you care nothing\n    because the people are thirsty, and you do not create water?\" Then\n    said Lum\u00e1wig: \"Let us sit down, people, and rest.\" Then he struck\n    the rock with his spear, and water sprang out. Then he said to\n    the people: \"Come and drink!\" And his brother-in-law stepped\n    forth to drink, but Lum\u00e1wig restrained him, saying: \"Do not\n    drink! Let the people drink first, so that we shall be the last\n    to drink.\" And when the people had finished drinking, Lum\u00e1wig\n    drank. Then he said to his brother-in-law: \"Come and drink.\" Then\n    the brother-in-law stooped to drink, and Lum\u00e1wig pushed him into\n    the rock. Water gushed out from his body. Then said Lum\u00e1wig:\n    \"Stay thou here because of thy annoying me!\" Then they named that\n    spot ad Isik. [27] Then the people went home; and the sister\n    of Lum\u00e1wig said to him: \"Why did you push your brother-in-law\n    into the rock?\" Then said Lum\u00e1wig: \"Surely, because he angered\n    me!\" Then the people prayed and performed sacrifices. * * *\n\n\nIn the above stories we see the recurrence of the flood myth and the\norigin of fire, or rather the manner in which men received it. The\nstory of bringing water out of a rock is interesting, and occurs again\nin Ifugao mythology in a slightly different form. It is possible,\nof course, that this is a biblical story which was brought in by some\nwandering Christians several generations past; but the flood legend\nis certainly native, and I see no good reason why the story of the\nmiraculous drawing of water from a rock should not also be a native\ndevelopment in spite of its similarity to the Hebrew myth.\n\nThe Bontoks have hundreds of myths and stories about Lum\u00e1wig, who\ncorresponds to the Ifugao L\u00edddum, who is the good god who gave men\nfire, animals, plants, and all the useful and necessary articles of\ndaily life. These myths are of great value, and it is to be hoped\nthat a full collection of them will some day be made.\n\nThe Bontok religion is, on the whole, somewhat less developed than\nthat of the Igorots and Ifugaos. The same general beliefs are held,\nhowever, and the ceremonial life is similar. Priests are the rule,\nrather than priestesses; and the same sacred animals are used, as in\nthe other areas. In the social organization, the clan system is in\na more perfect state of development than among any other people in\nthe Philippines.\n\nI shall now take up the last religion to be discussed, and the one\nwhich is at the same time the most highly developed:\n\n\n\n\nTHE RELIGION AND MYTHOLOGY OF THE IFUGAO PEOPLE OF NORTHERN LUZON [28]\n\nThe subject of the Ifugao religion is an extensive one, and I have no\nintention of discussing it in detail here. I shall merely give a few\ngeneral facts, and a few of the more interesting myths. In addition\nto some minor papers by the Dominican fathers Malumbres and Campa,\nmost of our information concerning the Ifugao religion is contained\nin three extensive manuscript monographs. [29] The myths that I shall\ngive here are selected from the first and third of these manuscripts,\nand the general facts are taken from all three.\n\n\n\n\nBELIEFS AND MYTHS OF THE KI\u00c1NGAN IFUGAOS\n\nThe Ifugao conception of the universe differs considerably in the\ndifferent religious districts. [30] The Western Ifugao and Central\nIfugao beliefs are closely associated, but stand quite apart from\nthose of Ki\u00e1ngan Ifugao. The people of the latter area think of the\nuniverse as being composed of a large number of horizontal layers\nwhich are very similar one to the other. The upper face of each\nof these layers is of earth, while the lower face of each of them\nis of a smooth blue stone called m\u00faling. [31] The layer on which\nwe live is called the Earth World (L\u00fata). The four layers above us\nconstitute the Sky World (D\u00e1ya), and are called, in order from the\ntop down, H\u00fadog, Lukt\u00e1g, Hubul\u00e1n, and Kab\u00fanian. The last is the\nlayer immediately above the Earth World, and it is the blue-stone\nunderfacing of this layer that we call the \"sky.\" The Under World\n(D\u00e1lom) consists of an unknown number of layers beneath the one on\nwhich we live. All of the layers meet in the farthest horizon, [32]\nwhere lie the mythical regions of the East (L\u00e1gud) and other places.\n\nSome of the Ki\u00e1ngan priests seem to have developed the further\nidea that this D\u00e1wi, or farthest horizon, is in the form of a great\ncelestial globe that surrounds the universe, forming its boundary,\nthe inside face of which can be distinguished in the hazy distance\nwhere the deep blue of the sky fades into a very light blue or\nwhitish color. [33] The Earth World, or layer on which we live,\nlies approximately at the center of the universe. It is therefore\nthe largest layer, and the layers of the Sky World and Under World\ngrow successively smaller as they approach the zenith and nadir of\nthe celestial globe, the boundary of the universe. [34]\n\nThe inhabitants of the universe consist chiefly of an incalculable\nnumber of greater and lesser deities and spirits. [35] In addition\nto these, there are the souls of men, animals, and plants. They\nhave always existed in the various regions of the universe, and were\nbrought to the Earth World by the gods. Men are descended from the\ngods of the Sky World, as we shall see in the myths.\n\nThe mythology of the Ki\u00e1ngan Ifugaos is rich and varied. As an\nintroduction to it, I have selected the following:\n\n\n    ORIGIN OF THE IFUGAOS [36]\n\n    I\n\n    Origin of the mountains.--The first son of W\u00edgan, called Kabig\u00e1t,\n    went from the sky region H\u00fadog to the Earth World to hunt with\n    dogs. As the earth was then entirely level, his dogs ran much\n    from one side to another, pursuing the quarry, and this they did\n    without Kabig\u00e1t hearing their barking. In consequence of which, it\n    is reported that Kabig\u00e1t said: \"I see that the earth is completely\n    flat, because there does not resound the echo of the barking of\n    the dogs. [37]\" After becoming pensive for a little while, he\n    decided to return to the heights of the Sky World. Later on he\n    came down again with a very large cloth, and went to close the\n    exit to the sea of the waters of the rivers, and so it remained\n    closed. He returned again to H\u00fadog, and went to make known to\n    Bong\u00e1bong that he had closed the outlet of the waters. Bong\u00e1bong\n    answered him: \"Go thou to the house of the Cloud, and of the Fog,\n    and bring them to me.\" For this purpose he had given permission\n    beforehand to Cloud and Fog, intimating to them that they should\n    go to the house of Baiyuh\u00edbi, [38] and so they did. Baiyuh\u00edbi\n    brought together his sons Tumiok, Dumal\u00e1lu, Lum-\u00fadul, Mumbat\u00e1nol,\n    and Inapl\u00edhan, and he bade them to rain without ceasing for three\n    days. Then Bong\u00e1bong called to X ... and to Mangiu\u00e1lat, and so\n    they ceased. W\u00edgan said, moreover, to his son Kabig\u00e1t: \"Go thou\n    and remove the stopper that thou hast placed on the waters,\" and\n    so he did. And in this manner, when the waters that had covered\n    the earth began to recede, there rose up mountains and valleys,\n    formed by the rushing of the waters. [39] Then Bong\u00e1bong called\n    Mumb\u00e1'an that he might dry the earth, and so he did.\n\n\n\n    II\n\n    The first inhabitants of the Earth World.--Such being the\n    state of affairs, Kabig\u00e1t went to hunt once again; and, while\n    following the dogs, that were chasing a quarry, he made a thrust\n    with his spear into a spring (or fountain) at the foot of a large\n    tree. Immediately Kabig\u00e1t returned to H\u00fadog, bringing with him the\n    captured quarry. When he had dressed and eaten the savory game,\n    Kabig\u00e1t said to his father W\u00edgan that he had seen on the Earth\n    World a spring and very good and beautiful trees for timber with\n    which to make houses, and that accordingly he was desirous of going\n    down to live at such a delightful place. His father answered him\n    that if he so desired he might do so.\n\n    Some time after Kabig\u00e1t had departed, and after he had cut\n    excellent timber wherewith to build a house, W\u00edgan said to his\n    daughter B\u00fagan: \"Look, daughter! Thy brother Kabig\u00e1t is down in\n    Kai-\u00e1ng building a house. I think that it would behoove thee to\n    look after his meals.