They have courts of justice to punish robbery and other offences. Their laws are traditional, passing from father to son, and occasionally altered at the discretion of the principal datto, to whom they appeal if they have been gravely offended. The principal datto having taken his seat, his head is bound round with the pinditon, or head-cloth, with three points, and he takes the quiap (already mentioned) in his hand. He then invites two inferior dattos, who take seats one on each side of him. The prisoner is then led forward by a guard, who sticks their lances in the earth near the seats of the tribunal. The case is argued on both sides, the court deliberates and gives judgment and sentence, which is executed upon the spot, fine, corporal-punishment, or death. This is quite an ideal criminal court, and worthy of all respect. Amongst them it is considered as a want of education and good manners to mention their own names, and if a stranger asks, "What is your name?" the person interrogated does not answer, but some one else replies, "His name is so-and-so." This actually happened to me amongst the Tagbanúas of Paragua, when I visited them. (See Tagbanúas.) They believe in omens, and have many curious customs, too long to relate, but I shall mention one. If a stranger enters a house to visit those who inhabit it, and during the conversation a fowl should fly and pass before him, the people of the house instantly kill it, and cooking it as quickly as possible, they eat it in company with the visitor to allay his fright, and cause his soul to return to his body, for it might have left him when he was startled. The houses in their villages are large and well-built, sometimes the walls are of thick planks of hard wood tied together with rattan, for they use no nails. The houses in the country are smaller, and low in the roof, but always so high from the ground that the longest lance will not reach the floor. Great respect is shown to the dead. They are usually buried in their fields with lance, sword, and bolo laid beside them. They make a mound of earth over the grave, fixing several stakes like St Andrew's crosses, and protecting the whole with the bark of a tree fastened over the stakes. From a high post hangs a bag of rice, that the soul of the defunct may sustain itself on the long journey to Mount Bolotucan, the highest peak of the whole region. The soul having arrived on this peak, gives one great jump, and reaches heaven, at a higher or lower level, according to the greater or lesser probity of its life on earth. Wherever it lands, there it remains to all eternity. The relations make great lamentations at the death, and loose their hair which they do not roll up for a greater or lesser period, according to the love they bore the dead.