A number of dancing-girls, as
they appeared to be, had strings of red and yellow beads or animals'
teeth fastened around their necks. Their breasts were covered with
short bodices that fell so as to leave a portion of the waist exposed.

The chief assassins were completely clad in scarlet, indicating
that the wearer had disposed of more than twenty enemies. The lesser
assassins wore yellow handkerchiefs around their heads, and some were
dignified with scarlet vests. A miserable naked slave was pinioned
where he had been thrown upon the ground near by. Although of the
inferior race of the Bilanes from Lake Buluan, his eyes flashed as
he regarded the assembled people scornfully. They were to offer up
a human sacrifice to Mansilitan, the all-powerful god.

The head men seemed to be engaged in a dispute. A wild hog, also lying
near the altar, was the object of their serious attention. After they
had chattered for a while, and having evidently decided on the pig, the
drums and tambourines struck up a doleful melody, and those assembled
joined in a solemn chant. The pig was carefully lifted to the altar,
and the chant grew more intensified. A number of dancing-girls,
describing mystic circles with their jeweled arms, were trembling
violently, bending rhythmically, gracefully from side to side. The
music seemed to hypnotize the people, who kept shuffling with their
feet monotonously on the ground. The leader of the dance then stuck
the living pig with a sharp dagger. As the red blood spurted out,
she caught a mouthful of it, and applying her mouth quickly to the
wound, she sucked the fluid till she reeled and fell away. Another
followed her example, and another, till the pig was drained.

It was not difficult to fancy a like orgy with the quivering slave
upon the altar in the place of the wild hog. The spirit of Mansilitan
then came down--the spirit was, of course, invisible--and talked with
the head men about their enemies, the crops, and game. The chiefs were
chewing cinnamon and betel till their mouths were red. The master of
ceremonies then brought out enormous quantities of _tuba_, and his
guests completed the religious ceremony with a wholesale drunk.

Under the cover of the darkness, Padre Cipriano and I slipped away. We
shuddered at what we had just seen, and were silent. Leading the ponies
a short distance into the brush, we slept upon the blankets which the
ponies had completely saturated with their perspiration.