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At times, children, armed with sticks and stones, ventured to wander about, exploring the surrounding country and gathering guayabas, papays, lomboy and other native fruits. Then, all of a sudden, while they were busily engaged collecting the fruits, some one would catch a glimpse of the old rope hanging from the balitî tree, and stones would be heard to fall.
On that same day, Lumabet's son, who was hunting, did not know that his father had gone to the sky. When he was tired of the chase, he wanted to go to his father, so he leaned an arrow against a baliti tree and sat down on it. Slowly it began to go down and carried him to his father's place, but when he arrived he could find no people.
This they do by thrusting sharpened sticks into the ground, thus making holes an inch or two in depth. Taking rice from the tagbinian the women follow, dropping seeds into the holes. Maxey relates that at planting and harvest tune the Mandaya of Cateel carry offerings to the baliti trees and there offer it to Diwata, in supplication or thanks for an abundant crop.
A short time afterward he disappeared, no one knew where. His sudden disappearance made the people think for a time that he had been spirited away, but later on a fetid odor was noticeable near the grove, and some shepherds, upon investigation, found the body of the old man in a badly decomposed condition hanging from the limb of a balitî tree.
"And while we are speaking about festivals," said Ibarra, "allow me to invite you to the one which we are going to celebrate to-morrow. It is going to be a country picnic, which we and our friends are planning." "And where will it be held?" "The girls want to hold it near the brook in the woods, near the balitî tree. So we will have to get up early to reach the place before the sun gets hot."
"That day LumabEt's son Tagalion was hunting and caught many animals which he hung up. Then he said he must go to his father's place; so he leaned an arrow against a baliti tree and sat on it. It began to grow down and carried him down to his father's place, but when he arrived there were no people there. He saw a gun, made out of gold, and some white bees in the house.
Some of them threw the jewelry that they had bought from him into the river and burned all the clothing, and, for a long time after the body had been buried at the foot of the balitî tree, no one cared to venture near it. All sort of stories became current about the haunted place. A shepherd, looking for his flock, said that he had seen lights in the grove.
In former times it was the custom for a victorious war party to place the corpses of their dead, together with their weapons, at the roots of a baliti tree. The reason for this custom seems now to be lost. Busau. Among the Mandaya at the north end of Davao Gulf this spirit is also known as Tuglinsau, Tagbusau, or Mandangum.
But they do not love work, and the most of their time is spent in resting or attending ceremonies made to gain the good will of the immortals. In this country the belief prevails that there are spirits in the stones, in the baliti trees, in the vines, the cliffs, and even the caves.
Elias took off his hat and bowed profoundly. "Listen, Señor, to my plan," said Elias, as they directed the banca toward San Miguel. "I will for the present hide you in the house of my friend in Mandaluyong. I will bring you all your money, which I have saved and kept for you at the foot of the old balitî tree, in the mysterious tomb of your grandfather. You shall leave the country."
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