\" B\u00fagan volunteered to descend with such\n    a design. This intention having been carried out, she lodged\n    herself in the upper part of the house, and her brother dwelt in\n    the lower part.\n\n    In the meantime, Kabig\u00e1t, reflecting on his solitude and want\n    of company, and, seeing that the domestic chickens, even though\n    related among themselves, produced other roosters and hens,\n    resolved to know carnally his sister B\u00fagan, during her sleep. Some\n    time having expired, the sister noted that she had fruit in her\n    womb. * * * Such was the sadness and melancholy that came upon her,\n    that she did nothing else but to weep and bewail herself, and to\n    seek by some means alleviation for her sorrow through a violent\n    death. She pretended to her brother that she was going to look for\n    \u00edsda, [40] but what she did was to follow the course of the river\n    until she arrived at its mouth in L\u00e1gud (the Eastern World). Upon\n    arriving at the shore of the sea, she remained there weeping and\n    waiting for someone to take away her life in a violent way. Soon\n    her brother Kabig\u00e1t (who had followed her) appeared there, and\n    B\u00fagan, upon discerning him, cast herself into the depths; but,\n    instead of going to the bottom, she stopped at the rice granary\n    of Ng\u00edl\u00een Mang\u00f3ngol. The brother, who witnessed the tragedy,\n    did not stop at trifles but at once cast himself after her into\n    the depths of the ocean, stopping, by a strange coincidence, at\n    the very same rice granary as his fugitive sister and spouse. She\n    continued there, bemoaning her misfortune, when, behold! Ng\u00edl\u00een,\n    hearing her plaint, approached and inquired the cause of her\n    affliction. She related to him her trouble, how she had conceived\n    by her carnal brother when she was asleep. Ng\u00edl\u00een soothed her as\n    follows: \"Do not be afflicted, daughter, by that. Are not the\n    fowls of Kai-\u00e1ng related among themselves, and yet they beget\n    just like those that are not so?\" The maiden became somewhat calm,\n    but still, out of shame for what had happened, she refused to eat\n    what Ng\u00edl\u00een offered her. Then he said to her: \"In order that thou\n    mayst further assure thyself of what I tell thee, and in order\n    that thou mayst quiet thyself, let us go and consult my elder\n    brother Amb\u00famabb\u00e1kal.\" And so they did. Amb\u00famabb\u00e1kal, having been\n    informed of the circumstances, burst out laughing and said to them:\n    \"Peradventure have ye not done well and righteously, there not\n    being in existence any others but yourselves to procreate? However,\n    for greater assurance, let us all go together to set forth the case\n    before Munt\u00e1log my father.\" Munt\u00e1log, having heard their story,\n    applauded the conduct of the solitary brother and sister. He told\n    them, accordingly, to calm themselves and to rest there for a\n    few days,--and so they did.\n\n\n\n    III\n\n    The bringing of fire to the Earth World.--On the third day, Kabig\u00e1t\n    requested leave to return, but Munt\u00e1log answered: \"Wait one day\n    more, until I in my turn go to my father Mumb\u00f3nang.\" Munt\u00e1log\n    found his father and mother seated facing each other; and, upon\n    his arrival, his mother, Mumboniag, came forward and asked him:\n    \"What news do you bring from those lower regions, and why do you\n    come?\" The father also became aware of the presence of his son,\n    through the questioning of the mother, and inquired likewise as to\n    the reason of his coming. Munt\u00e1log answered: \"I have come, father,\n    to ask thee for fire for some Ifugaos who remain in the house of\n    Amb\u00famabb\u00e1kal.\" \"My son,\" the father replied, \"those Ifugaos of\n    yours could not arrive at (or, come to) Mumb\u00f3nang without danger of\n    being burned to cinders.\" Then he continued: \"It is well! Approach\n    me!\" [41] Munt\u00e1log accordingly approached Mumb\u00f3nang, who said to\n    him: \"Seize hold of one of those bristles that stand out from my\n    hair,\" and so Munt\u00e1log did, noticing that the said point faced\n    the north, and he placed it in his hand. Then Mumb\u00f3nang said\n    to him again: \"Come nigh! Take this white part, or extremity,\n    of the eye that looks toward the northeast, toward the place\n    called Gonh\u00e1dan.\" And he took it and placed it in his hand. And\n    Mumb\u00f3nang said to him once more: \"Come near again, and take the\n    part black as coal, the dirt of my ear which is as the foulness\n    of my ear.\" And so he did. Then Mumb\u00f3nang said to Munt\u00e1log: \"Take\n    these things and bring them to thy son Amb\u00famabb\u00e1kal and to Ng\u00edl\u00een,\n    in order that the latter may give them to the Ifugaos.\" And he\n    said again to Munt\u00e1log: \"Take this white of my eye (flint), this\n    wax from my ear (tinder), and this bristle or point like steel\n    for striking fire, in order that thou mayst have the wherewith to\n    attain what thou seekest (that is, fire), and to give gradually\n    from hand to hand to the Ifugao; and tell him not to return to\n    live in Kai-\u00e1ng, but to live in Otb\u00f3bon, and cut down the trees\n    and make a clearing there, and then to get together dry grass;\n    and that they make use of the steel for striking fire, holding\n    it together in this manner, and burying it in the grass. And\n    on making the clearing if they see that snakes, owls, or other\n    things of evil omen approach, it is a sign that they are going\n    to die or to have misfortunes. But if they do not approach them,\n    it is a sign that it will go well with them in that place; that\n    the soil will be productive, and that they will be happy.\"\n\n\n\n    IV\n\n    The journey to Ifugao land from the East.--Upon the return of\n    Munt\u00e1log, at the termination of the fourth day, he said to B\u00fagan\n    and Kabig\u00e1t: \"Now ye can go but let Ng\u00edl\u00een and Amb\u00famabb\u00e1kal\n    accompany you as far as the house of Lingan, [42] in order that\n    there they may make the cloth or clothes necessary for wrapping\n    the child according to the usage of the Earth World.\"\n\n    Lingan actually furnished to them the cloth and the seamstress to\n    make the swaddling clothes for the child--and then they continued\n    their journey unto the house of Amb\u00famabb\u00e1kal. The latter said to\n    them: \"Take this cloth and this pair of fowls, male and female,\n    and do not return to live at Kai-\u00e1hang but go to Otb\u00f3bon.\" And\n    Amb\u00famabb\u00e1kal accompanied them to the house of Ng\u00edl\u00een \u00e1 Mang\u00f3ngan\n    [43] and said to the latter: \"It will be well if we beseech the\n    b\u00fani [44] to take pity on these poor people, considering the great\n    distance that still remains to them unto Otb\u00f3bon, and keeping\n    in mind also the great heat that prevails.\" So they did, saying:\n    \"Ye b\u00fani, take pity upon these unhappy ones and shorten for them\n    the distance.\" The prayer was heard, and after two or three days\n    they found themselves at the end of their journey.\n\n\n\n    V\n\n    The peopling of Ifugao land.--Having arrived at Otb\u00f3bon, they\n    built a temporary hut on fertile land. Later they constructed\n    a good house, and it was just after it was finished that B\u00fagan\n    gave birth to a healthy boy; and the fowls also procreated.\n\n    The child grew a little, but there came to him an unlooked-for\n    sickness. Then Kabig\u00e1t remembered that Amb\u00famabb\u00e1kal had advised\n    them to offer fowls to their ancestors in case any sickness\n    should come upon them. So they killed a rooster and a hen, and\n    offered them to Amp\u00faal, Wigan, and their other ancestors. The\n    child recovered and began to grow very robust and plump. They\n    named him Balit\u00fak. B\u00fagan conceived again, and she gave birth to a\n    strong girl, to whom she gave the name of Lingan. These children\n    grew up, and, having attained a marriageable age, were married\n    like their parents, and gave origin to the Silipanes. [45]\n\n    Their parents, Kabig\u00e1t and B\u00fagan, had a second son, on whom they\n    placed the name Tad-\u00f3na, and then another daughter, whom they\n    called In\u00fake. She and Tad-\u00f3na did what their parents and brother\n    and sister had done, and gave birth to Kabig\u00e1t, the second, and\n    B\u00fagan, the second. These latter two, imitating the preceding ones,\n    were united in wedlock and begot sons and daughters who peopled\n    the remainder of the Ifugao region. [46]\n\n\n\n    VI\n\n    Establishment of religious ceremonies.