The Head Hunters of Northern Luzon
by
Cornelis De Witt Willcox

Part 2 out of 3



mouth gas bubbled out continually. Two old women on each side with
penholder-shaped loom-sticks about two feet long continually poked
at Aliguyen's face and the wound to wake him up. From time to time
they caught the grewsome head by the hair and shook it violently,
shouting, Who-oo-oo! Aliguyen, wake up! Open your eyes! Look down
on Kurug. [Kurug being the _rancheria_ from which came Aliguyen's
murderer.] Take his father and his mother, his wife and his children,
and his first cousins and his second cousins, and his relatives by
marriage. They wanted him to kill you. All your kin are women. [They
say this in order to deceive Aliguyen into avenging himself.] They
can't avenge you. You will have to avenge yourself! There is _orden_
[law]; no one can kill them but you! Take them all!

"This calling on Aliguyen's soul never ceased. When an old woman got
hoarse, another took her place. As the procession came to the house
it filed past Aliguyen and its leaders stopped and shouted words to
the same effect. The key-note of the whole ceremony was vengeance. It
is true that both persons who were involved in killing Aliguyen were
themselves killed, but the people of a _rancheria_ regard themselves
as being about the only real people in the world and hold that three,
four, or five men of another _rancheria_ are not equal to one of
theirs.

"Nagukaran being the _rancheria_ that speared and nearly killed my
predecessor, Mr.----, I explained my presence to the people there by
saying that the soldier, being an agent of our Government, was in a
way a relative of mine. The explanation was a perfectly natural one
to the people, and they treated me with the greatest courtesy and
helped me to see whatever was to be seen.

"Toward noon they told me that they were going to perform the feast
which looked towards securing vengeance for Aliguyen's death. They went
to where the people had built a shed to protect them from the sun's
fierce rays on a little hillock some distance from any house. Two
pigs were provided there, one being very small. Only the old men
were permitted to gather around the pigs and the rice-wine and the
other appurtenances of the feast. The feast began by a prayer to the
ancestors, followed by an invocation to the various deities. The most
interesting and the principal part of the feast was the invocation to
the celestial bodies, who are believed to be the deities of War and
Justice, Manahaut (The Deceiver), a companion of the Sun God, was first
invoked. The people cried: Who-oo-oo! Manahaut, look down! Come down
and drink the rice-wine and take the pig! Don't deceive us! Deceive
our enemies! Take them into the remotest quarters of the sky-world;
lock them up there forever so that they may not return! Vengeance
for him who has gone before!' Then an old man put his hands over
his forehead and called: 'Come down, Manahaut.' Manahaut came and
possessed him, causing him to call out: 'Sa-ay! sa-ay! I come down
Manahaut; I drink the rice-wine; I will deceive your enemies, but
I will not deceive you,' The old man, possessed, jumps up and, with
characteristic Ifugao dance step, dances about the rice-wine jar and
about the pig. Quickly follows him a feaster who has called Umalgo,
the Spirit of the Sun, and was possessed by him. Manahaut dances ahead
of Umalgo to show him the pig. Umalgo seizes a spear, dances about the
pig two or three times, when he steps over to it and with a thrust,
seemingly without effort, pierces its heart. The blood spurts out
of the pig's side and there quickly follows a feaster who has been
possessed by Umbulan, who throws himself on the pig and drinks its
blood. He would remain there forever, say the people, drinking the
pig's blood, were it not that one of the Stars, his son, possesses a
feaster, causing him to dance over to Umbulan, catch him by the hair
and lead him from the pig. Following these ceremonies, there came
feasters of various spirits of the Stars to cut the pig's feet and
his head off. Then comes the cutting up of the pig to cook in the
pots. The blood that has settled in its chest is carefully caught;
it is used to smear the _bangibang_ and the _jipag_. The _jipag_ are
interesting. They are little images of two or three of the deities
that help men to take heads. The images are of wood about six or
eight inches high. Sometimes there are images of dogs also. When an
Ifugao goes on a head-hunting expedition, he takes the images in his
head-basket, together with a stone to make the enemy's feet heavy so
that he cannot run away, and a little wooden stick in representation
of a spear, to the end of which is attached a stone--this to make the
enemy's spear strike the earth so that it might not strike him. [28]

"As the pig was being put in the pot to be cooked for the old men
who had performed the feast, some unmannerly young fellow started
to make away with one piece of the flesh. Immediately there was a
scramble which was joined by some three or four hundred Ifugaos of
all the different _rancherias_. Then the feasters (I think there were
about one thousand who attended the feast) leaped for their spears
and shields. The people who had come from Kiangan rushed to where I
was and took their stand in front of and around me, and told me to
stay there and that they would protect me from any harm; all of which,
as may well be supposed, produced no trifling amount of warmth in my
feelings toward them. Fortunately nothing came of the scramble.

"I have no hesitancy in saying that two or three years ago, before
Governor Gallman had performed his excellent and truly wonderful work
among the Ifugaos, this scramble would have become a fight in which
somebody would have lost his life. That such a thing could take place
without danger was incomprehensible to the old women of Kiangan, who
doubtless remembered sons or husbands, brothers or cousins, who had
lost their lives in such an affair. With the memory of these old times
in their minds they caught me by the arms and by the waist and said,
'Barton, come home; we don't know the mind of the people; they are
likely to kill you.' When I refused to miss seeing the rest of the
feast, they told me to keep my revolver ready.

"Looking back on this incident, I am sure that I was in little, I
believe _no_ danger, but must give credit to my Ifugao boy who attended
me in having the wisest head in the party. This boy immediately thought
of my horse, which was picketed near, and ran to it, taking with him
one or two responsible Kiangan men to help him watch and defend it. Had
he not done so, some meat-hungry, hot-headed Ifugao might easily have
stuck a bolo in his side during the scramble and its confusion; and
immediately some five hundred or more Ifugaos would have been right
on top of the carcase, hand-hacking at it with their long war-knives,
and it would probably have been impossible ever to find out who gave
the first thrust.

