2. Asuang. This name is applied to a class of malevolent spirits who
inhabit certain trees, cliffs and streams. They delight to trouble or
injure the living, and sickness is usually caused by them. For this
reason, when a person falls ill, a _ballyan_ offers a live chicken to
these spirits bidding them "to take and kill this chicken in place of
this man, so that he need not die." If the patient recovers it is
understood that the _asuang_ have agreed to the exchange and the bird is
released in the jungle.

There are many spirits who are known as _asuang_ but the five most
powerful are here given according to their rank, (a) Tagbanua, (b)
Tagamaling, (c) Sigbinan, (d) Lumaman, (e) Bigwa. The first two are of
equal importance and are only a little less powerful than Diwata. They
sometimes inhabit caves but generally reside in the _bud-bud_ (baliti)
trees. The ground beneath these trees is generally free from undergrowth
and thus it is known that "a spirit who keeps his yard clean resides
there." In clearing ground for a new field it sometimes becomes
necessary to cut down one of these trees, but before it is disturbed an
offering of betel-nut, food, and a white chicken is carried to the plot.
The throat of the fowl is cut and its blood is allowed to fall in the
roots of the tree. Meanwhile one of the older men calls the attention of
the spirits to the offerings and begs that they be accepted in payment
for the dwelling which they are about to destroy. This food is never
eaten, as is customary with offerings made to other spirits. After a
lapse of two or three days it is thought that the occupant of the tree
has had time to move and the plot is cleared.

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.