"The last sacrifice before this was held at Talun during the year of the drought (about 1905) when a Bilan slave, an old man who was paralyzed in one arm, was sacrificed by Datto Oling, his master.

"Asked if the sacrifice of an animal would not do as well as that of a human being, they said, 'No, better to have no sacrifice at all.'

"They appeared utterly unconscious of having committed any crime, told their story with frankness, said it was a matter not talked about among their own people but that if we wanted to know the facts they would give them to the authorities. They claimed the offering of human sacrifices by their tribe to be an old custom and, as far as they knew the only way to appease the wrath of the evil spirits, but said if they were ordered to give the custom up they would do so even if the devil got them all."

Then follows the statement of an eye-witness to the ceremony:

"My name is Modesta Barrera; I live in the town of Santa Cruz, my father being a Visayan, my mother a Bagobo. I cannot read or write, and I think that I am about twenty-three years old, although I am not certain on that point.

"On the 8th instant myself, Baon, Otoy, and Oton left Santa Cruz early in the morning to go to Talun, a day's march from Santa Cruz, for the purpose of trading with the natives of Talun, and also to collect some debts which they owed Baon. We remained that night at Saculampula, near Talun, where Ungon and Ido, two Bagobos, live with their families. There we found two children the only persons at the house who informed us that we should go to the house of Ambing, at Talun, where we could sell our merchandise. On the morning of the 9th we got up about 7 or 8 o'clock and started for Ambing's house. When within about an hour's walk of the house, we found a great many people congregated together. We were told that a human sacrifice had just taken place and on approaching to discover what had happened, we saw a little boy about eight or nine years old, the upper half of whose body was suspended by the wrists to a tree, the lower half lying on the ground. The child had been thus tied up while alive and had been cut into two parts at the waist; this was about the position of the body when we saw it.

"Immediately about twenty persons began to chop the body into small pieces; and Ansig, the datto of Talun, came over to us and gave Baon two pieces of the victim's hair attached to the scalp, which is a sign of the sacrifice. The victim was a slave owned and sacrificed by Datto Ansig. The first bolo cut which severs the body at the waist and which in this case we were told was done by Ansig is always performed by the person making the sacrifice. The people present were guests of Ansig and were not responsible for the killing, though it is the custom for the more favored ones to assist in chopping the victim into small pieces after death."

In the letters written by Father GISBERT in 1886, are many references to the religious practices of the Bagobo, from which the following are extracts:

"The feast which they hold before the sowing is a criminal and repugnant trago-comedy. The tragical part is the first thing that is done. When they have assembled in the middle of the woods * * * they tightly bind the slave whom they are going to sacrifice. All armed with sharp knives, leap and jump about their victim striking him, one after the other, or several at one time, amid infernal cries and shouts, until the body of the victim sacrificed has been cut to bits. From the place of the sacrifice they then go to the house of their chief or the master of the feast, holding branches in their hands which they place in a large bamboo, which is not only the chief adornment but the altar of the house in which they meet * * * The principal part is reserved for the old man or master of the feast, he standing near the bamboo which I have mentioned above, holding the vessel of wine in his hand, and, talking with his comrades, addresses the great demon called Darago, whose feast they are celebrating, in the following words: 'Darago, we are making you this feast, with great good will and gladness, offering you the blood of the sacrifice which we have made and this wine which we drink so that you may be our friend, accompany us, and be propitious in our wars.' * * * * * * * * * * *

"When they marry, if the lovers think that it will be of any use they make a human sacrifice so that they may have a good marriage, so that the weather may be good, so that they may have no storm, sickness, etc., all things which they attribute to the devil. In the same way also when they learn that there is any contagious disease, or fear death, several of them assemble and make a human sacrifice, asking the devil to let them live, since they generously offer him that victim. They also believe that the disease can be conjured. But the time that it is necessary to make a sacrifice, according to the law of the Bagobos, is at the death of anyone of the family, before they can remove the laláoan or mourning * * * At the point and on the day assigned, all the sacrificers assemble, or possibly one member of each of the families who are in mourning, at times fifty or more. The value of the slave sacrificed is paid among them all, and he who pays most has the right to sacrifice first."**