"The old men who had performed the feast, after things had quieted
down somewhat, began scolding and cursing those who had run away with
the meat. Finally they managed to prevail upon the meat-snatchers
to bring back three small pieces, about the size of their hands,
from which I concluded that Ifugao is a language which is admirably
adapted to making people ashamed of themselves. For I knew how hungry
for meat these Ifugao become.

"Three old men stuck their spears in a piece of meat and began a long
story whose text was the confusion of enemies in some past time. At
the conclusion of each story, they said: 'Not there, but here; not
then, but now.' By a sort of simple witchcraft, the mere telling of
these stories is believed to secure a like confusion and destruction
of the enemies of the present. When this ceremony had been completed,
each old man raised his spear quickly and so was enabled to secure
for himself the meat impaled. In one case, one of the old men just
missed ripping open the abdomen of the man who stood in front.

"The feast being finished, the people made an attempt to
assemble by _rancherias_. Then they filed along the trail to bury
Aliguyen. Nagukaran _rancheria_ took the lead. As the procession
came near the grave the men took off their head-dresses and strung
them on a long pole, which was laid across the trail. A Nagukaran
_ranchero_ went to where Aliguyen was sitting and picked him up,
carried him to the grave, and placed him in a sitting posture facing
Kurug, the _rancheria_ that killed him, Aliguyen was not wrapped in
a death-blanket, as corpses usually are. His body was neglected in
order to make him angry, so to incite him to vengeance.

"The grave was a kind of sepulchre dug out of a bank. It was walled up
with stones after Aliguyen was placed in it, and an egg thrown against
the tomb, whereupon the people yelled: '_Batna kana okukulan di bujolmi
ud Kurug!_ ('So may it happen to our enemies at Kurug!') The poles on
which were strung the head-dresses were taken and hung over the door of
Aliguyen's house. After this the people dispersed to their homes. On
the way home they stopped at a stream and washed themselves, praying
somewhat as follows: 'Wash, Water, but do not wash away our lives,
our pigs, our chickens, our rice, our children. Wash away death by
violence, death by the spear, death by sickness. Wash away pests,
hunger, and crop-failure, and our enemies. Wash away the visits of
the Spear-bearing Nightcomer, the Mountain Haunters, the Ghosts,
the Westcomers. Wash away our enemies. Wash as vengeance for him who
has gone before.'"



CHAPTER XV

Visit to the Silipan Ifugaos at Andangle.--The Ibilao River.--Athletic
feat.--Rest-house and stable at Sabig.


We set out the next day, May 3d, at dawn, our destination being
Andangle, selected as a rendezvous of the Silipan Ifugaos, another
branch of the great tribe under Gallman's domination. And, to my
great regret, we here parted from Connor, who had accompanied us thus
far, but now had to return to his post in Nueva Vizcaya. I have the
greatest pleasure in acknowledging here his many courtesies, the
good humor and patience with which he answered my many questions,
and I hated to see him turn back.

The trail we were to take to-day was most of it new, the Silipan
Ifugaos having finished it but a short time before our arrival. We
rode through the reddening dawn, down the great bastion of Kiangan,
with the Ibilao River, far below us, showing now and then on the turn
of a spur, till at last it uncovered so much of its length as lay in
the valley, and disappearing to the southeast through its tremendous
gates of rock. For the everlasting mountains, narrowing down on each
side, as though to halt the impetuous stream, nevertheless yield it
passage through smooth, vertical walls of solid rock, a gate never
closed, nor yet ever open. It would have been most interesting to
work our way down to this example of Nature's engineering, but we
had to content ourselves with a look from afar, and soon the trail
turned sharply to the left and shut out the view. The whole valley
was keen that morning with its fresh, cool air and sound of rushing
waters. It was a happiness to be alive, up, and riding.

In about half an hour we reached the right bank of the river, where
we off-saddled, crossing by a trolley platform; the horses were swum
over, and the kit carried by the _cargadores_ on their heads. My
_cargador_ must have gone down, for when I got my gear later it
was soaking wet. On the other side we began to climb, and sharply;
we now could look back on Kiangan. Rounding the nose of a gigantic,
buttress-like spur, covered with _camote_ patches, we descended to
a small affluent of the Ibilao, where we halted and rested, and,
crossing it, again began to climb, the trail being cut out of the
side of another gigantic spur. At last we reached the top, to find a
new deep, steep valley below us, and just across, only a few parasangs
away, Andangle. But it was far more than a few parasangs by the trail,
for we had to go completely around the head of the valley, mostly on
the same contour. Andangle itself is barely more than a name, but we
found here a house of bamboo and palm fresh built for us, tastefully
adorned with greens and plants, and protected by _anitos_, resembling
those of Kiangan. Like nearly all the other places visited by us,
it was finely situated, the mountains we had just ridden through
forming a great amphitheater to the north.

Our stay here was uneventful. There is really little to record or
report. This branch of the Ifugaos impressed me as being a quieter
[29] lot than the people we had just left and apparently fonder,
if possible, of speech-making. For speeches went on almost without
intermission, all breathing good-will and declaring the intention of
the people to behave in a lawful manner and promising to have done
with killing and stealing.

There were many women and children, the children very shy. Of
weapons there were none. Dancing went on uninterruptedly the whole
day and night of our stay, and Cootes and I had to dance again. Only
we had now arranged to simulate a boxing-match, which we presented
to the beat of the _gansa_, and to the applause of our gallery. A
runner came in while we were here, carrying a note in a cleft stick,
the native substitute for a pocket. In dress and appearance, the
Andangle people differed in no wise from those of Kiangan. Many of
them, however, have a silver jewel, of curious and original design,
worn chiefly as earring, but also on a string around the neck. Our
splendid chief at Payawan also wore many of these jewels, but his were
of gold. Mr. Worcester distributed his white slips to the ever-eager
multitudes, listened to reports, and held council with the head men;
the people were fed with rice and meat, appeared thoroughly to enjoy
themselves, and so the time passed.

