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"The Bagobos do not sacrifice any but old and decrepit or useless slaves captured from other tribes, but the Bilanes sacrifice even their own people. "Being asked if it was customary to eat any portion of the body sacrificed, Ansig replied that it was not customary nor did he know of any case where such had occurred.
The Bagobos of Mindanao, one of the Philippine Islands, used annually to sacrifice human victims for the good of the crops in a similar way. Early in December, when the constellation Orion appeared at seven o'clock in the evening, the people knew that the time had come to clear their fields for sowing and to sacrifice a slave.
"Datto Ansig, a man about sixty years of age, says that in his life he has attended or officiated at fifty human sacrifices, more or less, both among the Bagobos and the Bilanes, and that human sacrifice is also practiced among the Tagacolos, although he has never been present at one held by that tribe.
"On the 8th instant myself, Baon, Otoy, and Oton left Santa Cruz early in the morning to go to Talun, a day's march from Santa Cruz, for the purpose of trading with the natives of Talun, and also to collect some debts which they owed Baon. We remained that night at Saculampula, near Talun, where Ungon and Ido, two Bagobos, live with their families.
The Marquesans used to hold the mouth and nose of a dying man, in order to keep him in life by preventing his soul from escaping; the same custom is reported of the New Caledonians; and with the like intention the Bagobos of the Philippine Islands put rings of brass wire on the wrists or ankles of their sick.
"We left Davao on the morning of the 27th of December and arrived at Digos in the afternoon of the same day. An order was immediately sent out to the Bagobos of Talun to come down to Digos to meet us. "On the morning of the 30th, the entire population of Talun men, women and children, to the number of almost one hundred and fifty arrived at Digos.
"This collection of stars is called by the Bagobos 'Balatic, and is the sign of the sacrifice, that is, if a sacrifice is to occur, it must take place during the time that the stars are in this position. "The old men meet and decide if enough misfortune has overtaken the tribe or village during the period since the last sacrifice to render necessary another tribute to the god of evil.
After his blood has coagulated in the sun, it is burned along with the frontal bone, the flesh attached to it, and the brain; the ashes are then scattered over the ground to fertilise it. The rest of the body is eaten. The Bagobos of Mindanao, one of the Philippine Islands, offer a human sacrifice before they sow their rice. The victim is a slave, who is hewn to pieces in the forest.
The following accounts are extracts from the official correspondence forwarded by the Governor of Davao to the Governor of the Moro Province: "I have the honor to submit herewith a full report of an investigation made by myself and the Senior Inspector of Constabulary of Davao, regarding a human sacrifice made by the Bagobos at Talun near Digos on Dec. 9th, 1907.
Think of Filipe Buencamino, of Aguinaldo's cabinet, representing the Moros of Zamboanga; of the mild, scholarly botanist Leon Guerrero representing the Moros, Bagobos, Mandayas and Manobos of Davao; of José M. Lerma, the unscrupulous politician of the province of Bataan, just across the bay from Manila, representing the wild Moros of Cotabato; of Juan Tuason, a timid Chinese mestizo Manila business man, representing the Yacan and Samal Moros of Basilan; of my good friend Benito Legarda, since a member of the Philippine Commission, and a resident delegate from the Philippines to the congress of the United States, representing the bloody Moros of Jolo!
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