--Upon their marriage\n    Tad-\u00f3na and In\u00fake did not offer pigs or fowls to the\n    b\u00fani as was customary. This being observed by L\u00edddum from\n    Kab\u00fanian, he descended and asked them: \"Why have ye not offered\n    sacrifices?\" They answered him that they were ignorant of such a\n    custom or ceremony. Then L\u00edddum returned to Kab\u00fanian and brought\n    them the yeast with which to make b\u00fab\u00fbd, or wine from fermented\n    rice; and he taught Tad-\u00f3na the method of making it, saying:\n    \"Place it in jars on the third day,\" and he returned to the Sky\n    World. On the fifth day he came down again to teach them the\n    manner of making the mum-b\u00fani. [47]\n\n\nSome version of the above myth is known to the people of every\nIfugao clan, although the details of the story vary considerably in\nthe different culture areas. The myth is also known to the Igorots\nand Bontoks, as we have already seen. I have in my possession some\ntwenty different versions that have been collected from various clans\nof Central, Western, and Kiangan Ifugao. These may all be classified\ninto two general types, one of which is represented above. [48] An\nexample of the other type, entitled The Ifugao Flood-Myth, is given\nlater in this paper under the heading Central Ifugao Beliefs.\n\nThe god W\u00edgan is one of the greatest and best known figures in\nIfugao mythology. He has three sons, Kabig\u00e1t, Balit\u00fak, and Ih\u00eek, and\none daughter, B\u00fagan. The following story about Ih\u00eek is especially\ninteresting because of its resemblance to one of the Bontok myths\npreviously given.\n\n\n    THE STORY OF IH\u00ceK [49]\n\n    Ih\u00eek nak W\u00edgan, in company with his brothers Kabig\u00e1t and Balit\u00fak,\n    went to catch fish in the canal called Amk\u00eddul at the base\n    of Mt. In\u00fade. After catching a supply of fish, they strove to\n    ascend to the summit of the mountain; but, ever as they went up,\n    Ih\u00eek kept asking his brothers for water to satiate his devouring\n    thirst. They answered him: \"How can we find water at such an\n    elevation? Water is found at the base of the mountains but not at\n    their summits!\" But Ih\u00eek kept on importuning them. At last, when\n    they were in the middle of their ascent, they came to an enormous\n    rock. Balit\u00fak struck the rock with his spear, and instantly there\n    burst forth a large jet of water.\n\n    Ih\u00eek desired to drink first but they deterred him, saying: \"It is\n    not just that thou shouldst drink first, being the last born of us\n    brothers!\" Then Kabig\u00e1t drank, and afterwards Balit\u00fak. Just as Ih\u00eek\n    was about to do so, Balit\u00fak seized him and shoved the whole of his\n    head under the rock, adding: \"Drink! Satiate thyself once for all,\n    and serve henceforth as a tube for others to drink from!\" And so\n    it came to pass that Ih\u00eek on receiving the water through his mouth\n    sent it forth at the base of his trunk. He said to his brothers:\n    \"You are bent on making me take the part of a water-spout! I shall\n    do so, but bear in mind that I shall also take just vengeance\n    on your descendants for this injury.\" In view of this threat,\n    Kabig\u00e1t and Balit\u00fak did not dare to make use of the improvised\n    fountain, and so they returned home.\n\n\nThis myth, which is very long, then relates how certain of the great\ndeities befriended Ih\u00eek by setting him free and assisting him in\nobtaining vengeance on his brothers and their descendants.\n\nAnother myth, showing an interesting resemblance to a Man\u00f3bo myth\nalready given, tells how the sky region of Manah\u00e1ut, [50] which was\nonce very near the Earth World, was raised to its present position. The\ncannibalistic and voracious appetite of Manah\u00e1ut was causing the slow\nextermination of the human race, [51] and the aid of the gods was\ninvoked. The Ifugaos have a number of powerful deities who always\nremain in a sitting posture. One of these suddenly rose up, and,\nwith his head and shoulders, thrust the sky region of Manah\u00e1ut to a\nvast height above the earth, thereby preventing the extermination of\nthe people. [52]\n\nAs a final example of Ki\u00e1ngan Ifugao mythology, I give the following\nstory which is one of the best specimens of Ifugao literature.\n\n\n    THE STORY OF B\u00daGAN AND KINGG\u00c1UAN, OR THE MARRIAGE OF A GODDESS\n    WITH A MAN [53]\n\n    The wife of the god Hinumb\u00edan is Dak\u00e1ue. She has no children\n    except a daughter called B\u00fagan. This B\u00fagan was with her parents in\n    Lukt\u00e1g. Let it be noted that these divinities of the highest region\n    of the Sky World do not see directly that which takes place in the\n    lower spheres, but the first calls the second, and the second the\n    third, etc. According to this order, the first or principal god,\n    known as Bung\u00f3ngol, charges or gives orders to his son Amp\u00faal,\n    who in turn orders his son Balitt\u00edon, and the latter orders and\n    charges L\u00edddum of the lowest sky region, or Kab\u00fanian. This L\u00edddum\n    is the one that communicates directly with the Ifugaos. The said\n    B\u00fagan, daughter of Hinumb\u00edan, was at that time a maiden, while\n    in Lukt\u00e1g, and her uncle Baiyuh\u00edbi [54] told her to go down and\n    amuse herself in the third sky region, Hubul\u00e1n. So, according\n    to the wishes of her relatives, she went down to Hubul\u00e1n where\n    Dologd\u00f3gan, the brother of Balitt\u00edon, was. The said Dologd\u00f3gan\n    had gone to Hubul\u00e1n to marry another B\u00fagan. The first B\u00fagan,\n    daughter of Hinumb\u00edan, had been advised to marry in Lukt\u00e1g, but\n    she did not wish to do so, and so they told her to go off and\n    divert herself in Hubul\u00e1n. Having settled down in this sky region,\n    her uncles advised her to get married there, but neither did she\n    wish this. In view of her attitude on this question, Dologd\u00f3gan\n    exhorted her to descend to Kab\u00fanian, and go to take her abode in\n    the house of L\u00edddum her relative and the son of Amgal\u00edngan. The\n    said L\u00edddum wished her to marry in Kab\u00fanian, but she also refused\n    to do this. Near the house, or town, of L\u00edddum (whose wife is\n    called Lingan) there was a village called Habi\u00e1tan, and the lord\n    of the village also bore this name. Such being the case, the said\n    Habi\u00e1tan went to the house of L\u00edddum, and, upon seeing the young\n    B\u00fagan in the condition of maidenhood, he asked L\u00edddum: \"Why does\n    this maid not marry?\" The former answered him: \"We have counseled\n    her to it, but she does not wish to do so. I, upon seeing that she\n    did not wish to get married, nor to follow my advice, said to her:\n    'Why dost thou not get married?' She began to laugh. I replied:\n    'Then, if thou dost not wish to get married in Kab\u00fanian, it were\n    better for thee to return to thy people and thy family of Lukt\u00e1g,'\n    but she answered: 'That is not necessary, and I should like to stay\n    with thee in thy house--and I shall take care to get married at\n    my pleasure, when I see or meet someone of my liking, and then I\n    shall tell thee.'\" Habi\u00e1tan, after hearing this story of L\u00edddum,\n    said to him: \"According to this, I shall take the young B\u00fagan\n    to my rancheria and house in Habi\u00e1tan to see if she wishes to\n    marry my son Bag\u00edlat.\" [55] To which L\u00edddum rejoined: \"If B\u00fagan\n    so desire, it goes without saying that she can accompany thee at\n    once.