The next morning, May 4th, we rode off. Shortly after leaving,
we came suddenly upon a party apparently wrangling over a piece
of meat, at a point where the trail was crossed by a small stream,
flowing in a thin sheet over a smooth face of rock, twenty or more
feet high, and tilted at about seventy degrees. The wranglers took
alarm on our approach and scattered in all directions. One of them,
a boy of perhaps sixteen, ran up the rock just described at full
speed on his toes, and disappeared in the bushes at the top. Even
if he had wished to use his hands, there was nothing to lay hold
on. If I had not seen it performed with my own eyes, I should have
declared the feat impossible: I mention it to mark the agility and
strength of these people. Bear in mind that this youngster ran up,
that the rock was not far from the vertical, and that the water-worn
face was smooth and slippery. The thing was simply amazing.

We stopped again at our rest-house of the day before, meeting a
few _cabecillas_, who showed us, with much pride, long ebony canes
with silver tops, and inscriptions showing that they had been given
by the Spanish Sovereign as rewards for faithful service, etc. One
of these canes had been given by Maria Cristina. Others produced,
from bamboo tubes, parchments of equally royal origin, setting forth
in grandiloquent Spanish the confidence reposed by the Sovereign in
such and such a _cabecilla_.

This day's journey was without incident of any sort. But, like all our
other rides, it took us through country that beggars one's powers of
description. We rode part of the way through an open forest, many of
whose trees were of great height. One of these had, on a single large
branch thrust out from the trunk at a height of sixty feet or so,
as many bird's-nest ferns as could crowd upon it, looking comically
like a row of hens roosting for the night. From the ground, about
fifteen feet from the root of this same tree, rose a single-stem
liana, joining the main trunk at the branch just mentioned; to this
liana a huge bird-nest fern had attached itself twenty feet or more
above the ground, completely surrounding the stem, a singular sight.

The day was fine, the trail good--like all the others of Gallman's
trails,--and the people glad to see us. From time to time, as we
neared Sabig, we were met by detachments, each with _gansas_ and
spears and our flag, and, besides, _bubud_ in bamboo tubes; for, as
must now be clear, the Ifugaos are a hospitable and courteous people,
and we were made welcome wherever we went.

At about three we reached Sabig, situated on a hog-back between the
trail on the left and a deep valley on the right. Here the people
had built us the finest rest-house seen on the trip. For this house
had separate rooms all opening on the same front, the roof being
continued over the front so as to form a sort of veranda, under
which a bamboo table had been set up. But, as though this were not
enough, there were hanging-baskets of plants, bamboo and other leaves
ornamenting the posts. Our cattle were as well off as we, having
a real stable with separate stalls. Just north of the house, where
the ground sloped, a platform had been excavated for dancing, which
went on all night. There was the customary distribution of slips and
the usual business of reports and interviews with the head men. Here
we first saw the rice-terraces for which these mountain people are
justly famous, that is, terraces climbing the mountain-side. But of
weapons we saw none.



CHAPTER XVI

Change in aspect of country.--Mount Amuyao and the native legend of
the flood.--Rice-terraces.--Banawe.--Mr. Worcester's first visit to
this region.--Sports.--Absence of weapons.--Native arts and crafts.


We pushed on next morning early for Banawe, the capital of the
sub-province of Ifugao, and Gallman's headquarters. The cheers of
our late hosts accompanied us as we entered the trail and began
to climb. The country now took on a different aspect, due to our
increasing altitude. The valleys were sharper and narrower, and so of
the peaks. From time to time we could see the proud crest of Amuyao
ahead of us. Over 8,000 feet high, this mountain, whose name means
"father of all peaks," or "father of mountains," is the Ararat of
the Ifugaos. Their legend has it that, a flood overcoming the land,
a father and five sons took refuge on this topmost peak, coming down
with the waters as they fell. They even have their Cain, for one of
these five was killed by a brother. This family traditionally are
the ancestors of all the mountain people.

It took us some five hours to ride to Banawe, through a country of
imposing beauty. It was not that we were in the presence of mighty
ranges or peaks, so much as that the alternation of elevation with
depression offered a bewildering variety of aspect. At every turn,
turns as unnumbered this day as the woes of Greece, the landscape
changed its face. No sooner had one's appreciation become oriented,
than it had to give way to the necessity of a fresh orientation. Of
course there must be some orographic system; but to mark it, we
should have had to fly over the land. To us on the trail it was
not evident, mountain shouldering mountain, and valley swallowing
valley, in confusion. And wherever possible, rice-terraces! If we
posit the struggle for existence, then in this view alone these
Ifugaos, and other highlanders as well, are a gallant people. Not
every hillside will grow rice; if the soil be good, water will be
lacking; or else, having water, the soil is poor. But, wherever the
two conditions are combined, there will one find the slope terraced
to the top, and scientifically terraced, too, so that every drop of
water shall do its duty from top-side to bottom-side. The labor of
original construction, always severe, in some cases must have been
enormous, as we shall see later. Many of these terraces are hundreds
of years old; their maintenance has required and continues to require
constant watchfulness. Nearly every year the supply of rice runs
short and the people fall back on _camotes_ (sweet potatoes). And
yet, in marked contrast with their cousins of the plains, whom these
conditions would drive to helpless despair, we heard on this trip
not one word of complaint. Not once did they put up a poor mouth and
beg the Government to come to their help. On the contrary, they were
cheerful throughout, knowing though they did that before the year
was over they would probably all have to pull their gee-strings in
a little tighter. It is not too much, therefore, to say that these
highlanders are in a true sense a gallant people. Indeed, they are
the best people of the Archipelago, and with any sort of chance they
will prove it. This chance our Government, thanks to Mr. Worcester's
initiative and sustained interest, is giving them, the first and only
one they ever have had.

