Page:The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 (Volume 05).djvu/133

 alliance of villages), they say, go to a very high mountain in the island of Panay, called Mayas. The souls of the Yligueynes, who comprise the people of Çubu, Bohol, and Bantay, go with the god called Sisiburanen, to a very high mountain in the island of Burney.

The god Sidapa. They say that there is in the sky another god, called Sidapa. This god possesses a very tall tree on mount Mayas. There he measures the lives of all the new-born, and places a mark on the tree; when the person's stature equals this mark, he dies immediately.

Belief concerning the destination of souls. It is believed that at death all souls go directly to the infernal regions; but that, by means of the maganitos, which are the sacrifices and offerings made to the god Pandaque in sight of the mount of Mayas, they are redeemed from Simuran and Siguinarugan, gods of the lower regions.

It is said that, when the Yligueynes die, the god Maguayen carries them to Inferno. When he has carried them thither in his barangay, Sumpoy, another god, sallies forth, takes them away, and leads them to Sisiburanen, the god before mentioned, who keeps them all. Good or bad alike, he takes them all on equal terms, when they go to Inferno. But the poor, who have no one to offer sacrifices for them, remain forever, in the inferno, and the god of those regions eats them, or keeps them forever in prison. From this it will be seen how little their being good or bad avails them, and how much reason they have to hate poverty.

Baylanas. The natives of these islands have neither time nor place set apart for the offering of prayers and sacrifices to their gods. It is only in case