\" The maiden having been consulted, assented, and went off\n    with Habi\u00e1tan to his house and village. Having arrived at the said\n    place, and after B\u00fagan had observed somewhat the young Bag\u00edlat,\n    as if Habi\u00e1tan had asked her whether she desired to marry him,\n    she answered: \"How am I to wish to marry him (Bag\u00edlat), grim\n    and fierce as he is, and making use of such an extraordinary\n    spear! Moreover, he never stops--but is always running around\n    in all parts of the Sky World, through the north and the south,\n    through the east and the west;\" and she told Habi\u00e1tan that she\n    did not wish to marry his son Bag\u00edlat, the Lightning, because\n    that through his effects he harmed plants, fruits, and possibly\n    might injure even herself. Then said Habi\u00e1tan: \"Thou art somewhat\n    fastidious, and I see that thou couldst with great difficulty get\n    married in these regions; it would be better that thou return once\n    more to thy land.\" She answered that she did not desire to return\n    any more to her people, and that accordingly she would betake\n    herself to some other point more to her liking. This dialogue\n    being completed, she went down from the house of Habi\u00e1tan, and,\n    casting a glance at the four cardinal points, she saw that the\n    weather was clear and calm, and descried on the Earth a place\n    called Pangag\u00e1uan, over (or on) Umbuk, where there was an Ifugao\n    called Kingg\u00e1uan--a young man, unmarried, naked, and without a\n    clout (which he had thrown away because of its age), because he\n    was engaged in making pits, or wells, for catching deer with a trap\n    (according to the custom)--and there he had a hut. Upon seeing him\n    B\u00fagan exclaimed: \"Oh! the poor man! and how unfortunate!\" And,\n    hiding the occurrence from Habi\u00e1tan, she determined to return\n    to her sky region of Lukt\u00e1g in order to manifest to her father,\n    Hinumb\u00edan, that it was her desire to descend to the Earth World\n    in order to get married with that poor Ifugao.\n\n    The paternal permission having been obtained, she made ready\n    the necessary provisions--consisting of a vessel of cooked\n    rice and a clout (or bah\u00e1g). In this fashion she proceeded to\n    Kingg\u00e1uan's hut and entered it, saying: \"Who is the owner of this\n    hut?\" \"I,\" answered Kingg\u00e1uan, \"but I am ashamed to approach thee,\n    because thou art a woman and I am naked.\" To which she replied:\n    \"Never mind! because here I have a clout for thee.\" But he did\n    not approach for shame; and so she threw him the clout from afar,\n    in order that he might cover himself. The surprised man expressed\n    to her his astonishment, saying: \"Why dost thou approach here,\n    knowing that the appearance of a woman, when men are engaged\n    in such an occupation, is of evil omen for the hunt?\" [56] And\n    she replied to him: \"By no means shall it come to pass as thou\n    thinkest, but, on the contrary, thou shalt be extremely lucky in\n    it. For the present let us eat together, and let us sleep this\n    night in thy hut. To-morrow thou shalt see how lucky we are in\n    the hunt.\" The following day, upon going to visit the pits, they\n    actually found them full. Kingg\u00e1uan killed the quarry and spent\n    the rest of the day in carrying the carcasses to his hut. He\n    kept alive only two little pigs, a male and a female, which he\n    delivered to B\u00fagan that she might tie them in the dwelling-place\n    while he was bringing in the rest of the dead game. On the second\n    day B\u00fagan asked the solitary one: \"Why dost thou dwell in such\n    evil places?\" Kingg\u00e1uan answered her: \"Because my parents are so\n    parsimonious in giving me what I need.\" Then said B\u00fagan to him:\n    \"Let us go to Ki\u00e1ngan,\" and he consented. Leaving, then, the\n    dead game in the hut, they carried with them only the two live\n    \"piglets.\" Kingg\u00e1uan carried the male one, and B\u00fagan the female\n    one--arriving at the above-mentioned place on the nightfall of\n    the second day.\n\n    Having arrived at Ki\u00e1ngan, they took up their lodging in the\n    house of Kingg\u00e1uan's mother--the man entering first and then\n    B\u00fagan. The mother of the former was surprised, and asked him:\n    \"Who is this woman?\" The son answered: \"I was at the hunting place\n    and she presented herself to me there and I do not know whence\n    she comes.\" The aged mother after having looked at them a little\n    while--when seated--addressed herself to B\u00fagan and asked: \"Who art\n    thou? How dost thou call thyself? From whence dost thou come?\" The\n    maiden replied that her name was B\u00fagan, that she was the daughter\n    of Hinumb\u00edan and Dak\u00e1ue, and that she belonged to the sky region of\n    Lukt\u00e1g. But the reason of her descent to that terraqueous region,\n    and of accompanying her son, was her having seen him so poor and\n    deserted * * * \"for which reason I took pity on him and came down\n    to visit him and to furnish him with an abundance of game\" * *\n    * and she added that on the following day the mother should send\n    many people to collect the dead game which they had left in the\n    lonely hut of her son. By a coincidence, the mother of the young\n    man was also called B\u00fagan, with the addition of na kantal\u00e1o.\n\n    During all this, the young couple had already been united in the\n    bond of matrimony--without any of the prescribed formalities--at\n    the place called Pangag\u00e1uan, and B\u00fagan gave birth to a vigorous\n    son to whom she gave the name Balit\u00fak. The little pigs, also,\n    which they had brought, gave forth their fruit. The child grew\n    a little, but he did not yet know how to walk. His mother,\n    B\u00fagan, as a being from the Sky World, did not eat like the\n    rest of the people of Ki\u00e1ngan, but desired only boiled rice,\n    birds, and meat of game. Those of that region bore her much envy\n    because of her being a stranger; and, because they knew she did\n    not like certain vegetables of theirs, they strove to make her\n    depart from their town and to betake herself to her birthplace\n    of Lukt\u00e1g in the sky. Their envy toward her increased upon their\n    seeing the abundance of her fowls and pigs. With the object,\n    then, of disgusting her, and of driving her away, they attempted\n    to surround her house with certain garden stuffs, greens, and\n    fish. With these they succeeded effectively in making B\u00fagan fall\n    sick with an intense itch and fever; for which reason she abandoned\n    that house and went to another place, while her husband moved to\n    a rice granary. But they persecuted her again in her new place\n    of lodging, surrounding it with the vegetables and other things\n    spoken of above, and causing her nausea in a stomach accustomed to\n    other food. In view of such wearisome tricks, B\u00fagan proposed to\n    Kingg\u00e1uan her desire to return to her land with the new blossom\n    of spring, their child. Her husband answered her: \"I should\n    well like to accompany thee, but I am afraid of ascending to so\n    high a place.\" \"There is no reason to be afraid,\" replied B\u00fagan,\n    \"I myself shall take thee up in the \u00e1yud (a kind of hammock).\" She\n    accordingly strove to persuade him, but Kingg\u00e1uan did not lay aside\n    his fear; then she attempted to take him up bound to a rope, but\n    neither did she effect this. During these labors, she soared aloft\n    with the child to the heights of Lukt\u00e1g, but upon perceiving that\n    her husband had not followed her she went down again, with her\n    son in the band which the Ifugaos use for that purpose. (Plate\n    III, fig. 2.) After conferring with Kingg\u00e1uan, she said to him:\n    \"Thou seest the situation. I cannot continue among thy countrymen,\n    because they hate me unto death. Neither dost thou dare to ascend\n    unto Lukt\u00e1g. What we can do is to divide our son,\" * * * and,\n    seizing a knife, B\u00fagan divided her son Balit\u00fak in the middle,\n    or just above the waist, and made the following division: The\n    head and the rest of the upper trunk she left to Kingg\u00e1uan--that\n    it might be easier for him to give a new living being to those\n    upper parts--and she retained for herself the lower part of the\n    trunk unto the feet; and as for the entrails, intestines, heart,\n    liver, and even the very excrement, she divided them--leaving\n    the half for her husband. The partition having been completed,\n    B\u00fagan mounted to her heavenly mansion, taking with her the part of\n    her son which fell to her lot, and, giving it a breath of life,\n    she converted it into a new celestial being retaining the very\n    name of Balit\u00fak. On the other hand, the part which she had left\n    to her husband, on the earth, began to be corrupted and decayed,\n    because he, Kingg\u00e1uan, had not been able, or did not know how,\n    to reanimate it. The foul odor of the putrified flesh reached unto\n    the dwelling place of B\u00fagan in Lukt\u00e1g, and, having been perceived\n    by her, she descended to Kab\u00fanian in order to better acquaint\n    herself with the happening. From Kab\u00fanian she saw that the evil\n    odor issued from the decomposition of the part of the entrails\n    which she had left on the earth in charge of her husband, and which\n    he had not reanimated. Then she broke forth in cries of grief,\n    pity, and compassion--and, descending to Ki\u00e1ngan, she severely\n    accused Kingg\u00e1uan, saying unto him: \"Why hast thou allowed our son\n    to rot? And why hast thou not quickened him to life?