Toward the end of the month word was received from Meskínan that the end of the world would not take place for three more moons in order that every settlement might have an opportunity of erecting its religious house and of saving itself thereby from the impending doom. The priests and their assistants were bidden to spread the news far and wide, even in the most inaccessible haunts of the land.
My informant and his relatives then returned to their settlement on the Báklug River, but only to find that their pigs and chickens had been stolen by Christianized people of Compostela. They constructed a religious house of very fine appearance and faithfully fulfilled all the other behests of the Magbabáya.
All this time reports and messages as to the approach of the end of the world kept pouring into Compostela from Libagánon, so that it was not long before my informant was invited to establish a religious house in Compostela. As this town is the principal intertribal trading point to which Christianized Manóbos, Mañgguáñgans, and Mandáyas resort, it is evident that within a short time word of the approaching calamity was received and believed by all the surrounding peoples, and my informant, the high priest, was invited to establish "churches" in all the settlements of Mandáyaland. Through the instrumentality of other priests and their assistants the movement spread among the Debabáons of the Sálug country, among the Mañgguáñgans of the Mánat and Sálug districts and among the Manóbos of the upper Agúsan, the Baóbo, the Ihawán, and the Simúlau Rivers.
This great religious movement was known as "Túñgud."10
10I am unable to give any suggestion as to the meaning of this word, nor have I been able to find anyone, from high priests down, who pretended to know its meaning.
ITS EXTERIOR CHARACTER AND GENERAL FEATURES
When I arrived on the upper Agúsan the movement was in full swing, and I had every opportunity to hear the messages and rumors from Libagánon and to watch the proceedings of the high priests and of their assistants. I was handicapped by my inability to follow the language used in the sacred songs and supplications, but I had many of them interpreted to me. With this exception the following statements as to the character of the movement are first hand.
The first and most tangible feature of the revival was the lack of food. No rice nor taro had been planted because of the Magbabáya's injunction, so that the whole population of the upper Agúsan and of the Mandáya country had been compelled to subsist for the months preceding my arrival on the taro that had already been planted and on the camote crop. Hence on my arrival rice was so scarce that it cost me three days' wandering, no little amount of begging, and a good round sum of money to procure a supply sufficient for my own needs. The scarcity or utter lack of food was further made evident by the fact that on several occasions I had to leave settlements because I was unable to get food.
When in their homes the people showed fear at all hours, but especially during the night. The falling of a tree in the forest, the rumbling of thunder, an earthquake, an untoward report from Libagánon, and similar things would draw from them the repetition, in low fearful tones, of the mystic word "túñgud" and would send them off in a hurry to the religious house. In Compostela the people vehemently denied to the visiting Catholic missionary their adherence to the new movement, but as he was leaving the town an earthquake occurred and the words "túñgud, túñgud," broke from the lips of one of the most influential men in the town.