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On the 29th day the fire is extinguished, and the bamboo frame is fastened under the floor of the house, below the mother's mat, "so that all can see that the family has followed the custom." In the mountain districts about Lakub, a ceremony in which the spirits are besought to look to the child's welfare is held about the third day after the birth.
As a rule, it is handled and petted by the children from the time of its birth, and hence its taming and breaking is a matter of little moment. In the mountain region about Lakub, where most of the animals are allowed to run half wild, only the strongest are broken. The animal is driven into a A-shaped pen, and a heavy pole is fastened across its neck just behind the horns.
In Lakub a new house or protection is placed above the guardian stones, and offerings are made to them at the time of the Sagobay, while in Likuan the participants wear neck and ankle bands of bamboo as a further protection from the sickness. Ngorong-or. Lumaba and the Tinguian villages of Ilokos Sur hold this ceremony, whenever a person is seriously ill with stomach trouble.
In the village of Lakub the writer witnessed a variation of this ceremony which, it is said, is also followed in case the pregnancy is not progressing favorably. A piece of banana stalk, wrought into the form of a child, and wearing a bark head-band, was placed on the mat beside the medium.
In nearly every village there are two or three women who make jars and dishes, but the potters of Abang and Lakub are the only ones whose wares have a wide distribution. The clay is dampened, and is carefully kneaded with the hands to remove lumps and gravel, and to reduce it to the proper consistency.
As one proceeds up the tributary streams into such settlements as Baay, Likuan, and Lakub, it is noticeable that the typical spirit houses become fewer in number, while the participants in the accompanying ceremonies are limited to recent emigrants from the lower valleys.
The people of Agsimo and Balantai suffered defeat in a raid carried on against Dagara in 1907, and at the time of our visit a number of the warriors still bore open wounds received in that fight. In the same year at least three unsuccessful attacks, probably by lone warriors, were made against individuals of Lagangilang, Likuan, and Lakub.
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