\" Upon which\n    he answered that he did not understand the art of reanimation.\n\n    B\u00fagan endeavored to remove the greatest possible portion of the\n    corrupted part of her son. Consequently, she changed the head\n    of Balit\u00fak into an owl [57]--a nocturnal bird called ak\u00fap by the\n    Ifugaos--whence the origin of the Ki\u00e1ngan custom of auguring evil\n    from this bird, and the offering of sacrifices of fowls to B\u00fagan,\n    in order that no harm should come to them, and that the said owl\n    should not return to them.\n\n    The ears she threw into the forest, and for that reason there come\n    forth on the trees certain growths, like chalk, half spherical\n    (certain species of fungi). The nose she threw away and changed\n    it also into a certain species of shell which attaches itself\n    to trees. Of the half of the excrement she made the bill of a\n    small bird called ido, from which the Ifugaos augur well or ill,\n    according to certain variations of its song. [58]\n\n    From the putrified tongue she produced a malady, or swelling,\n    of the tongue in men, which is cured with a hot egg, or with a\n    chicken, which they offer to their mother, B\u00fagan.\n\n    From the bones of the breast she created a venomous serpent. From\n    the heart she made the rainbow. From the fingers she made certain\n    very long shells, after the form of fingers. From the hair, thrown\n    into the water, she created certain little worms or maggots. From\n    the skin she drew forth a bird of red color, called k\u00fakuk. From\n    the half of the blood she created the small bats (lit\u00e1l\u00eet). From\n    the liver she drew forth a certain disease of the breast. From\n    the intestines she formed a class of somewhat large animals,\n    resembling rabbits or rats (am\u00fan\u00een?). From the bones of the arms\n    she made pieces of dry or rotted wood that fall from trees upon\n    passers-by who approach them.\n\n    The Balit\u00fak that B\u00fagan reanimated is in the sky region of\n    Lukt\u00e1g. [59]\n\n\nThe myth just given is an example of one of the most interesting\nprocesses in the early development of literature. It is probable\nthat originally it was only a simple origin myth, but it has been\nelaborated and developed until now it is worthy of its little niche\nin the world's literature.\n\n\n\n\nCENTRAL IFUGAO BELIEFS\n\nThe exact difference between the Central Ifugao and the Ki\u00e1ngan beliefs\nis not an easy matter to determine. There has been much mixture between\nthe two peoples accompanied by a corresponding exchange of ideas. The\neffect of this exchange in some cases has been to produce a deceptive\nsimilarity in beliefs and myths that originally were fundamentally\ndifferent; while in other cases myths that were originally the same\nhave been so greatly differentiated in the two areas that their unity\ncan scarcely be recognized.\n\nHowever, it would seem that some basic differences really exist, and\nthe probability is that they are survivals from the ancient cultures\nof the peoples who went to make up the present distinctly composite\nIfugao group. But the evidence at hand is not sufficient to warrant\na full discussion of this question here, and I shall merely cite one\nexample. Ki\u00e1ngan myths are nearly always told from the standpoint\nof the gods, and have to do with the dealings of the gods with one\nanother and with men. On the other hand, Central Ifugao myths are\ntold from the standpoint of men in their relations and dealings with\nthe gods. This will be made plain by a comparison of the following\nCentral Ifugao myth with the Origin of the Ifugaos previously given.\n\n\n    THE IFUGAO FLOOD-MYTH [60]\n\n    I\n\n    The Golden Age.--Ifugao knowledge of the prediluvian period is\n    very vague. It is known, however, that the Earth World was entirely\n    flat except for two great mountains, one in the east called Am\u00fayao\n    and one in the west called Kalau\u00edtan. [61] This level country was\n    heavily forested, and all of the people lived along a large river\n    that ran through the central plain between the two great mountains.\n\n    The period was something like a Golden Age, when things were much\n    better than they are now. The people were demigods whose life\n    was a happy one and their country a sort of Garden of Eden. To\n    obtain rice, all that they needed to do was to cut down a stalk\n    of bamboo, which was plentiful, and split open the joints which\n    were filled with hulled rice ready to cook. Stalks of sugar-cane\n    were filled with baiyax, [62] and needed only to be tapped to\n    furnish a most refreshing drink. The river was full of fish, and\n    the forests were filled with deer and wild hogs which were much\n    easier to catch than those of the present day. The rice grains\n    of that time were larger and more satisfying, and a handful of\n    them was sufficient to feed a large family.\n\n    But this Golden Age, like others, was not destined to last.\n\n\n\n    II\n\n    The flood, and the origin of the mountains.--One year when the\n    rainy season should have come it did not. Month after month passed\n    by and no rain fell. The river grew smaller and smaller day by\n    day until at last it disappeared entirely. The people began to\n    die, and at last the old men said: \"If we do not soon get water,\n    we shall all die. Let us dig down into the grave of the river,\n    for the river is dead and has sunk into his grave, and perhaps we\n    may find the soul of the river and it will save us from dying.\" So\n    they began to dig, and they dug for three days. On the third day\n    the hole was very large, and suddenly they struck a great spring\n    and the water gushed forth. It came so fast that some of them\n    were drowned before they could get out of the pit.\n\n    Then the people were happy, for there was plenty of water;\n    and they brought much food and made a great feast. But while\n    they were feasting it grew dark and began to rain. The river\n    also kept rising until at last it overflowed its bank. Then the\n    people became frightened and they tried to stop up the spring\n    in the river, but they could not do so. Then the old men said:\n    \"We must flee to the mountains, for the river gods are angry\n    and we shall all be drowned.\" So the people fled toward the\n    mountains and all but two of them were overtaken by the water\n    and drowned. The two who escaped were a brother and sister named\n    W\u00edgan and B\u00fagan--W\u00edgan on Mt. Am\u00fayao and B\u00fagan on Kalau\u00edtan. And\n    the water continued to rise until all the Earth World was covered\n    excepting only the peaks of these two mountains.\n\n    The water remained on the earth for a whole season or from rice\n    planting to rice harvest. [63] During that time W\u00edgan and B\u00fagan\n    lived on fruits and nuts from the forests that covered the tops of\n    the two mountains. B\u00fagan had fire which at night lit up the peak\n    of Kalau\u00edtan, and W\u00edgan knew that there was someone else alive\n    besides himself. He had no fire, and suffered much from the cold.\n\n    At last the waters receded from the earth and left it covered\n    with the rugged mountains and deep valleys that exist to-day;\n    and the solitary brother and sister, looking down from their\n    respective peaks, were filled with wonder at the sight.\n\n\n\n    III\n\n    The repopulation of the Earth World.