Evening star., 1924-10-05

how many men he had killed. His
reply was Twenty
The Bagobas are the finest look
ing people / have yet seen in the
islands They are taller and better
formed than the Tagalogs or the
Nisayans. and their faces are more
intelligent than those of the Moros
They remind me of the Persians
rather than of the Malays. They have
bright yellow skins and luxuriant
black hair which they wrap up in
a knot under theeir turbans. Their
foreheads are high and broad their
cheek bones low. their noses straight,
their chins round and their lips broad
and protruding. The hair seems to
be pulled out of their faces. although
one or two of those l saw wore
boards. They file their teeth 80 that
they look like a saw, and blacken
them by chewing the betel
The most striking ornament OF the
Bagoba is his earrings. In many
cases these are so large that they
hide the whole ear. / saw some made
of ivory which were as big around
as pint tin cup. They were cut in
the shape of an old fashioned cuff
button with a top disc three or four
inches wide and an under one at
least an inch in diameter The under
button is slipped through a hole in
the lobe of the ear in such way
that it holds the outer disc firmly
against the side of the head.
In order to get the exact size of
one of these earrings l persuaded the
Bagoba who wore it to take it off
and let me make a tracing Of it in
my notebook. II was just about as
wide as two columns of this news
paper and the bottom was as big
aronD6 Si1Gor Quarter n
refused to sell the earring for less
than 25 pesos. The hole in the lobe
of his ear was at least an inch long,
and / saw this stretch when he in
serted the button. He told me that
the hole was made by piercing the
ear and charging it from time to
time by inserting sticks or Straws
until it was stretched to the desired
size.
Poorer men among the Bagobas had
earrings of wood, and the women
wore wooden ear plugs inlaid with
silver and brass. These plugs are
connected by a beaded band that runs
under the chin. One of the Bagoba
men, perhaps lacking an earring. had
thrust a large cigar through his
ear lobe. thus using it as a pocket
The garments of these Bagobas are
curious to an extreme. The men wear
L
trousers of grass cloth, which are
dyed red and white and embroidered
with beads. Their jackets do not
reach to the waist, their sleeves stop
at the elbow. while the trousers end
at the middle of the thigh. Most of
the men wear bead bracelets, and
nearly all have bands of beads about
their legs between the calf and the
knee. They carry knapsacks of grass
cloth embroidered with beads Of
many colors and bordered with tas-
sells and beads. The women load
their arms with ornaments Of brass
and shell, and have rattles and bells
attached to their ankles
4 \
THE vice president told me that the
Bagobas are nature worshipers,
praying now and then to the volcano.
Mount Apo. and making sacrifices at
their town of Cimbolan. which is sit
uated some distance from Davao on
the slope of that mountain. Fay
Cooper Cole. who has made investiga-
tions among these people here for the
Field Museum at Chicago. describes
a human sacrifice which took place
there about eight years after our oc-
cupation Of the islands, in which parts
Of the dead body were presented to