THEIR CHARACTERISTICS AND METHOD OF LIVING
The tagbánua12 or lords of the mountains and the valleys, are a class of local deities, each one of whom reigns over a certain district. To them is assigned the ownership of the mountains and the deep forest and all lonely patches and uncommon places that give an impression of mystery and solitude.
12Tag a prefix denoting ownership, and bá-n-u-a, "uninhabited place," the open uninhabited country as distinguished from the territory in the immediate vicinity of the main rivers or of settled regions.
The tagbánua are thought to be neither kindly nor unkindly spirits, and without guile, provided a proper deference is shown them when we trespass upon their domains.
A tagbánua with his family selects a particular place for his habitation, sometimes a lonely mountain, sometimes a solitary glade or some high cliff or gloomy cavern. On one of my trips from Esperanza to the headwaters of the Tágo River, I saw the dwelling place of a tagbánua. It was a huge bowlder[sic], called Buhiísan, that stood at the junction of the two torrents that form the Abagá River, a tributary of the Tágo.
A favorite haunt of the tagbánua is a natural open place in the center of the forest. Here he builds a house, or more often makes his domicile in a balete tree. I have heard it said that he may at times select the lauán or any other lofty tree but that his choice is usually the baléte. Here he dwells with his family and is said to lead a quiet, peaceful life. Day by day he wanders through his realm and provides himself with the necessaries of life. Uncommon varieties of plants, such as ferns and ricelike growths, furnish him with the vegetable part of his meal, while venison and pork are obtained from the abundance of wild boars and deer. He and his family return home toward sunset and begin to prepare supper by pounding their rice. Many Manóbos have heard with their own ears, they assured me, not only the sound of the rice mortar but all the sounds that are customarily heard in any Manóbo home.
DEFINITE LOCALITIES TENANTED BY FOREST SPIRITS
There are in the vicinity of Talakógon two localities where tagbánua are said to reign. One is called Agibáwa and the other Kasawáñgan. Both of them are remote timberless places in the center of swampy regions. In the former the reigning deity had constructed a house, so I was told by one who claimed to have seen the posts while the house was still in the process of construction. According to other reports this deity had a herd of carabaos whose footprints had been seen by several of my friends and acquaintances.13
13These carabaos were evidently the remnant, or the offspring, of a small herd that escaped to the woods in the time of the Philippine insurrection.