all the time asking the spirit to accept and enter the new weapon.  The child is removed by the mabalian who, in cutting the umbilical cord, makes use of the kind of knife used by the members of the child’s sex, otherwise the wound would never heal.  The child is placed on a piece of soft betel bark, “for its bones are soft and our hands are hard and are apt to break the soft bones,” then water is poured over it and its body is rubbed with pogonok.[2] The afterbirth is placed in a bamboo tube, is covered with ashes and a leaf, and the whole is hung against the side of the dwelling where it remains until it falls of its own accord or the house is destroyed.  In Cibolan the midwife applies a mixture of clay and herbs called karamir to the eyes of all who have witnessed the birth “so that they will not become blind.”  Having done this she gives the child its name, usually that of a relative, and her duties are over.  As payment she will receive a large and a small knife, a plate, some cloth, and a needle.[3]

[1] In Cibolan the midwife is called taratEk-Ekn, and need not be a mabalian.

[2] A medicine made of bark and rattan.

[3] The payment given at the birth of a boy is somewhat greater than that for a girl.

In Malilla the naming does not take place until three clays after the birth, and the eyes are not always anointed, although the old people agree that it is an ancient custom and “a good thing to do.”  At that time the mat containing the gifts is spread on the floor and the offerings are again called to the attention of the spirits, who are urged to look to the welfare of the child.  Should the infant be ailing, or cry a great deal, it is a sign that the spirits are displeased with the name given to it and another will be substituted; however, this does not seem to be done with an idea of fooling the spirits, as is the case with some other tribes.  The child is nursed until two or three years of age, or until another takes its place.  There is no superstition concerning twins, but triplets are at once put to death by filling their mouths with ashes, otherwise “the parents would die, for they are like dogs.”

When questioned concerning abortion, Datu Tongkaling asserted that he considered it “very bad,” and that he would prohibit any mabalian who assisted in such a practice from continuing her profession, but he said that despite his orders secret medicines which produce that result are sometimes administered.  Such a practice is not common, however, as children are greatly desired and no worse slur can be applied to a woman than to speak of her as barren.

So far as could be learned there is no ceremony or celebration of any kind when a child reaches the age of puberty but soon thereafter its teeth will be filed and blackened.  In some villages the boys are circumcised, but the practice is not compulsory, neither is it general throughout the territory.