This digression brings us a little nearer to Banawe; we leave the
terraced hills behind us, after noting how free of all plants the
retaining-walls are kept, the sole exception here and there being
the dongola, with its brilliant leaf of lustrous scarlet.

In time we began to descend, and finally there burst on the view
the sharpest valley yet, as though some Almighty Power had split the
mountains apart with a titanic ax. Down one flank we went with Banawe
near the head, but farther off than we thought, because the trail
was now filled with men that had come out to welcome us, all of whom
insisted on shaking hands with all the _apos_. Our last three miles
were a triumphal procession--columns, _gansas, bubud_, spears, shouts,
escorts, flags. Every now and then a halt; a bamboo filled with _bubud_
would be handed up, and everybody had to take a pull. Once I noticed
Gallman in front hastily return the bamboo, and reach desperately
for his water-bottle; the next man did the same thing. It was now my
turn, and I understood; I tipped up the tube, and thought for the
moment that I had filled my mouth with liquid fire, so hot was the
stuff! If there had ever been any rice in the original composition,
it had completely lost its identity in the fearful excess of pepper
that characterized this particular vintage. It was hours and hours
before our throats forgave us.

But at last we threaded our way down, and, turning sharp to the
right, rode out on the small plateau that is Banawe, to be saluted
and escorted by the Constabulary Guard and to be received by the
shouts of thousands. They at once opened on us with speeches, but
these were markedly fewer here than farther south. The quarters of
the Constabulary officers were hospitably put at our disposition,
and our first enjoyment of them was the splendid shower.

Banawe stands at the head of a very deep valley, shut in by mountains
on three sides; the stream sweeping the base of the plateau breaks
through on the south. This plateau rises sharply from the floor of
the valley; in fact, it is a tongue thrust out by the neighboring
mountain, and forms a position of great natural strength against any
enemy unprovided with firearms. Across the stream on the east mount
the rice-terraces over a thousand feet above the level of the stream;
a stupendous piece of work, surpassed at only one or two other places
in Luzon. Elsewhere we saw terraces higher up, but none on so great
a scale, so completely enlacing the slope from base to crest. The
retaining walls here are all of stone, brought up by hand from the
stream below. This stream makes its way down to the Mayoyao country,
and I was told that the entire valley, thirty-five or forty miles,
was a continuity of terraces. Indeed, it requires some time and
reflection to realize how splendid this piece of work is: it is almost
overwhelming to think what these people have done to get their daily
bread. In contemplation of their successful labors, one is justified
in believing that, if given a chance, they will yet count, and that
heavily, in the destinies of the Archipelago.

Banawe was first visited by Mr. Worcester in 1903, coming down from the
north with a party of Igorots. At the head of the pass he was met by
an armed deputation of Ifugaos, who came to inquire the purpose of his
visit. Was it peace or was it war? He could have either! But he must
decide, and immediately. Assured as to the nature of the visit, the
head man then gave Mr. Worcester a white rooster, symbol of peace and
amity, and escorted him in. But the accompanying Igorots came very near
undoing all of Mr. Worcester's plans. Not only were they shut in during
their stay, an obvious and necessary condition of good order and the
preservation of peace, but, on Mr. Worcester's asking food for them,
they were told they could have _camotes_, but no rice; that rice was
the food of men and warriors, and _camotes_ that of women and children,
and that the Igorots were not men. This almost upset the apple-cart,
for the Igorots in a rage at once demanded to be released from their
confinement so as to show these Ifugaos who were the real men. But
counsels of peace prevailed. In fact, it is a matter of astonishment
that Mr. Worcester should be alive to-day, so great at the outset was
the danger of personal communication with the wild men of Luzon. [30]
It was not always a handsome white rooster, in token of peace, that
was handed him; sometimes spears were thrown instead. However, on
this trip of ours he got a whole poultry-yard of chickens, besides
eggs in every stage of development from new-laid to that in which
one could almost feel the pin-feathers sticking through the shell.

We spent two days here, and over 10,000 people were collected;
some of them apparently showed traces of Japanese blood. Gallman
allowed me to make an inspection of his Constabulary, their quarters
and hospital. The men were as fine and as well set-up as those we
saw at Kiangan. Everything was in immaculate condition, and ready
for service. From the circumstance of this inspection, I could not
afterward pass near the _cuartel_ that the guard was not turned out for
"the General"--a fact amusing to me, but which I carefully concealed
from the other members of the party. During these two days, nights too,
the _gansas_ never stopped, neither did the dancing. Mr. Worcester
distributed thousands of paper slips, and, besides, much serious
business was dispatched. Then we had sports and ceremonial formal
dances, much like those we saw at Kiangan, but better done. There was
the same slow advance with shields, the same sacrifice of a pig--only
this one was not speared, but had his insides mixed with a stick. He
proved obstinate, however, and refused to die, so a man sat down on
the ground, put his thumbs on the victim's throat, and choked him to
death. Before that the usual lances had been laid across his body,
and some _bubud_ poured (judiciously, not extravagantly) on him as
a libation. This was a head-dance, the taken head being simulated by
a ball of fern-tree pith stuck on a spear fixed in the ground.