--As soon as the earth was dry,\n    W\u00edgan journeyed to Kalau\u00edtan where he found his sister B\u00fagan,\n    and their reunion was most joyous. They descended the mountain\n    and wandered about until they came to the beautiful valley that\n    is to-day the dwelling place of the Ban\u00e1uol clan--and here W\u00edgan\n    built a house. When the house was finished, B\u00fagan dwelt in the\n    upper part and W\u00edgan slept beneath.\n\n    Having provided for the comfort of his sister, W\u00edgan started out\n    to find if there were not other people left alive in the Earth\n    World. He traveled about all the day and returned to the house\n    at night to sleep. He did this for three days, and then as he\n    was coming back on the third evening he said to himself that\n    there were no other people in the world but themselves, and if\n    the world was to be repopulated it must be through them. * *\n    * At last B\u00fagan realized that she was pregnant. She burst into\n    violent weeping, and, heaping reproaches on his head, ran blindly\n    away toward the East, following the course of the river. After\n    traveling a long way, and being overcome with grief and fatigue,\n    B\u00fagan sank down upon the bank of the river and lay there trembling\n    and sobbing. [64] After having quieted herself somewhat, she arose\n    and looked around her, and what was her surprise to see sitting on\n    a rock near her an old man with a long white beard! He approached\n    her and said: \"Do not be afraid, daughter! I am Makn\u00f3ngan, and\n    I am aware of your trouble, and I have come to tell you that it\n    is all right!\" While he was speaking, W\u00edgan, who had followed his\n    sister, appeared on the scene. Then Makn\u00f3ngan placed the sanction\n    and blessing of the gods upon their marriage, assuring them that\n    they had done right, and that through them the world must be\n    repeopled. He told them to return to their house, and whenever\n    they were in trouble to offer sacrifices to the gods. After\n    B\u00fagan had become convinced in this manner, they left Makn\u00f3ngan\n    and returned home.\n\n    In the course of time nine children were born to W\u00edgan and B\u00fagan,\n    five sons and four daughters. The four oldest sons married the\n    four daughters, and from them are descended all of the people\n    of the Earth World. The youngest son, who was named Igon, had no\n    wife. [65]\n\n\n\n    IV\n\n    The sacrifice of Igon.--One year the crops failed, there was much\n    sickness, and everything went wrong. Then W\u00edgan remembered the\n    advice of Makn\u00f3ngan, and he told his sons to procure an animal\n    for the sacrifice. They caught a rat and sacrificed it, but the\n    evil conditions were not remedied. Then they went out into the\n    forest and captured a large snake and sacrificed it to the gods,\n    but the disease and crop failure still continued. Then W\u00edgan said:\n    \"The sacrifice is not great enough, for the gods do not hear! Take\n    your brother Igon, who has no wife, and sacrifice him!\" So they\n    bound Igon, and sacrificed him, and called upon the gods. And\n    Makn\u00f3ngan came, and all the other great gods, to the feast. And\n    they took away the sickness, and filled the granaries with rice,\n    and increased the chickens, the pigs, and the children. Then\n    Makn\u00f3ngan said to the people: \"It is well, but you have committed\n    an evil in spilling human blood and have thereby brought war\n    and fighting into the world. Now you must separate to the north,\n    south, east, and west, and not live together any more. And when\n    ye have need to sacrifice to the gods, do not offer rats, snakes,\n    or your children, but take pigs and chickens only.\"\n\n    And one of the sons of W\u00edgan went to the north, and one to the\n    south, and one to the east, and one to the west; and from them\n    are descended the peoples of the Earth World, who fight and kill\n    one another to this day because of the sacrifice of Igon.\n\n\nMany other illustrations might be given of the differences between\nthe Central and Ki\u00e1ngan Ifugao religious conceptions, but the above\nwill suffice for the purposes of the present paper. [66]\n\nOne more type of Ifugao origin myth merits our attention before we\ncome to the conclusion. This type consists of the myths invented\nto explain the origin of the ancient Chinese jars, bronze gongs,\namber-agate beads, and other rare articles of foreign manufacture on\nwhich the Ifugaos place a high value, and the origin of which they\ndo not know. Many of these objects have been in the possession of the\npeople for at least several hundred years. They were probably brought\ninto the Islands by Chinese traders centuries before the coming of\nthe Spaniards, and gradually found their way to the Ifugaos through\nthe medium of their cursory commerce with the surrounding peoples. [67]\n\nOne of these myths, explaining the origin of three well-known jars,\nruns as follows.\n\n\n    LEGEND CONCERNING BANGG\u00cdL\u00ceT OF HINAG\u00c1NGAN, AND THE JARS THAT HE\n    BROUGHT FROM THE VILLAGE OF SOULS [68]\n\n    A long time ago, before the coming of the Spaniards, there lived\n    at Hinag\u00e1ngan a man called Bangg\u00edl\u00eet. He was a wealthy man,\n    possessing four rice granaries and a very large house; but he\n    was not a priest. His constant desire was to hunt in the forest.\n\n    One day Bangg\u00edl\u00eet went hunting in the forest and was overtaken\n    by night. He called his dogs but they did not come. He made fire,\n    cooked, and ate. Then one dog came to him, and he took it in lead\n    and departed. Near by he found a path. The dog with him barked\n    and the second dog answered, and they went on. And the dog with\n    Bangg\u00edl\u00eet began to whimper and whine, and to pull on the leash;\n    and Bangg\u00edl\u00eet ran, and they went on. Suddenly it became light all\n    around them, and they came out of the forest into a large group of\n    people. And the people said among themselves: \"Surely Bangg\u00edl\u00eet\n    is dead,\" and they examined his body and asked: \"Where were you\n    speared?\" And Bangg\u00edl\u00eet spoke and said: \"I have not been speared! I\n    went hunting and was overtaken by night, and my dog here ran ahead\n    on our path. I followed, and came here, and lo! it is light here!\"\n\n    And they took Bangg\u00edl\u00eet and went to their town--for there are many\n    large towns there in the dwelling-place of souls. They wished to\n    give him food, but he said: \"Wait until my own food is exhausted,\n    and then I will eat of your rice here.\" And they asked him: \"How\n    many days will you remain with us?\" and Bangg\u00edl\u00eet answered that\n    he would remain four days. Then the people began to laugh and one\n    of them said: \"Not four days but four years here!\" \"Ha!\" cried\n    Bangg\u00edl\u00eet, \"I shall never do that! Wait until you see!\" \"Just\n    so!\" answered the other, \"but one day here is the same as a year\n    on the Earth World,\" but Bangg\u00edl\u00eet thought that he was lying.\n\n    Bangg\u00edl\u00eet visited all of the towns there. He worked in the rice\n    fields and they gave him four jars as his wages. Then his host said\n    to him: \"Return home now, for you have been here four days, which,\n    according to the usage of the Earth World, are four years.\" \"Yes,\"\n    answered Bangg\u00edl\u00eet, \"I wish to go home now, as I am homesick for\n    my family. You have been very good to me, for you have given me\n    wages for my work.\" And the host said: \"It was a gift; not wages,\n    but a gift, that I gave you,\" and he led the way and pointed out\n    to Bangg\u00edl\u00eet a ladder. \"Go down that ladder, and in a short time\n    you will arrive at your house,\" he said. Bangg\u00edl\u00eet started to go\n    down, but one of the jars struck heavily against the ladder and\n    was broken. He went down the ladder and at last arrived in the top\n    of a betel-nut tree. He slid down the trunk of the tree to the\n    ground, and the chickens were crowing and it was just dawn. And\n    he looked at his surroundings and exclaimed: \"Why this is my own\n    house!\" His relatives came out and said: \"Who are you?\" and he\n    replied: \"This is my house.\" They looked at him closely and cried:\n    \"Well now, it is Bangg\u00edl\u00eet who has been gone these four years!