etc.

FAY-COOPER COLE,
Assistant Curator of Malayan Ethnology.
CHICAGO, September, 1913.

I. THE BAGOBO.

SYNONYMS:

(a) GUIANGA, GUANGA, GULANGA

(b) OBO

(c) TIGDAPAYA

(d) ETO

HABITAT.

The west coast of Davao Gulf between Daliao and Digos is dotted with
small villages, the inhabitants of which are largely Bagobo who have
been converted to the Christian faith and have been induced to give up
their mountain homes and settle in towns. Back of this coast line rise
densely timbered mountain peaks, lateral spurs from which often
terminate in abrupt cliffs overlooking the sea. From other peaks
extensive grass covered plains slope gently down nearly to the water's
edge. Deep river canons cut between these mountains and across the
plains, giving evidence of active erosion for a long period of time. If
these mountain chains and river courses are followed back it is found
that they all radiate from one stupendous mass, the center of which is
Mt. Apo, the highest mountain in the Philippines and reputed to be an
active volcano. Near to its summit is a deep fissure from which, on
clear mornings, columns of smoke or steam can be seen ascending, while
the first rays of the rising sun turn into gold, or sheets of white, the
fields of sulphur which surround the cone.

Along the lower eastern and southern slopes of this mountain and its
tributary peaks live the wilder branch of this tribe, whose traditions,
religious observances, and daily life are closely related to the
manifestations of latent energy in the old volcano.

NUMBER.

The exact number who fall under this classification is not known,
Governor Bolton, who was intimately acquainted with the wild tribes of
the District, estimated their number at sixty-five hundred, but this
count did not include the sub-division here given as Obo. One
enumeration, made by a Jesuit missionary, places the population at
fifteen thousand, while the Government report of 1900 gives them
eighteen thousand four hundred. The latter estimates are certainly
excessive. It is probable that they were determined by compiling the
population of villages reported to exist in the interior.

The wilder members of this tribe are, to a certain extent, migratory,
moving their villages from one location to another according to the
demands of their mode of agriculture. Their rice fields are made in
mountain-side clearings, and as the ever present cogon grass[1] begins
to invade the open lan