d they substitute sweet potatoes or hemp. In time
even these lusty plants give way to the rank grass, and the people find
it easier to make new clearings in the forest than to combat the pest
with the primitive tools at their command. This results in some new
fields each year, and when these are at too great a distance from the
dwellings the old settlements are abandoned and new ones formed at more
convenient locations.

[1] _Imperata koenigii_.

It is probable that the total number belonging to this tribe does not
exceed ten thousand persons.

INFLUENCE OF NEIGHBORS:--HISTORY.

The influence of the neighboring tribes and of the white man on the
Bagobo has been considerable. The desire for women, slaves, and loot, as
well as the eagerness of individual warriors for distinction, has caused
many hostile raids to be made against neighboring tribes. Similar
motives have led others to attack them and thus there has been, through
a long period, a certain exchange of blood, customs, and artifacts.
Peaceful exchange of commodities has also been carried on for many years
along the borders of their territory. With the advent of the Moro along
the sea coast a brisk trade was opened up and new industries introduced.
There seems to have been little, if any, intermarriage between these
people, but their relations were sufficiently close for the Moro to
exert a marked influence on the religious and civil life of the wilder
tribe, and to cause them to incorporate into their language many new
words and terms.

The friendly relations with the Moro seem to have been broken off upon
the arrival and settlement of the Spaniards in Davao. The newcomers were
then at war with the followers of Mohammed and soon succeeded in
enlisting the Bagobo rulers in their cause. A Chinese plate decorated
with the picture of a large blue fish was offered for each Moro head the
tribesmen presented to the Spanish commander. The desire for these
trophies was sufficient soon to start a brisk trade in heads, to judge
from the number of these plates still to be seen among the prized
objects of the petty rulers.

After the overthrow of Moro power on the coast, Jesuit missionaries
began their labors among the Bagobo, and later established their
followers in several villages. In 1886 Father Gisbert reported eight
hundred converts living in five coast towns. Following the conflict
between Spain and the United States, and during the subsequent
insurrection, the