The music for the dances is generally furnished by one or more persons beating on several _agongs_ of different sizes and notes, which are suspended in regular order from the house rafters (Plate XXXa). The player stands in front of the line and begins to beat the instruments with a padded stick. Oftentimes he is accompanied by a man who strikes a wooden drum with the palm of one hand and a stick held in the other. The music grows faster, emphasizing certain beats, until it becomes a compelling rhythm that starts the feet of the onlookers, and suddenly a man or woman begins to dance. At first she keeps time to the music by raising on her toes and heels, bending the knees and twisting the body from side to side, but soon she becomes more animated, the feet are raised high above the floor and brought down with a sort of shuffle which reminds one of the sound made by the feet of a clog dancer. Still swaying her body, she begins to circle, contra-clockwise, around the gongs, and soon she is joined by others until all the dancing space is filled. The scene is most picturesque, for these dances usually occur at night, in rooms illuminated only by the flickering light of torches. The rich clothing of the participants loses nothing of its beauty in this dim light, while the bells and rattles with which each dancer surrounds arms, legs and ankles, add to the din and weirdness of the occasion. Before the dance has progressed far the musicians begin to keep time with their feet and frequently dance away from their instruments, circle, and then return to continue the music. With slight variation, this is the dance used on all occasions. At certain ceremonies small gongs, or the _bolang bolang_,[45] replace the _agongs_, and at times also a single dancer will accompany himself on the _kodlon_--a long wooden guitar with rattan strings (Plate XXXb). [45] An instrument made by placing a small board on a rice mortar. This is pounded or beaten with short sticks, or with the wooden pestles. In this description we have named a large share of the musical instruments used by the Bagobo. The women frequently play on a sort of guitar made of a section of bamboo from the outside of which narrow strings are cut. These are raised and made taut with small wooden bridges and are then picked with a stick or the fingers (Fig. 33). Bamboo Jew's-harps and mouth flutes are played by the men, but the nose flute, so common in most parts of the Philippines, was not seen in use here. FIG. 33. TAW-GAU OR BAMBOO GUITAR. The ceremonies and dances are so closely associated with every day affairs that in the description of the life of the people up to this point we have left only a few still to be discussed. These are, in the main, very similar throughout the Bagobo belt, but to avoid confusion the description here given of the two greatest events of the year--the _GinEm_ ceremony and the human sacrifice--deals with Cibolan, unless expressly stated to the contrary.