e component parts of the stories have been drawn from
numerous and widely separated sources, is apparent, even at a
cursory glance. Among these sources, the folk-lore material of
Sanscrit writers seems to have left a distinctive impress upon the
Bagobo mythical romance. Against a Malay background, and blended
with native pagan elements, are presented chains of episodes,
characteristic personalities, methods for securing a magical control
of the situation, that suggest vividly parallel literary forms in
the Sanscrit saga. Still more, one is conscious of a prevailing
Indian atmosphere, that may sometimes elude analysis, yet none the
less fails not to make itself felt. But as to the line of ethnic
contacts which has transfused this peculiar literary quality into Malay
myth,--whether it is to be traced solely to the influence exerted by
Hindoo religion and Hindoo literature during ages of domination in
the Malay archipelago, or whether we must reconsider the hypothesis
of an Indonesian migration,--this is a problem of great complexity,
for which no satisfactory solution has yet been offered.

Modern foreign increments that have filtered into the stories from
the folk-lore of neighboring wild tribes--notably that of the Bilan,
the Tagacolo, and, to a less extent, the Culaman and Ata--will have
to be sifted out eventually. In illustration of this point, one tale
known to be outside of Bagobo sources is here introduced. The story
of "Alelu'k and Alebu'tud" was told by an Ata boy to a Bagobo at the
coast, who immediately related it to me. It was unquestionably passed
on in Bagobo circles, and has become a permanent accession. Yet this
was the sole case that came under my observation of a social visit made
by an Ata in a Bagobo house; for the Ata live far to the northwest
of the Bagobo, and are extremely timid, and "wild" in the popular
sense. Recent ethnic influences from higher peoples, pre-eminently
the Moro and the Spaniard, will have to be reckoned with. The story of
"The Monkey and the Turtle" is clearly modified from a Spanish source.

The myths here presented include only those of which no texts were
recorded. A part of the material was given in the vernacular and
interpreted by a Bagobo; a part was told in English, or in mixed
English and Bagobo. The stories were taken down in 1907, on Mount
Merar in the district of Talun, and at Santa Cruz on the coast.

As regards subject-matter, the stories (ituran [27]) tend to cl