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The Wild Tribes of Davao District, Mindanao - The R. F. Cummings Philippine Expedition by Fay-Cooper Cole
page 119 of 211 (56%)

FIG. 36. WOMEN'S COMBS.

FIG. 37. A. WOMEN'S EAR PLUGS. B. MEN'S EAR PLUGS.

[60] See p. 155 for a description of this process. [Transcriber's note:
20 pages further from this one.]

Before we proceed further with the description of the life of the
people, it will be well for us to inquire into their religious beliefs,
for, as is the case with all their neighbors, their faith in unseen
beings influences their daily life to a very great extent. The two
following tales deal with the Bila-an genesis.

"In the beginning was _MElu_--a being of such great size as to be beyond
comparison with any known thing; who was white, having gold teeth, and
who sat upon the clouds, and occupied all space above.

"He was very cleanly and was constantly rubbing himself with his hands
in order that he might keep his skin quite white. The scurf or dead skin
which he thus removed, he placed to one side where it accumulated at
last to such a heap that it annoyed him. To be rid of this annoyance he
made the earth, and being pleased with his work, he decided to make two
beings like himself only much smaller in size. This he did from remnants
of the material from which he made the earth.

"Now, while MElu was making the first two men, and when he had the first
one finished, all excepting the nose; and the second one finished all
excepting the nose and one other part, Tau Tana (Funtana) or Tau Dalom
Tana appeared and demanded of MElu that he be allowed to make the nose.
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