But these formal dances were not the only ones. Everybody danced,
even Cootes and I again; but it was our last time. People kept
on arriving from miles around, columns in single file, headed by
men bearing _bubud_-jars on their heads. Every party, of course,
brought its _gansas_, and had to give an exhibition of dancing on
the parade. The arrival of the Mayoyao people on the 6th really
made a picture, because we could see the trail for a long distance,
occupied by men and women in single file, headed by Mr. Dorsey, of
the Constabulary, on his pony. What with the _budbud_-bearers, the
bright blue skirts of the women (color affected by these _rancherias_),
and the cadence of the _gansas_ to which they marched, it was a good
sight, received with cheers. [31]

In general, but few parties were armed; and, as elsewhere, there
were no old women. Some of the shyer people, coming from afar,
had brought their spears, and, squatted on the slopes round about,
apparently passed their time in silent contemplation of the great
game going on below. Everybody seemed to be in a good humor. This was
especially manifest in the great wrestling-match that took place on the
afternoon of the 6th, when _rancheria_ after _rancheria_ sent up its
best man to compete for the heads of the carabaos that had furnished
meat for the multitude. The wrestling itself was excellent. The
hold is taken with both hands on the gee-string in the small of
the back; and, as all these men have strong and powerful legs, the
events were hotly contested and never completed without a desperate
struggle. Defeat was invariably accepted in a good spirit. As before
remarked, however, when Mr. Worcester first organized these meetings,
the _rancherias_ came together armed to the teeth. Each would stick its
spears in the ground, with shields leaning on them, and then wait for
developments. Suspicion, hostility, defiance were the rule, and hostile
collisions were more than once only narrowly averted. But on these
occasions the native Constabulary proved its worth, by circulating in
the crowd, separating parties, and so asserting the authority of the
Government in favor of good order. Moreover, the highlanders soon
learned to respect the power of "the spear that shoots six times"
(the Krag magazine rifle, with which our Constabulary is armed);
but it can not be repeated too often that our hold on these people
is due almost entirely to the moral agencies we have employed.

Gradually Mr. Worcester satisfied some _rancherias_, at least, that
had been open enemies for generations, whose men, in Mr. Worcester's
graphic expression, had never seen one another except over the tops
of their shields, that nothing was to be gained in the long run by
this secular warfare; and his purpose in bringing the clans together
is to make them know one another on peaceful terms, to show them that
if rivalry exists, it can find a vent in wrestling, racing, throwing
the spear, in sports generally. And they take naturally to sports,
these highlanders. Success has crowned Mr. Worcester's efforts; in
witness whereof this very concourse of Banawe may be cited, where
over 10,000 persons, mostly unarmed, mingled freely with one another
without so much as a brawl to disturb the peace.

Two years ago people would not go to Mayoyao from Banawe, through
their own country, save in armed groups of ten to twelve; now women
go alone in safety. And it is a significant fact that the Ifugaos
are increasing in numbers. Of course, this particular sub-province is
fortunate in having as its governor a man of Gallman's stamp. But it
is generally true that village warfare is decreasing, and that travel
between villages is increasing. These Ifugaos ten years ago had the
reputation, and deserved it, of being the fiercest head-hunters of
Luzon. Gallman has tamed them so that to-day they have abandoned
the taking of heads. Now what has been done with them can be done
with others.

At Banawe we saw more examples of native arts and crafts than we
had heretofore. For example, the pipe is smoked, and we saw some
curious specimens in brass, much decorated with pendent chains;
others were of wood, some double-bowled on the same stem. Some of
the men wore helmets, or skull-caps, cut out of a single piece of
wood. Other carved objects were statuettes, sitting and standing;
these are _anitos_, frequently buried in the rice-paddies to make
the crop good; besides, there were wooden spoons with human figures
for handles, the bowls being symmetrical and well finished. Then
there were rice-bowls, double and single, some of them stained black
and varnished. Excellent baskets were seen, so solidly and strongly
made of _bejuco_ as to be well-nigh indestructible under ordinary
conditions. Mr. Maimban got me a pair of defensive spears (so-called
because never thrown, but used at close quarters) with hollow-ground
blades of tempered steel, the head of the shaft being wrapped with
_bejuco_, ornamentally stained and put on in geometrical patterns.

Our officials regarded this great meeting as entirely satisfactory. We
made ready for an early start the next morning, saying good-bye to
Browne, who had accompanied us from Bayombong, and who had shown me
personally many courtesies. His last act of kindness was to take back
with him the various things I had got together, and later to send
them on to me at Manila. Our column was to be increased by a party of
Ifugaos, whom, with a head man named Comhit, Gallman wished to take
through the Bontok into the Kalinga country. The fact that these men
returned safely unaccompanied by Gallman or any other American is
the best possible proof of the positive results already achieved by
our Government in civilizing the highlanders.



CHAPTER XVII

We ride to Bontok.--Bat-nets.--Character
of the country.--Ambawan.--Difficulties of the
trail.--Bird-scarers.--Talubin.--Bishop Carroll of Vigau.--We reach
Bontok.--"The Star-Spangled Banner."--Appearance of the Bontok
Igorot.--Incidents.


From Banawe we rode to Bontok, thirty-five miles, in one day, May
7th. This day it rained, the only rain we had during the whole trip,
although the season was now on. But the disturbance in question was
due to a typhoon far to the southward; and as it passed off into the
China Sea, so did the day finally clear. Our first business this
morning was to cross the pass on Polis Mountain, some 6,400 feet
above sea-level, the highest elevation we reached. As we rode out of
Banawe we could see on the wooded sky-line to our right front a cut
as though of a road through the forest; it was not a road, of course,
but an opening normal to the crest of the ridge. Across this a net is
stretched, and the bats, flying in swarms by night to clear the top,
drop into the cut on reaching it, and so are caught in the net in
flying across. We saw several such bat-traps during our trip. In this
way these highlanders eke out their meager supply of meat. The bat in
question is not the animal we are familiar with, but the immensely
larger fruit bat, the flesh of which is readily eaten. Our trail
took us up, and sharply; by nine o'clock we had crowned the pass,
and stopped for chow and rest. In front of us, as we looked back,
plunged the deepest, sharpest valley yet seen, around the head
of which we had ridden and across which we could look down on the
Ifugao country we had just come from; down one side and up the other
could be traced the remains of the old Spanish trail, a miracle of
stupidity. To the right (west), but out of sight, lay Sapao, where the
rice-terraces have received their greatest development, rising from the
valley we were gazing into some 3,000 feet up the slope. Sapao, too,
is the seat of the Ifugao steel industry, so that for many reasons I
was sorry it was off our itinerary. The point where we were resting
has some interest from its associations, for our troops reached it
in their pursuit of Aguinaldo, at the end of a long day of rain,
and had to spend the night without food or fire or sleep. It was not
possible to light a pipe even, a _noche triste_ indeed. Most of the
men stood up all night, this being better than lying down in the mud;
to march on was impossible, as the country was then trailless, except
for the Spanish trail mentioned, to attempt which by night would have
been suicide. A tropical forest can be pretty dreary in bad weather,
almost as dreary as a Florida cypress swamp on a rainy Sunday.

