Bansalan was a forest primeval and the aborigines were Bagobos. As they were nomadic, they traveled from one place to the other by hacking their way through the virgin forests. They also cultivated land for their staple food but soon left the place after harvest time in search of a better place to cultivate. They also had the wide area of hunting ground where at the end of the day, they brought home speared wild boar, deer or monkeys. The implements they had were crude but obviously the bow and arrow were used both in hunting and fishing. The waters then were crystal pure and were untarnished by the changing current ecology. In some certain sites, Bansalan had patches of cogonal land interspersed with tall trees demarcated by serene creeks and turbulent rivers gushing from the belly of Mount Apo, the highest mountain peak in the Philippines where according to legend, Apo Sandawa ruled as god.