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A Study in Tinguian Folk Lore

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[39] In the Dayak legend of Limbang, a tree springs from the head
of a dead giant; its flowers turn to beads; its leaves to cloth;
the ripe fruit to jars. See H. Ling Roth, The Natives of Sarawak and
British North Borneo, Vol. I, p. 372.

[40] Similar incidents are to be found among the Ilocano and Igorot
in Borneo; in Java and India. See Reyes, Folklore Filipino, p. 34,
(Manila, 1889); Jenks, The Bontoc Igorot, p. 202, (Manila, 1905);
Seidenadel, The Language of the Bontoc Igorot. p. 491, 541, ff,
(Chicago, 1909); Evans, Journal Royal Anthro. Inst., Vol. XLIII,
1913, p. 462; Ling Roth, Natives of Sarawak and British North Borneo,
Vol. I, p. 319; Tawney, Kathá Sarit Ságara, Vol. II, p. 3, (Calcutta,
1880); Bezemer, Volksdichtung aus Indonesien, p. 49, (Haag, 1904).

[41] This peculiar expression while frequently used is not fully
understood by the story tellers who in place of the word "whip"
occasionally use "make." In one text which describes the Sayang
ceremony, I find the following sentence, which may help us to
understand the foregoing: "We go to make perfume at the edge of the
town, and the things which we take, which are our perfume, are the
leaves of trees and some others; it is the perfume for the people,
which we give to them, which we go to break off the trees at the edge
of the town." Again in tale 20, Kanag breaks the perfume of Baliwán
off a tree.--The use of sweetly scented oil, in raising the dead,
is found in Dayak legends. See Ling Roth, The Natives of Sarawak and
British North Borneo, Vol. I, p. 314.

[42] According to a Jakun legend, the first children were produced
out of the calves of their mothers' legs. Skeat and Bladgen, Pagan
Races of the Malay Peninsula, Vol. II, p. 185.--A creation tale from
Mangaia relates that the boy Rongo came from a boil on his mother's
arm when it was pressed. Gill, Myths and Songs of the South Pacific,
p. 10 (London, 1876).

[43] This power of transforming themselves into animals and the like
is a common possession among the heroes of Dayak and Malay tales. See
Ling Roth, The Natives of Sarawak and British North Borneo, Vol. I,
p. 312; Perham, Journal Straits Branch R., Asiatic Society, No. 16,
1886; Wilkinson, Malay Beliefs, pp. 32, 59 (London, 1906).

[44] The present day Tinguian attach much importance to these
omens. The gall and liver of the slaughtered animal are carefully
examined. If the fluid in the gall sack is exceedingly bitter, the
inquirer is certain to be successful; if it is mild he had best defer
his project. Certain lines and spots found on the liver foretell
disaster, while a normal organ assures success. See also Hose and
McDougall, Pagan Tribes of Borneo, Vol. II, p. 60 ff.

[45] See p. 21, note 1.

[46] The present capital of Ilocos Sur.

[47] See p. 7, note 1.

[48] Barrows, Census of the Philippine Islands, Vol. I, pp. 456
ff., 1903.

[49] Paul P. de La Gironiere, who visited the Tinguian in the early
part of the nineteenth century, describes these ornaments as follows:
"Their heads were ornamented with pearls, coral beads, and pieces
of gold twisted among their hair; the upper parts of the hands were
painted blue; wrists adorned with interwoven bracelets, spangled with
glass beads; these bracelets reached the elbow and formed a kind of
half-plaited sleeve. La Gironiere, Twenty Years in the Philippines,
pp. 108 ff.

[50] See Cole and Laufer, Chinese Pottery in the Philippines
(Pub. Field Museum of Natural History, Vol. XII, No. 1).

[51] This is entirely in agreement with Chinese records. The Islands
always appeared to the Chinese as an Eldorado desirable for its gold
and pearls.

[52] See p. 17, note 2.

[53] See p. 7, note 4.

[54] A bamboo pole, about ten feet long, one end of which is slit
into several strips; these are forced apart and are interwoven with
other strips, thus forming a sort of basket.

[55] See Cole, Distribution of the Non-Christian Tribes of Northwestern
Luzon (American Anthropologist, Vol. II, No. 3, 1909, pp. 340, 341).

[56] See p. 9.

[57] See p. 10, note 3.

[58] Among the Ifugao, the lowest of the four layers or strata which
overhang the earth is known as Kabuniyan. See Beyer, Philippine
Journal of Science, Vol. VIII, 1913, No. 2, p. 98.

[59] See p. 8.

[60] An Ifugao myth gives sanction to the marriage of brother and
sister under certain circumstances, although it is prohibited in
every day life. Beyer, Philippine Journal of Science, Vol. VIII,
1913, No. 2, pp. 100 ff.

[61] As opposed to the spirit mate of Aponitolau.

