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The a'-to ceremonials of Chakong are held in the pa-ba-fu'-nan of neighboring a'-to, as in Sigichan, Pudpudchog, or Filig, and this seems partially to destroy the ESPRIT DE CORPS of the unfortunate a'-to. Each a'-to has a fa'-wi building a structure greatly resembling to the pa-ba-fu'-nan, and impossible to be distinguished from it by one looking at the structure from the outside.
The pa-ba-fu'-nan building consists of a low, squat, stone-sided structure partly covered with a grass roof laid on a crude frame of poles; the stone walls extend beyond the roof at one end and form an open court. The roofed part is about 8 by 10 feet, and usually is not over 5 feet high in any part, inside measure; the size of the court is approximately the same as that of the roofed section.
The pa-ba-fu'-nan is the man's club by day, and the unmarried man's dormitory by night, and, as such, it is the social center for all men of the a'-to, and it harbors at night all men visiting from other pueblos. Each a'-to, except Chakong, has a pa-ba-fu'-nan. When the men of Chakong were building theirs they met the pueblo of Sadanga in combat, and one of the builders lost his head to Sadanga.
The only opening into the covered part is a small doorway connecting it with the court. This door is barely large enough to permit a man to squeeze in sidewise; it is often not over 2 1/2 feet high and 10 inches wide. The occupants of the pa-ba-fu'-nan usually sleep curled up naked on the smooth, flat stones.
The first list of a'-to written did not include Chakong; it was discovered only when the pueblo was platted, and at that time my informants sought to pass it over by saying "It is Chakong, but it has no pa-ba-fu'-nan."
The pa-ba-fu'-nan is the home of the various a'-to ceremonials. It is sacred to the men of the a'-to, and on no occasion do the women or girls enter it. All boys from 3 or 4 years of age and all men who have no wives sleep nightly in the pa-ba-fu'-nan or in the fa'-wi.
One is further convinced of an extensive early movement of the primitive Malayan from its pristine nest by the presence of institutions similar to the pa-ba-fu'-nan and fa'-wi over a vast territory of the Asiatic mainland as well as the Asiatic Islands and Oceania.
What was said of the pa-ba-fu'-nan as a social center is equally true of the fa'-wi; each is the lounging place of men and boys, and the dormitory of unmarried males. In Samoki each of the eight a'-to has only one public building, and that is known simply as "a'-to."
Outside the pueblo, along certain trails, there are simple structures also called "fa'-wi," shelters where parties halt for feasts, etc., while on various ceremonial journeys. The fa'-wi and pa-ba-fu'-nan of each a'-to are near together, and in five they are under the same roof, though there is no doorway for intercommunication.
Then the old men of Chakong counciled together; they came to the conclusion that it was bad for the a'-to to have a pa-ba-fu'-nan, and none has ever been built. This absence of the pa-ba-fu'-nan in some way detracts from the importance of the a'-to in the minds of the people.
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