During a considerable portion of the time that these articles were being prepared, several men sat in the yard and played on the tongatong, but when the mediums finally gave the signal that everything was in readiness, they moved their instrument up on the porch of the dwelling, where they continued playing softly.

One of the mediums took her place in the mat in the middle of the room, and raising a Chinese plate above her head, began to strike against it with her shells, in order to notify the spirits that the ceremony was about to begin.  Next she placed two dishes on the mat in front of her, and as she sang a monotonous chant, she touched each one with a small stick.  The host was then ordered to shuffle his feet between the lines of dishes and to step over each one.  As soon as he did so, the medium pulled the mat from beneath them, rolled it up, and used it as a whip with which she struck the head of each member of the family.  The spirit who had caused the woman’s illness was supposed to be near by, and after he witnessed this whipping, he would be afraid to remain longer.  As a promise of future reward to the well-disposed immortals, a bound pig was then placed beside the door of the dwelling.

Going to the hearth, the medium withdrew burning sticks, and placed them in a jar, and held this over the head of the sick woman, for “a spirit has made her sick, but the fire will frighten him away, and she will get well.”  After she had made the circuit of the family, she held a bundle of rice above the flames, and with it again went to each person in the room; then she did the same thing with broken rice and with the atilwag vine.

Two mediums then seated themselves on the mat, and covering their faces with their hands, began to chant and wail, beseeching the spirits to enter their bodies.  One after another the spirits came and possesed the mediums, so that they were no longer regarded as human beings, but as the spirits themselves.  First came Kakalonan, also known as Boboyonan, a friendly being whose chief duty it is to find the cause of troubles.  Addressing the sick woman, he said, “Now you make this ceremony, and I come to make friends and to tell you the cause of your trouble.  I do not think it was necessary for you to hold this ceremony now, for you built your balaua only two years ago; yet it is best that you do so, for you can do nothing else.  You are not like the spirits.  If we die, we come to life again; if you die, you do not.”  At this point an old man interrupted, and offered him a drink of basi.  At first Kakalonan refused, saying he did not want to accept any payment; but finally he yielded and drained the coconut shell of liquor.  After assuring the family that all would be well with them when the ceremony was complete, he took his departure.