We now made on, having crossed into Bontok sub-province, and by
midday had reached a point on the trail above an Igorot village
called Ambawan. Here we were met by a number of the officials of
the province, who gave us a sumptuous tiffin in the rest-house. And
here, too, we bought a number of baskets made in Ambawan, graceful
of design and well-woven, though small. Governor Evans offered an
escort of Constabulary through the next village, Talubin, the temper
of its inhabitants being uncertain, but Mr. Forbes declined it,
and ordered the escort sent back. We were riding as men of peace,
determined to mark our confidence in the good intentions and behavior
of the various _rancherias_ we passed through.

Immediately on leaving Ambawan, we had to drop from the new trail
(ours) to the old Spanish one for a short distance, for our trail
had run plump upon a rock, waiting before removal for a little money
to buy dynamite with. Having turned the rock, the climb back to the
new trail proved to be quite a serious affair, as such things go,
the path being so steep and so filled with loose sand and gravel
clattering down the slope at each step that only one man leading
his horse was allowed on it at a time, the next man not starting
till his predecessor was well clear at the top. A loss of footing
meant a tumble to the bottom, a matter of concern if we had all been
on the path together. But finally we all got up and moved on, this
time over the narrowest trail yet seen, a good part of the way not
more than eighteen or twenty inches wide, with a smooth, bare slope
of sixty to eighty degrees on the drop side, and the bottom of the
valley one thousand to fifteen hundred feet or more below us. Many
of us dismounted and walked, leading our horses for miles. With us
went an Igorot guide or policeman, who carried a spear in one hand,
and, although naked, held an umbrella over his head with the other,
and a civilized umbrella too, no native thing. However, it must be
admitted that it was raining.

The mists prevented any general view of the country; as a matter of
fact, we were at such an elevation as to be riding in the clouds,
which had come down by reason of the rain. However, the valleys below
us were occasionally in plain enough sight, showing some cultivation
here and there, rice and _camotes_, the latter occasionally in queer
spiral beds. The bird-scarers, too, were ingenious: a board hung
by a cord from another cord stretched between two long and highly
flexible bamboos on opposite banks of a stream, would be carried
down by the current until the tension of its cord became greater
than the thrust of the stream, when it would fly back and thus cause
the bamboo poles to shake. This motion was repeated without end,
and communicated by other cords suitably attached to other bamboo
poles set here and there in the adjacent rice-paddy. From these hung
rough representations of birds, and a system was thus provided in a
state of continious agitation over the area, frequently of many acres,
to be protected. The idea is simple and efficacious.

This long stretch terminated in a land-slide leading down into the dry,
rocky bed of a mountain stream. At the head of the slide we turned our
mounts loose, and all got down as best we could, except Mr. Forbes,
who rode down in state on his cow-pony. Once over, we crossed a
village along the edge of a rice-terrace, in which our horses sank
almost up to their knees. As the wall was fully fifteen feet high,
a fall here into the paddy below would have been most serious; it
would have been almost impossible to get one's horse out. However,
all things come to an end; we crossed the stream below by a bridge,
one at a time (for the bridge was uncertain), and found ourselves
in Talubin, where we were warmly greeted by Bishop Carroll of Vigan
and some of his priests. The Bishop, who was making the rounds of his
diocese, had only a few days before fallen off the very trail we had
just come over, and rolled down, pony and all, nearly two hundred feet,
a lucky bush catching him before he had gone the remaining fourteen
hundred or fifteen hundred.

Talubin somehow bears a poor reputation; its inhabitants have a
villainous look, owing, no doubt, in part to their being as black and
dirty as coal-heavers. This in turn is due to the habit of sleeping
in closed huts without a single exit for the smoke of the fire these
people invariably make at night, their cook-fire probably, for they
cook in their huts. However this may be, the people of this _rancheria_
showed neither pleasure nor curiosity on seeing us, and I noticed that
a Constabulary guard was present, patrolling up and down, as it were,
with bayonets fixed and never taking their eyes off the natives that
appeared. These Igorots lacked the cheerfulness and openness of our
recent friends, the Ifugaos. Their houses were not so good, built
on the ground itself, and soot-black inside. The whole village was
dirty and gloomy and depressing, and yet it stands on the bank of a
clean, cheerful stream. However, the inevitable _gansas_ were here,
but silent; one of them tied by its string to a human jaw-bone as a
handle. This, it seems, is the fashionable and correct way to carry
a _gansa_. At Talubin the sun came out, and so did some bottles of
excellent red wine which the Bishop and his priests were kind enough
to give us. But we did not tarry long, for Bontok was still some miles
away. So we said good-bye to the Bishop and his staff and continued
on our way. The country changed its aspect on leaving Talubin:
the hills are lower and more rounded, and many pines appeared. The
trail was decidedly better, but turned and twisted right and left,
up and down. The country began to take on an air of civilization--why
not? We were nearing the provincial capital; some paddies and fields
were even fenced. At last, it being now nearly five of the afternoon,
we struck a longish descent; at its foot was a broad stream, on the
other side of which we could see Bontok, with apparently the whole
of its population gathered on the bank to receive us. And so it was:
the grown-ups farther back, with marshalled throngs of children on the
margin itself. As we drew near, these began to sing; while fording,
the strains sounded familiar, and for cause: as we emerged, the
"Star-Spangled Banner" burst full upon us, the shock being somewhat
tempered by the _gansas_ we could hear a little ahead. We rode past,
got in, and went to our several quarters, Gallman and I to Governor
Evans's cool and comfortable bungalow.

