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The Wild Tribes of Davao District, Mindanao - The R. F. Cummings Philippine Expedition by Fay-Cooper Cole
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exacting punishment unless proper offerings and other tokens of respect
are accorded them. Below them is a horde of low, mean spirits who
delight to annoy mankind with mischievous pranks, or even to bring
sickness and disaster to them. To this class generally belong the
spirits who inhabit mountains, cliffs, rooks, trees, rivers, and
springs. Standing between these two types are the shades of the dead
who, after they have departed from this life, continue to exercise
considerable influence, for good or bad, over the living.

We have still to mention a powerful class of supernatural beings who, in
strength and importance, are removed only a little from the Creator.
These are the patron spirits.

Guarding the warriors are two powerful beings, Mandarangan and his wife,
Darago, who are popularly supposed to make their home in the crater of
the volcano. They bring success in battle and give to the victors loot
and slaves. In return for these favors they demand, at certain times,
the sacrifice of a slave. Dissentions[sic], disasters, and death will be
sure to visit the people should they fail to make the offering. Each
year in the month of December the people are reminded of their
obligation by the appearance in the sky of a constellation known as
_Balatik_,[9] and soon thereafter a human sacrifice doubtless takes
place in some one or more of the Bagobo settlements.

[9] Orion.

A man to come under the protection of these two deities must first have
taken at least two human lives. He is then entitled to wear a peculiar
chocolate-colored kerchief with white patterns in it. When he has killed
four he may wear blood-red trousers, and when his score has reached six
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