Each settlement is recognized as having property rights to all adjacent lands. Within these recognized limits, its members may take up as much land as they need, provided it is not already in use, but when a field is, for any reason, abandoned it again becomes the property of the community. Individual ownership extends to houses, furnishings, and all articles of clothing, as well as to weapons, traps, animals, and slaves. Although bought with a price the wife is still very independent and has undisputed rights to her baskets, cooking utensils, looms, and to the finery with which she adorns her person. Since all the people assist in the support of the _datu_ they consider his home to be, to a certain extent, their own and make use of it and its furnishings without question. Probably at no place in the world has borrowing gone to greater extremes than here. When attempting to purchase clothing, or articles in daily use, the writer frequently found that not a single garment worn by an individual was his own; and it was usually necessary to consult several persons in order to secure a complete outfit. Upon the death of a man, his property is taken in charge by his first wife, or by the old men, and is divided equally among his wives and children, with perhaps a little extra added to the share of the first mate. The belongings of a free-born woman go to her children, or, in case she is barren, are given to her relatives. In cases where both the parents are dead, the children pass into the care of the father's family. Despite the fact that property is owned by individuals, a large part of the labor, especially in house-building and in the fields, is done in common. When a man desires to clear or plant a field or to build a house, he summons his friends to aid him and they respond with no idea of payment other than their food and drink, and the return of like services when they are in similar need. BIRTH.