I took advantage of the remaining hour or so of daylight to get a
general view of things. One's first impression of the Bontok Igorot
is that he is violent and turbulent; it is perhaps more correct to
say that, as compared with the Ifugao, he lacks discipline. It is
certain that he is taller, without being stronger or more active
or better built; in fact, as one goes north, the tribes increase in
height and in wildness. The women share in the qualities noted. Both
men and women were all over the place, and much vigorous dancing was
going on. Using the same _gansa_ as the Ifugao, the Igorot beats
it on the convex side with a regular padded drumstick, whereas
the Ifugao uses any casual stick on the concave side. Moreover,
the Bontok dancers went around their circle, beating their _gansas_
the while, in a sort of lope, the step being vigorous, long, easy,
and high; as in all the other dances seen, the motion was against
the sun. The _gansa_ beat seemed to be at uniform intervals, all full
notes. While our friends the Ifugaos were, on the whole, a quiet lot,
these Bontok people seemed to be fond of making a noise, of shouting,
of loud laughter. They appeared to be continually moving about, back
and forth, restlessly and rapidly as though excited. On the whole, the
impression produced by these people was not particularly agreeable;
you felt that, while you might like the Banawe, you would always be
on your guard against the Bontok. But it must be recollected that we
had no such opportunity to see these people as we enjoyed in the case
of Banawe and Andangle. The occasion was more exciting; they were
more on show. It is not maintained that these are characteristics,
simply that they appeared to be this afternoon and, indeed, during
the remainder of our stay.

Individuals appeared to be friendly enough, though these were
chiefly the older men. One of them, a total stranger to me, came up
and intimated very clearly that he would like the transfer of the
cigar I was smoking from my lips to his. In a case like this, it is
certainly more blessed to give than to receive, but in spite of this
Scriptural view of the matter, I nevertheless naturally hesitated to
be the party of even the second part in a liberty of such magnitude,
and on such short acquaintance, too. However I gave him the cigar;
he received it with graciousness. I found now that I must give cigars
to all the rest standing about, and, after emptying my pockets, sent
for two boxes. An expectant crowd had in the meantime collected below,
for we were standing on the upper veranda of Government House, and,
on the two hundred cigars being thrown out to them all at one time,
came together at the point of fall in the mightiest rush and crush
of human beings I ever saw in my life. A foot-ball scrimmage under
the old rules was nothing to it. Very few cigars came out unscathed,
but the scramble was perfectly good-humored.

Of weapons there was almost none visible, no shields or spears,
but here and there a head-ax. The usual fashion in clothes prevailed;
gee-string for the men, and short sarong-like skirt for the women. Hair
was worn long, many men gathering it up into a tiny brimless hat, for
all the world like Tommy Atkins's pill-box, only worn squarely on the
apex of the skull, and held on by a string passed through the hair in
front. In this hat the pipe and tobacco are frequently carried. Many
of these hats are beautifully made, and decorated; straw, dyed of
various colors, being combined in geometrical patterns. Ordinary ones
can be easily got; but, if ornamented with beads or shell, they command
very high prices, one hundred and fifty pesos or more. Many men were
elaborately tattooed, the pattern starting well down the chest on each
side and running up around the front of the shoulder and part way down
the arm. If, as is said, this elaborate tattoo indicates that its owner
has killed a human being, then Bontok during our stay was full of men
that had proved their valor in this particular way. Earrings were very
common in both sexes; frequently the lobe was distended by a plug of
wood, with no appreciable effect of ornament, and sometimes even torn
open. In that case the earring would be held on by a string over the
ear. One man came by with three earrings in the upper cartilage of
each ear, one above the other. Still another had actually succeeded in
persuading nature to form a socket of gristle just in front of each
ear, the socket being in relief and carrying a bunch of feathers. A
few men had even painted their faces scarlet or yellow. No one seemed
to know the significance of this habit (commoner farther north than at
Bontok), but the paint was put on much after the fashion prevailing
in Manchuria, and, if possibly for the same reason, certainly with
the same result. The pigment or color comes from a wild berry.



CHAPTER XVIII

Importance of Bontok.--Head-taking.--Atonement for
bloodshed.--Sports.--Slapping game.


Bontok is a place of importance, as becomes the capital of the
Mountain Province. Here are schools, both secular and religious; two
churches in building (1910), one of stone (Protestant Episcopal), the
other of brick (Roman Catholic), each with its priest in residence;
a Constabulary headquarters; a brick-kiln, worked by Bontoks; a
two-storied brick house, serving temporarily as Government House,
club and assembly; a fine provincial Government House in building;
streets laid off and some built up, these in the civilized town. This
list is not to be smiled at; a beginning has been made, a good strong
beginning, full of hope, if the unseen elements established and
forces developed are given a fair chance. The place was important
before we came in; the native part is ancient and has a municipal
organization of some interest. Spain first occupied the place in 1855
and garrisoned it with several hundred Hokanos and Tagalogs. She has
left behind a bad name; but the _insurrectos_ (Aguinaldo's people),
who drove the Spaniards out, have left a worse. Both took without
paying, both robbed and killed; the _insurrectos_ added lying.