\" And\n    they sat down and talked long together. He showed them the jars,\n    and they asked: \"Where did you get those?\" And he answered:\n    \"I brought them from the Sky World,\" and they were afraid and\n    went to look for the ladder but it was no longer there. [69]\n\n\nThe above myth may well have been invented by some man who, unknown\nto his relatives and friends, wandered across the mountains into\nLepanto or Benguet and returned after four years with the jars in\nquestion. Hundreds of myths and legends of this type are current\namong the Ifugaos.\n\nNo representative collection of Philippine myths has yet been made,\nand the present paper can only be considered a beginning. I hope to\nbe able to continue the work.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNOTES\n\n\n[1] Read before The Philippine Academy, October 2, 1912. The paper\nis intended as an introduction to a series of more complete studies\nin Philippine mythology and religion.\n\n[2] A complete bibliography cannot be given within the limits of\nthis paper, but a number of the most important printed titles and\nmanuscripts have been cited.\n\n[3] Blair and Robertson, The Philippine Islands. Cleveland (1906), 37;\n(1907), 48.\n\n[4] This Journal (1906), 1, 812-818. Many plates illustrating Ilongot\ntypes and culture are given.\n\n[5] The Philippine Islands and Their People. New York (1898), 362-434.\n\n[6] A typewritten manuscript of 60 pages, entitled \"The Hamp\u00e1ngan\nMangyans of Mindoro\" by Dr. Fletcher Gardner. U. S. A. (1905). In\nthe records of the division of ethnology, Bureau of Science, Manila.\n\n[7] This Journal, Sec. D (1912), 7, 135-156.\n\n[8] Loc. cit., 76-122.\n\n[9] Smithsonian Misc. Colls. (Paper No. 1700), 48, 514-558.\n\n[10] Loc. cit., 109-111.\n\n[11] I am informed by Dr. N. M. Saleeby that this myth is also known\namong the Malays of Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula.\n\n[12] K\u00e1gbub\u00e1tang is a point within sight of the town of Placer,\neastern Mindanao.\n\n[13] The offering may be very small, even a little piece of wood,\nand is thrown overboard while passing the point.\n\n[14] There is said to be a similar locality near Tagan\u00edto, eastern\nMindanao.\n\n[15] Bin\u00e1oi is the name of an oddly shaped peak at the source of the\nRiver Angd\u00e1nan, tributary of the River W\u00e1wa, Ag\u00fasan Valley.\n\n[16] Limes and lemons are said to be objects of fear to the b\u00fasao.\n\n[17] Garvan suggests these stories as illustrations of punishment\nfollowing the imitating or making fun of animals, acts which are\nstrictly tab\u00fa in Man\u00f3bo culture.\n\n[18] Some say that the spots upon the moon are a cluster of bamboos,\nothers, that they are a bal\u00e9te tree.\n\n[19] Our information concerning these peoples is limited, but of\nmuch interest. Besides the work of Garvan, the chief sources are the\nLetters of the Jesuit Fathers and a paper on the Sub\u00e1nuns [Christie,\nPub. P. I. Bur. Sci., Div. Ethnol. (1909), 6, pt. 1]. The latter\ndoes not record any myths, but gives several song-stories about great\nculture-heroes which throw much light on the character of the Sub\u00e1nun\nmythology and identify it with the mythologies of the other pagan\ntribes of Mindanao. These hero-stories are too long to be given here.\n\n[20] The Tinggi\u00e1ns, or Itnegs, should be excepted, as there are\nimportant and accurate accounts of these people by Gironi\u00e8re, Reyes,\nWorcester, Cole, and others.\n\n[21] According to the translation by James A. Robertson in Blair and\nRobertson, The Philippine Islands (1906), 33, 167-171.\n\n[22] Note the similarity of this place-name to the K\u00e1gbub\u00e1tang of\nthe Man\u00f3bo legend, p. 89.\n\n[23] Translated by Roberto Laperal from \"Igorrotes,\" by Angel\nPerez. Manila (1902), 319-320.\n\n[24] Jenks, Albert Ernest, The Bontoc Igorot,\nPub. P. I. Ethnol. Surv. (1905), 1.\n\n[25] Seidenadel, Carl Wilhelm, The First Grammar of the Language\nSpoken by the Bontoc Igorot, with a Vocabulary and Texts. The Open\nCourt Publishing Co., Chicago (1909).\n\n[26] Opus. cit., 485-510. Seidenadel gives an interlinear literal\ntranslation, which is, in some places, slightly inaccurate. I have\nmade a new free translation directly from the Bontok. The text was\ntold in the form of a story rather than that of a myth, and contains\nmuch extraneous matter which I have omitted.\n\n[27] Place of anger.\n\n[28] There are about 127,000 Ifugaos, nearly all living in the\nsubprovince of Ifugao. They are divided into a large number of\nhereditary clans, each of which has its own social and political\norganization. They are an agricultural people, and have developed\ntheir great stone-faced terraced rice fields to an extent probably not\nequaled elsewhere in the world. I do not believe that the physical\ntype, language, or culture of these people is wholly a native\ndevelopment. The evidence seems to indicate that the present-day\nIfugaos are the result of mixture, perhaps one or more thousand years\nago, of several widely different native types with an incoming people\nof high culture. Indications seem to point to the highlands of Burma\nas the original home of this highly-cultured people, but this is\na supposition that will require proof. Within historic times the\nIfugaos have been almost entirely free from mixture of any sort.\n\n[29] 1.--\"The Religious Beliefs of the Ki\u00e1ngan Ifugaos,\" a manuscript\nof some 300 pages, by Juan Fernandez Villaverde, translated and\nannotated by myself with the assistance of Mr. John M. Garvan.\n\n2.--\"The Religion of the Ki\u00e1ngan Ifugaos,\" a manuscript of 350 pages,\nby Roy Franklin Barton, with notes by myself.\n\n3.--Unpublished notes. \"The Religion of the Central Ifugaos,\" a\nmanuscript of about 300 pages, by myself.\n\n[30] The subprovince of Ifugao may be divided into five general culture\nareas which can be also considered as religious districts. These are:\nKi\u00e1ngan Ifugao, Western Ifugao, and Central Ifugao, speaking the Pure\nIfugao dialect; and Al\u00edm\u00eet Ifugao and May\u00f3yao Ifugao, speaking the\nSub-Ifugao dialect. (Plate I.) Very little is known of the religion\nof Al\u00edm\u00eet Ifugao and May\u00f3yao Ifugao, and they will not be further\ndiscussed in this paper.\n\n[31] Or b\u00faling (?).\n\n[32] D\u00e1wi (?).\n\n[33] It can only be seen at this point for the reason that the earth\nbeneath and the blue-stone underfacing of Kab\u00fanian immediately above\ncut off the view. Ifugao astronomical knowledge, plus the circular\nnature of the horizon and the apparent slope of the whitish band\nabove it, has doubtless given rise to this belief in a celestial\nglobe surrounding the universe.\n\n[34] The Ifugaos have no belief, that I have ever been able to\ndiscover, as to the origin of the universe. To their minds it has\nalways existed and will always continue to exist.\n\n[35] In the three previously mentioned manuscripts on the Ifugao\nreligion, between two and three thousand deities are spoken of by name,\nand this is only a fraction of the number known to the Ifugaos. Of\ncourse, only a few of them are really great deities, but even such\nmay be counted by hundreds. Of the very diverse and all-inclusive\ncharacter of these deities, no accurate idea can be given within the\nbrief limits of this paper. Suffice it to say there are gods of war,\nof industry (such as weaving, metal-working, etc.), and of beauty and\nlove; nature-gods, cannibalistic gods, evil deities, mythical monsters,\nmessenger spirits, guardian spirits; and hosts of mischievous elves\nand fairies.\n\n[36] Collected by Juan Fern\u00e1ndez Villaverde, in 1894, from a\ncelebrated Ifugao priest, Dumin\u00f3ng of Ki\u00e1ngan. Translated, corrected,\nand annotated by myself with the assistance of Mr. John M. Garvan.\n\n[37] This statement is significant, as it shows an understanding of\nthe true cause of the echo. Ifugao cosmographical and astronomical\nknowledge is not very primitive, as a careful study of this myth will\nclearly demonstrate.\n\n[38] God of the rain.\n\n[39] Ifugao knowledge of the part played by erosion in the formation\nof the topographical features of the earth is clearly shown.\n\n[40] Shellfish, greens, fruits, meats, or fish that constitute the\nsavory part of the meal, as contrasted with k\u00e1non which refers only\nto staple foods such as rice, sweet potatoes, etc.\n\n[41] Mumb\u00f3nang has a head covered with bristles, just like a porcupine,\nbut radiating and sharp pointed like nails facing outward to penetrate\nany object on the outside. He possibly represents some constellation.