The Wild Tribes of Davao District, Mindanao: The R. F. Cummings Philippine ExpeditionCole, Fay-Cooper
History
The Wild Tribes of Davao District, Mindanao: The R. F. Cummings Philippine Expedition
Cole, Fay-Cooper
Ethnology -- Philippines -- Mindanao Island
According to the tribal historians the human race sprang from a man,
Toglai, and his wife, Toglibon, who lived on Mt. Apo.[3] "They were
there from the beginning, at a point near to the present settlement of
Cibolan. Many fruits grew on the mountains and the forests abounded in
game so that it was easy for them to secure food. There were born to
them children, who, when they grew up, married. One day Toglai and
Toglibon told their oldest boy and girl that they should go far away
across the ocean, for there was a good place for them. So the two
departed and were seen no more until their descendants, the white
people, came back to Davao. The other children remained with their
parents and were happy and prosperous until Toglai and Toglibon died and
went to the sky, where they became spirits. Soon after their death the
country suffered a great drought. This finally became so severe that the
water in the rivers dried up and there was no more food in the land. At
last the children were forced to leave their home and seek out new
habitations in other parts. They traveled in pairs, in different
directions, until they came to favorable locations where they settled
down. From them have sprung all the tribes known to the Bagobo. One pair
was too weak to make the journey from the drought-cursed land, and staid
at Cibolan. One day the man crawled out into the ruined fields to see if
he could not find some one thing alive, and when he arrived there he
saw, to his amazement, a single stalk of sugar cane growing lustily. He
cut it with his knife, and water began to come out until there was
enough for the couple to drink. The flow did not cease until the rains
came again to refresh the land. From these two the tribe has again grown
until it numbers its members in the thousands. The people have remained
true to their belief in the spirits, and each year has found them
stronger in numbers, and richer in houses, land, and slaves."
[3] See fuller account by author, in _Philippine Journal of Science_.
June 1911, Vol. VI, No. 3, pp. 128-9.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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