The servant in Christ of you all,
Mateo Gisbert, S. J.
Dávao, February 8, 1886.
My dearly beloved Fathers and Brothers in Christ:
On reading the horrible sacrifices that I described in my last letter, you will have asked: “How has the father been able to learn so minutely the inhuman customs which the savages conceal so carefully in the midst of their forests?” Your Reverences will understand indeed that I have not been able to be present at those sacrifices, but they have been explained to me by the Bagobos, who, having been baptized, recount those and other barbarities of heathenism. I have learned it also from the mouth of some victims who, being at the very point of being sacrificed, managed to escape by the aid and management of the father missionary.
I am going to mention some of the customs of the Bagobos to you which must, I believe, arrest the attention because of their ridiculousness and superstition. When the Bagobos have an evil presentiment, for which it is enough for them to see a snake in the house, or that the jar breaks in the fire, etc., they hasten to their matánom, in order to have him conjure the misfortune by means of his great wisdom. The matánom, who preserves the customs and religions of their ancestors, makes a doll with his knife, giving it the face of a man, and then addressing God, says the following words: “O God, Thou Who hast created men and trees, and all things, do not deprive us of life, and receive in exchange this bit of wood, which has our face.” After that ceremony with or without the doll, they set in the water a small bag containing a little morisqueta or rice, to which they at times add a cock. By this means they think that they have rid themselves of the disease. When they are sick, they perform the diuata in their tambaro. That consists in a dish on top of a bamboo which is fixed in the ground, on which they place buyo, bonga, lime, and tobacco, while they say to their god: “We offer thee this. Give us health.” When they visit a sick person, they have the custom of placing copper rings on their wrists or on their legs, in order that the soul which they call limócod may not leave. When anyone dies, they never bury him without placing for him his share of rice to be eaten on the journey. When they harvest their rice or maize, they give the first fruits to the diuata, and do not eat them, or sell a grain without first having made their hatchets, bolos, and other tools which they use in clearing their fields eat first. The song of the limócon is for them the message from God. It is of good or evil augury according to circumstances. Accordingly, when the limócon sings, every Bagobo stops and looks about him. If he sees for instance, a fallen tree, the limócon advises him not to advance farther for the fate of that tree awaits him, and he turns back. If he sees no particular thing which indicates or prognosticates any ill, he continues, for then the song of the limócon is good. Sneezing is always a bad omen for them, and accordingly if anyone sneezes by chance when they are about to set out on a journey, the departure is deferred until next day.
There are not as a rule many thefts among the Bagobos, for they believe that the thief can be discovered easily by means of their famous bongat. That consists of two small joints of bamboo, which contain certain mysterious powders. He who has been robbed and wishes to determine the robber, takes a hen’s egg, makes a hole in it, puts a pinch of the abovesaid powder in it, and leaves it in the fire. If he wish the robber to die he has nothing else to do than to break the egg; but since the thief may sometimes be a relative or a beloved person the egg is not usually broken, so that there may be or may be able to be a remedy. For under all circumstances, when this operation is performed, if the robber lives, wherever he may be, he himself must inform on himself by crying out, “I am the thief; I am the thief;” as he is compelled to do (they say) by the sharp pain which he feels all through his body. When he is discovered, he may be cured by putting powder from the other joint into the water and bathing his body with it. This practice is very common here among heathens and Moros. A Bagobo, named Anas, who was converted, gave me the bongat, with which he had frightened many people when a heathen.
This would be the place to write you some very interesting Bagobo stories and legends; but in order to be understood, I should have to precede it by a long preamble, for which I have no time at present; and hence I shall leave it for another time. I should like to tell you something about the other races of heathens whom we have in this mission. The Bilanes,[3] are beyond doubt, the most industrious of all the heathens that inhabit these mountains. This race numbers approximately about twenty thousand souls, who are divided among a considerable number of rancherías between the Bulatúcan River and the bay of Sarangáni, and occupying the beautiful plains of the interior where they grow considerable rice. They have some of the customs of the Bagobos their neighbors, but their language which is very different separates them as does also the natural hostility that always arms the heathen savage against the savage, and one race against the other. The Bilanes are very intelligent, and some who have been baptized, give good proof of themselves. But although it causes me the greatest pain to say it, as they are a race which deserves that we all interest ourselves in them, as they are very numerous, and capable of receiving the evangelical light and civilization, I must tell you that there is no reduction as yet among that race of heathens.
Enough for today. Another time I shall speak of the Tagacaolos, Manobos, and Atás. Meanwhile, will you pray the sacred heart of Jesus for them all and for your most affectionate brother and servant in Christ.
Mateo Gisbert, S. J.