[62] According to Ling Roth, the Malanaus of Borneo bury small
boats near the graves of the deceased, for the use of the departed
spirits. It was formerly the custom to put jars, weapons, clothes,
food, and in some cases a female slave aboard a raft, and send it out
to sea on the ebb tide "in order that the deceased might meet with
these necessaries in his upward flight." Natives of Sarawak and British
North Borneo, Vol. I, p. 145, (London, 1896). For notes on the funeral
boat of the Kayan, see Hose and McDougall, Pagan Tribes of Borneo,
Vol. II, p. 35.--Among the Kulaman of southern Mindanao an important
man is sometimes placed in a coffin resembling a small boat, which
is then fastened on high poles near to the beach. Cole, Wild Tribes
of Davao District, Mindanao (Pub. Field Museum of Natural History,
Vol. XII, No. 2, 1913).--The supreme being, Lumawig, of the Bontoc
Igorot is said to have placed his living wife and children in a log
coffin; at one end he tied a dog, at the other a cock, and set them
adrift on the river. See Jenks, The Bontoc Igorot, p. 203, (Manila,
1905); Seidenadel, The Language of the Bontoc Igorot, p. 502 ff.,
(Chicago, 1909).

[63] For similar omens observed by the Ifugao of Northern Luzon,
see Beyer, Origin Myths of the Mountain peoples of the Philippines
(Philippine Journal of Science, Vol. VIII, 1913, No. 2, p. 103).

[64] Page 3, note 2.

[65] See tale 22.

[66] For a discussion of this class of myths, see Waterman,
Jour. Am. Folklore, Vol. XXVII, 1914, p. 13 ff.; Lowie, ibid.,
Vol. XXI, p. 101 ff., 1908; P. W. Schmidt, Grundlinien einer
Vergleichung der Religionen und Mythologien der austronesischen Völker,
(Wien, 1910).

[67] See p. 10, note 3.

[68] The Pala-an is third in importance among Tinguian ceremonies.

[69] Tale 58.

[70] This is offered only as a possible explanation, for little is
known of the beliefs of this group of Igorot.

[71] See p. 11, note 1.

[72] Tale 68.

[73] Hose and McDougall, The Pagan Tribes of Borneo, Vol. II, p. 148,
(London, 1912).

[74] Bezemer, Volksdichtung aus Indonesien, p. 304, Haag, 1904. For
the Tagalog version of this tale see Bayliss, (Jour. Am. Folk-lore,
Vol. XXI, 1908, p. 46).

[75] Evans, Folk Stories of British North Borneo. (Journal Royal
Anthropological Institute, Vol. XLIII, 1913, p. 475).

[76] Folk Stories of British North Borneo (Journal Royal
Anthropological Institute, Vol. XLIII, p. 447, 1913).

[77] Tale No. 89.

[78] Hose and McDougall, The Pagan Tribes of Borneo, Vol. II,
pp. 144-146.

[79] Tale 91. The cloak which causes invisibility is found in Grimm's
tale of the raven. See Grimm's Fairy Tales, Columbus Series, p. 30. In
a Pampanga tale the possessor of a magic stone becomes invisible when
squeezes it. See Bayliss, (Jour. Am. Folk-Lore, Vol. XXI, 1908, p. 48).

[80] Ratzel, History of Mankind, Vol. I, Book II. Graebner, Methode
der Ethnologie, Heidelberg, 1911; Die melanesische Bogenkultur und
ihre Verwandten (Anthropos, Vol. IV, pp. 726, 998, 1909).

[81] See Waterman, Journal American Folklore, Vol. XXVII, 1914,
pp. 45-46.

[82] See Waterman, Journal American Folklore, Vol. XXVII, 1914,
pp. 45-46.

[83] See Waterman, Journal American Folklore, Vol. XXVII, 1914,
pp. 45-46.

[84] Stories of magic growth are frequently found in North America. See
Kroeber, Gross Ventre Myths and Tales (Anthropological Papers of the
Am. Mus. of Nat. Hist., Vol. I, p. 82); also Lowie, The Assiniboin
(ibid., Vol. IV, Pt. 1, p. 136).

[85] Other examples of equally widespread tales are noted by Boas,
Indianische Sagen, p. 852, (Berlin, 1895); L. Roth, Custom and Myth,
pp. 87 ff., (New York, 1885); and others. A discussion of the spread of
similar material will be found in Graebner, Methode der Ethnologie,
p. 115; Ehrenreich, Mythen und Legenden der südamerikanischen
Urvölker, pp. 77 ff.; Ehrenreich, Die allgemeine Mythologie und ihre
ethnologischen Grundlagen, p. 270.

[86] Cole and Laufer, Chinese Pottery in the Philippines (Publication
Field Museum of Natural History, Anthropological Series, Vol. XII,
No. 1, Chicago, 1913).

[87] Nieuwenhuis, Kunstperlen und ihre kulturelle Bedeutung
(Int. Arch. für Ethnographie, Vol. XVI, 1903, pp. 136-154).

[88] Philippine Journal of Science, Vol. III, No. 4, 1908, pp. 197-211.

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