Note 7 — Letter from Father Pedro Rosell1 to the Father Superior of the Mission2

And now I desire to call your Reverence’s attention to those two spirits, Pudaúgnon and Malímbung, of whom I made mention above. Does it not seem to you, Father Superior, that they are an image, although disfigured, of that malign spirit and chief of all tempters, Lucifer, who caused Eve to fall by his lies and deceit, and by means of the latter, conquered and overthrew Adam, from which originated the ruin of all the human race and the innumerable ills that inundate the earth? It is quite apparent that there is something in that, and that opinion does not seem ill founded if we consider the etymology of the words Pudaúgnon and Malímbung, and the explanation which the Mandayas give of the said spirits. For, first, the word Pudaúgnon is derived from the root daug, which means “to conquer,” “to tempt,” and from the particles pu or pa, and non or on, which make the root a substantive adjective, and the resultant meaning is, if the person is a man, as in this case, “he who tempts” or “the tempter.” So also Malímbung is composed of the root límbung, which means “to deceive,” and the particle ma which makes it a substantive adjective. Thus it means, the subject being a woman, “she who deceives” or “the deceiver.” The Mandayas say, then, of those evil spirits that Pudaúgnon, the wicked and mortal enemy of mankind, strong as a man (which he is) and powerful as a spirit, pursues, attacks, and injures poor mortals as much as he is allowed; and that Malímbung, cunning and artful as a wicked woman, and endowed with an irresistible force of seduction like a spirit (which she is also) seduces by her deceits, and causes the strongest men, who do not guard against her wiles, to fall. In this woman, is there not a picture of Eve, the unhappy Eve, possessed for her sin, by the spirit of her tempter Lucifer, seduced and seductive, with whose golden cords, Adam, the most lofty cedar of Lebanon in this world, was bound and was dashed into the deepest depths of evil?7