children are greatly desired and no worse slur can be applied to a woman
than to speak of her as barren.

So far as could be learned there is no ceremony or celebration of any
kind when a child reaches the age of puberty but soon thereafter its
teeth will be filed and blackened. In some villages the boys are
circumcised, but the practice is not compulsory, neither is it general
throughout the territory.

MARRIAGE.

Marriage among the Bagobo takes place much later than is common among
most Philippine tribes, the couple often being eighteen or twenty years
of age. As a rule the parents of the boy select the girl and negotiate
the match. Going to the house of the girl they casually broach the
subject and if her parents are favorable, a day is set to discuss the
details. This meeting is attended by the friends and relatives of both
families, and two head-men or _datu_ must also be present to represent
the contracting parties. The price the girl should bring varies
according to the wealth of the interested parties and the
accomplishments of the bride. Whatever the sum paid, the father of the
girl must make a return present equal to one-half the value of the
marriage gift "so that he does not sell his daughter like a slave."
Usually marriage does not take place until a year or more after this
settlement, and during the interval the boy must serve his father-in-law
to be. When the time for the final ceremony arrives the relatives and
friends assemble and for two or three days they feast and make merry. A
_mabalian_ spreads a mat on the floor, places on it many valuable
articles and then offers all to the spirits, in order that they may be
pleased to give the couple a long and prosperous life together. Finally,