The explanation of this high regard in which Mandáya cloth is held is simple. The cloth is made, I was habitually assured by Manóbos, by enchantment, under the direction of the priestesses in the lofty mountain fastnesses of Mandáyaland.17 No other explanation will satisfy the credulous Manóbo. He can not possibly understand how the fanciful and elegant designs on Mandáya cloth can be produced by other than supernatural means.
17I have covered nearly the whole of the Mandáya country and can testify to the numerous religious practices and restrictions connected with the fabrication of the cloth.
The cloth as it comes from the loom is of practically the same size as Manóbo cloth and it is made into the form of a skirt in identically the same way. The only difference is that the Mandáya fabric is heavier and has a beautiful inwoven pattern.
A minute description of the patterns would be needlessly lengthy and necessarily deficient. In general, it may be said that the designs are executed in longitudinal panels, of which there are several lateral and one central, all of which run parallel and warpwise. The main figures are four, two grotesquely suggestive of a crocodile but more nearly portraying a turtle, and two that delineate the fanciful figure of a woman. The intermediate parts of the panels consist of reticulations whose general design depends upon the skill and whim of the weaver.18
18The cloth is classified (1) according to the color of the woof threads (pu-gáu-a) into kan-aí-yum (black) and lin-í-ba (red); (2) according to the design on the central panel--ím-pis no laí-ag if it is 25 centimeters wide, bin-a-ga-kís if the central panel is no wider than the lateral ones; (3) according to the use of narrow (sin-ák-lit) or of broad (pin-al-áw-an) white stripes; (4) according to the locality in which the cloth is manufactured, the most famous and most prized cloth being called ban-a-háw-an, which proceeds from the Banaháwan district in the Kasaúman River Valley in the southeastern part of Mindanáo. The Mañg-á-gan type is highly esteemed for being very similar in design and dye effects to the Banaháwan. It is made by the Tagabuztai group of Mandáyas in the Karága River Valley.
CHAPTER VII
PERSONAL ADORNMENT
GENERAL REMARKS
The adornment of the person is confined almost exclusively to women so that the following observations apply principally to them. In the discussion of bodily mutilations reference will be made to such permanent adornment as tattooing, perforation and elongation of the ear lobes, superciliary and axillary depilation, grinding of the teeth, and the blackening of the teeth and lips--all of which, with the exception of the elongation of the ear lobes, are common to both men and women.