\n\n[42] The goddess of weaving.\n\n[43] Or Ng\u00edl\u00een an Makn\u00f3ngan (?).\n\n[44] Deities which the Ifugaos believe to be their ancestors.\n\n[45] The people of Al\u00edm\u00eet Ifugao. (Plate I.)\n\n[46] Tad-\u00f3na and In\u00fake are recognized as common ancestors by all the\nKi\u00e1ngan Ifugaos, and the myths about them are legion.\n\n[47] Ceremonies to the b\u00fani, accompanied by prayers and sacrifices.\n\n[48] A version of the same type, but very different in detail, is\ncontained in the unpublished notes of Mr. Roy Franklin Barton. I\nhave also several others from the same area (Ki\u00e1ngan Ifugao) that\nwere collected by Lieut. Maximo Meimban.\n\n[49] For bibliographical reference, see Villaverde, loc. cit.\n\n[50] Manah\u00e1ut is the greatest and most hated evil deity of the Ifugaos.\n\n[51] The memory of cannibalism so common in Ifugao mythology possibly\ndates back to a period of contact with human cannibals.\n\n[52] The Ifugao version of the story states that the sky was so low\nthat it interfered with the plying of the spear, while the Man\u00f3bo\nstory relates that the rice pestle would strike against it. It is\npossible that this myth dates back to cave-dwelling ancestors--for\nthe low roof of a cave would be an inconvenience of the same character\nas that which is here ascribed to the sky.\n\nA further proof of this is the following Tag\u00e1log myth furnished me by\nMr. Roberto Laperal: \"In former times the sky was very low and could be\ntouched with the hand; when men were playing, they would strike their\nheads against it whenever they jumped upward. This made them impatient,\nand one day they began to throw stones at the sky. The great god\nBathala was very angry and removed the sky to its present position.\"\n\n[53] For bibliographical reference, see footnote 36. A less complete\nversion of this myth, differing somewhat in detail, is given by Barton\nin the second manuscript mentioned in footnote 29.\n\n[54] God of the rain.\n\n[55] God of the lightning.\n\n[56] It is a common belief, widespread in the Philippines, that the\nappearance of a woman at a place where men are hunting will render\nthe search for game fruitless. J. M. Garvan.\n\n[57] It will be noted that most of the things created by B\u00fagan from\nthe corrupted half of Balit\u00fak were pests and things of evil omen to\ntorment the people of Ki\u00e1ngan as they had tormented her.\n\n[58] \u00cddo, or \u00eddu, is the Ifugao name for the omen spirits. A certain\nsmall black and white bird called p\u00eetp\u00eet is believed to be an omen\nspirit, and therefore it is also properly called \u00eddo. When an Ifugao\nis going on a journey and sees one of these birds, or hears its cry,\nhe immediately stops and calls out to it. He tells it where he is going\nand why. If the bird flies away to one side or in a forward direction,\nit is a good sign; but if it flies backward along the path, uttering a\nsharp cry of fright, it is a very bad omen, and the man will probably\nreturn home and not continue on his journey until another day.\n\n[59] I am informed by Dr. Dean S. Fansler that he obtained from an\nIgorot of T\u00fablai, Benguet, in May, 1910, a myth very similar to this\nstory of B\u00fagan and Kingg\u00e1uan. The details are different, but some\nof the more important incidents are the same and I will give a brief\nsummary of the myth here: A god named Dum\u00e1gid, whose home is in one of\nthe lower regions of the sky, came down to the earth and lived among\nthe people. He taught the people many things, and often went hunting\nwith them in the forest. But one day, when he was out in the woods\nalone, he met a beautiful girl by the name of D\u00fagai with whom he fell\nin love, and they were married. A son was born to them, and they named\nhim Ovug. Shortly after this Dum\u00e1gid informed the people that he must\nreturn to the Sky World to make report to the chief deity, Kabigat,\nbut that he would soon come down again to the Earth World. But the\npeople demanded that he take his wife with him, and that they leave\ntheir son as security for their return. Dum\u00e1gid told D\u00fagai that the\npath was so hot that she might die, but this the people would not\nbelieve. So Dum\u00e1gid and D\u00fagai started out, but as they approached\nthe sun it grew so hot that D\u00fagai died. Dum\u00e1gid returned her body\nto the earth, and went on to his home in the sky. Later he came back\nto the earth, in company with the god Bangan di Bai-\u00e1ngan, and told\nthe people that he must take his son Ovug to the Sky World. This the\npeople refused to allow him to do, so Dum\u00e1gid took a knife and divided\nhis son Ovug into equal parts by cutting him straight down. When he\nhad done this, he told the people to keep one half and make a new boy\nout of it. The other half Dum\u00e1gid took with him to the Sky World and\nreanimated it. Then he looked down to the Earth World and saw that\nthe half of his son there was becoming decayed because the people\nhad not given it new life. So he came down with the boy he had made,\nand made another beautiful boy out of the decayed half. Then he made\nthe two boys stand before the astonished people. For their greater\nastonishment, Dum\u00e1gid asked the boy he had made in the Sky World to\ntalk. He spoke very loud like sharp thunder, so that the people were\nfrightened almost to death. Then Dum\u00e1gid asked the other boy to talk,\nand he spoke low like the rolling thunder. Then the first boy went\nup to the Sky World whirling like fire, and thundered there. And it\nis believed that this is the origin of the lightning and the sharp\nthunder that comes after; and it is also believed that the low thunder\nis the voice of the second boy, or the one made on the earth.\n\n[60] Collected by myself from various Ifugaos of Ban\u00e1uol clan, in\n1906. A similar but less complete version was collected at the same\nplace by Levi E. Case, in May, 1905, and published in This Journal,\nSec. A (1909), 4, 256-260.\n\n[61] Or Alau\u00edtan in Sub-Ifugao. See Plates I and II.\n\n[62] The Ifugao rice drink, usually known as b\u00fab\u00fbd.\n\n[63] About six months. The duration of the flood varies greatly in\nthe different versions of this myth.\n\n[64] Incest is looked upon by the Ifugaos with horror, and is held\nto be one of the gravest of crimes.\n\n[65] The number and names of the children of W\u00edgan and B\u00fagan are\nvariable in the different Ifugao clans.\n\n[66] The frequent repetition of B\u00fagan as the name of a female deity is\nworthy of further explanation. B\u00fagan is the Ifugao ideal of feminine\nbeauty. There is no single goddess of love and beauty such as Venus\nor Aphrodite, but an abstract ideal of womanly perfection. Therefore,\nall beneficent female deities are called B\u00fagan, which is also the\nmost common name among Ifugao women. When a man wishes to praise his\nwife, he speaks of her as B\u00fagan-ko (my B\u00fagan), and when a young man\ngoes courting he often speaks of it as mum-B\u00fagan (searching for a\nB\u00fagan). Light, fleecy clouds, high in the sky, are often called \"the\nwavy hair of B\u00fagan.\" Such poetic usages are almost innumerable. It\nis an interesting conception, and is one of the proofs of Ifugao\n\u00e6sthetic development.\n\n[67] A Chinese author, Chao Ju-kua, writing in the year 1280, mentions\nthat porcelain jars and bronze gongs were two of the most important\nexports from China to the Philippines.--Blair and Robertson, The\nPhilippine Islands (1906), 34, 181-191.\n\n[68] Free translation of an Ifugao text obtained by myself in January,\n1909, from Tug\u00ednai P\u00e1it (Plate III, fig. 3), an Ifugao of Amgod\u00e9 clan,\nCentral Ifugao.\n\n[69] The three unbroken jars brought by Bangg\u00edl\u00eet from the village\nof souls in the Sky World are still in existence and their location\nis as follows: The first jar is called Inhy\u00fawat, and is owned by\nB\u00eenw\u00e2g of B\u00faw\u00f4t. The second is called In\u00e1yao, and is owned by In\u00e1yao\nof Hinag\u00e1ngan. The third is called B\u00fa\u00fbt, and is owned by B\u00fa\u00fbt of\nH\u00e1pao. These jars have an estimated value of several hundred pesos\neach, but, unless driven to it by dire extremity, their owners would\nnot sell them for any price. (Plate IV, fig. 1.)","title":"Origin Myths among the Mountain Peoples of the Philippines","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":16457}