About 6 a. m. we espied forms in the forest, approaching from all sides. When they, some 60 altogether, had taken up their positions on the edge of the clearing wherein stood the house, they sounded their weird and wild war whoop,18 and four warriors, headed by the warrior chief referred to, and armed with all the accouterments of war, rushed forward toward the house, yelling, prancing around, defying, challenging, and cursing. The warrior chief speared one of the two large pigs under the house and proceeded, aided by his three companions to cut down the house posts, never ceasing to yell in the most stentorian voice I ever heard. At this juncture the datu let down with a long strip of rattan a silver-banded lance, a silver-sheathed war knife, and a silver-sheathed Mandáya dagger. As everybody was howling, it was difficult to follow the tenor of conversation, but I observed that the warrior chief accepted the gift though he did not apparently relax his fury. He jumped around, menacing, and animating his companions to fire the house. The datu kept letting down presents of lances, Mandáya cloth, pigs, and other things until everyone of the assailants had received a token of his good will. Their fury very visibly diminished, and the datu was finally able to hold a colloquy with his new cofather-in-law, in which he persuaded him to come up into the house and hold a conference19 over the matter. The latter, after numerous reiterations that he would never enter the house except to chop heads off, finally ascended the notched pole, followed by his braves. We of the house retired to the further half, all armed, while the newcomers squatted in that portion of the house near the ladder. Then began the conference which lasted till breakfast was ready. It resembled in all respects the usual marriage haggling, except that the warrior chief asseverated persistently that the act of the datu's son was deception and robbery, and that only blood would atone for it. His companions howled assent and clutching their bolos, half rose as if to begin a massacre. They were invited to sit down and regale themselves, but that only made them howl all the more. Finally the datu ordered out a stack of weapons and other presents, and made another allotment to the visitors, in due proportion to relationship. This had a soothing effect and induced them to drink copious draughts of sugarcane brew, which kept on soothing them more and more as the end of the meal approached. During all this time special attention was paid to the warrior chief, so that before long he was feeling so happy that he ordered his followers to remove all weapons from their persons, and began to feed huge chunks of half-raw hog meat into the mouth of the datu according to the immemorial custom.
18Pa-nad-jáu-an.
19Bisa.
After the feast I returned to the Agúsan but learned later that everything had been settled amicably, the datu having provided a superabundance of wordly[sic] effects, in payment for the captured woman. Among them were two slaves valued at P30 apiece.
PRENATAL MARRIAGE CONTRACTS AND CHILD MARRIAGE
Prenatal marriage contracts have been made in the upper Agúsan, especially when it was desired to secure the friendship of some more powerful chieftain. I was informed by a bagáni of the upper Sálug that it is not an uncommon thing for two warrior chiefs or other powerful men to make such contracts in order to cement the friendship between themselves and between their respective clans. He cited several instances, in some of which the sex of the child proved an impediment to the carrying out of the prenatal marriage contract. Child marriages, however, are not uncommon. I know of two cases in Compostela, in one of which the boy husband was minor, the girl having already attained the age of puberty at the time of the marriage. In the other case both were mere children. It is needless to say that cohabitation was not permitted in the latter case. The marriage payment had been made in the usual way and the bride delivered over to her father-in-law.
According to my observation, the young man is married somewhere between the ages of 17 and 20, and the woman from 13 to 16. The effect of these early marriages is very apparent in the physical appearance of the wife after a few years of married life. On account of the onerous duties that fall to the lot of the woman, only a staunch constitution can maintain unblemished the bloom of youthful beauty. I am of the opinion that the average woman reaches her prime at about 25 years of age.