BASIS OF RELIGIOUS BELIEF
I have had occasion to study the working of the Manóbo mind when brought into contact with phenomena which it had never contemplated before and I observed that when the phenomenon impressed him as being not prejudicial nor unintelligible it was ascribed to a beneficent supernatural agency, but when it produced the impression of being unintelligible or detrimental it was at once condemned as being the work of evil spirits. On one occasion a Manóbo of the upper Agúsan accompanied me to Talakógon and, upon seeing the government launch, made inquiries as to its nature. His questions being answered to his satisfaction, he made his comments, praised its form, and finally declared it to be the work of a god. But when it began to move, giving forth its shrill whistle and producing the noise characteristic of a gasoline launch, he at once condemned it as being the work of evil agency.
I saw another instance illustrative of this tendency upon the arrival of the first phonograph in the Simúlau River district. My companion was a Manóbo of the upper Bahaían. Upon hearing the strains of the phonograph he concluded at once that there was an evil spirit within it. Notwithstanding the fact that I assured him to the contrary, he persisted in his belief, averring that no good spirit would give vent to such an unearthly noise.
Almost invariably my watch, cornet, compass, and barometer were condemned as being the work of malevolent spirits. Instances might be multiplied indefinitely, but the general conclusion is that anything that suggests the unintelligible, the unusual, the suspected, the gloomy, is at once attributed to inimical powers. Hence a crow that caws at night is thought to be an evil spirit. The crashing of a falling tree in the forest is the struggle of mighty giants. The rumbling of thunder, the flash of lightning, the tempest's blast, and all the other phenomena of nature are the operations of unseen agencies. The darkness is peopled with hosts of spirits. On the desolate rocks, in the untrodden jungle, on the dark mountain tops, in gloomy caves, by mad torrents, in deep pools, dwell invisible powers whose enmity he must avoid or whose good will he must court, or whose anger he must placate.
Fear then seems to be the foundation of the Manóbo's religious beliefs and observances. Untutored as he is, he fails to understand occurrences which the average trained mind can easily explain. On one occasion I was at the headwaters of the Abagá River, a tributary of the Tágo River. I had to cross the river at a point where a mighty rock stood in midstream, dividing the river in two. I noticed that each of my Manóbo carriers deposited a little stone near an aperture in the rock. I asked them why they had made their tribute to the spirit dweller of the rock, and I could not convince them that the rock was not placed there by the spirit, but was a natural result of the action of the water. They would never, they said, be able to return to the Agúsan unless they showed their good will to the spirit lord of Abagá.
MEANS OF DETECTING SUPERNATURAL EVIL
In all the concerns of life the Manóbo must secure immunity from the ill will of the multitudinous spirits that surround him. But this alone is not sufficient. He must be able to detect future evil, otherwise how can he avoid it? His ancestors for long bygone generations, have taught him how to foresee and avoid evil, for they have learned, often after bitter experience, the signs of present and approaching evil and the means of effectively avoiding it. These signs are embodied in a system of augury, that forms one of the most important parts of Manóbo religion. Hence, before all important undertakings, and, above all, whenever there is any suspicion of bodily danger or any apprehension of supernatural ill will, the omens must be sedulously consulted and the machinations of evil or of inimical spirits thereby detected.