Some four hundred Igorot warriors were persuaded by the _insurrectos_
to join in resisting the Americans and went as far south as Caloocan
just north of Manila, where, armed only with spears, axes, and shields,
they took their place in line of battle, only to run when fire was
opened. According to their own story, [32] which they relate with
a good deal of humor, they never stopped until they reached their
native heath, feeling that the _insurrectos_ had played a trick on
them. Accordingly, it is not surprising that when March went through
Bontok after Aguinaldo, the Igorot should have befriended him, nor
later that the way should have been easy for us when we came in to
stay, about seven or eight years ago.

The site is attractive, a circular dish-shaped valley, about a mile
and a half in diameter, bisected by the Rio [33] Chico de Cagayan,
with mountains forming a scarp all around. Bontok stands on the left
bank, and Samoki [34] on the right; separated only by a river easily
fordable in the dry season, these two Igorot centers manage to live in
tolerable peace with each other, but both have been steadily hostile
to Talubin, only two hours away. However, it can not be too often
said that this sort of hostility is diminishing, and perceptibly.

We spent two days at Bontok very quietly and agreeably. The first
day, the 8th, was Sunday, and somehow or other I got to church
(Father Clapp's, the Protestant Episcopal missionary's) only in
time to see through the open door an Igorot boy, stark naked save
gee-string and a little open coat, passing the plate. Father Clapp
has been here seven years, has compiled a Bontok-English Dictionary,
and translated the Gospel of Saint Mark into the vernacular. As already
said, he has a school, a sort of hospital; is building a stone church;
is full of his work, and deserves the warmest support. It must be
very hard to get at what is going on behind the eyes of his native
parishioners. For example, shortly before our arrival, a young Igorot
had been confirmed by Bishop Brent. Now this boy was attending school,
and in the school was another boy from a _rancheria_ that had taken
a head from the _rancheria_ of the recent convert. When the latter's
people learned of this, they sent for their boy, the recent convert,
the Monday after confirmation, held a _canao_ (killing a pig, dancing,
and so on), and sent him back resolved to take vengeance by killing
the boy from the offending _rancheria_. Accordingly, on Thursday, at
night, the victim-to-be was lured behind the school-house under the
pretext of getting a piece of meat, and, while his attention was held
by an accomplice with the meat, the avenger came up behind, killed
him, and was about to take his head when people came up and arrested
him. This case illustrates the difficulties to be met in civilizing
these people. Legally, under our view, this boy was a murderer; under
his own customs and traditions, he had done a commendable thing. When
the boys' school was first opened, they used to take their spears and
shields into the room with them; this proving not only troublesome,
but dangerous, their arms are now taken away from them every morning,
and returned after school closes.

Many people came to see Governor Evans this day, among them a young man
begging for the release of a prisoner held for murder. He really could
not see why the man should not be set free, and sat patiently for two
hours on his haunches, every now and then holding up and presenting a
white rooster, which he was offering in exchange. The matter was not
one for discussion at all, but Evans was as patient as his visitor,
paying no attention to him whatever. Whenever the pleader could catch
Evans's eye, up would go the rooster and be appealingly held out. Only
two or three weeks before, a private of Constabulary had shot and
killed the head man of Tinglayan some miles north of Bontok. He was
arrested, of course, and when we came through was awaiting trial. But
a deputation had come in to wait on Mr. Forbes, and ask for the slayer,
so that they might kill him in turn, with proper ceremonies. Naturally
the request was refused; but these people could not understand why, and
went off in a state of sullen discontent. Here, again, was a conflict
between our laws, the application of which we are bound to uphold,
and native customs, having the force of law and so far regarded by the
highlanders as meeting all necessities. The practice of head-hunting
still exists in the Bontok country, though the steady discouragement
of the Government is beginning to tell. Here in Bontok itself, a boy,
employed as a servant in the Constabulary mess, dared not leave the
mess quarters at night; in fact, was forbidden to. For his father,
having a grudge against a man in Samoki across the river, had sent
a party over to kill him. By some mistake, the wrong man was killed,
and it was perfectly well understood in Bontok that the family of the
victim were going to take the son's head in revenge, and were only
waiting to catch him out before doing it. These homicides can, however,
be atoned without further bloodshed, if the parties interested will
agree to it. A more or less amusing instance in kind was recently
furnished by the village of Basao, which had in the most unprovoked
manner killed a citizen of a neighboring _rancheria_, the name of
which I have unfortunately forgotten. The injured village at once made
a _reclama_ (_i.e._, _reclamation_, claim for compensatory damages),
and Basao agreed, the villages meeting to discuss the matter. When
the claim was presented, Basao, to the unspeakable astonishment and
indignation of the offended village, at once admitted the justice
of the _reclama_, and handed over the damages--to-wit, one chicken
and pesos six (three dollars). This was an insult to the claimant;
for on these occasions it seems that each party takes advantage
of the opportunity to tell the other what cowards they are, what
thieves and liars, how poor and miserable they are, that they live on
_camotes_--in short, to recite all the crimes and misdemeanors they
have been guilty of from a time whereof the memory of man runneth
not to the contrary, this recital being accompanied, of course, by an
account of their own virtues, qualities, and wealth. The claimants in
this case accordingly withdrew, held a consultation, and, returning,
declared that in consequence of the insult put upon them the damages
would have to be increased, and demanded one peso more! The body is
always returned, and the damages cited are for a body accompanied
by its head; if the head be lacking, the damages go up, no less than
two hundred pesos, a fabulous sum in the mountains.

The highlanders [35] believe in bird signs and omens drawn from animals
generally. A party sent out to arrest a criminal had been ordered to
cross the river at a designated point. Returning without their man,
the chief was asked where they had crossed, and, on answering at
so-and-so (a different point from the one ordered), was asked why he
had disobeyed orders. It seems that a crow had flown along the bank
a little way, and, flying over, had alighted in a tree and looked
fixedly at the party. This was enough: they simply had to cross at
this point. Sent out again the next day, a snake wriggled across the
trail, whereupon the chief exclaimed joyfully that he knew now they
would get their man at such a spot and by one o'clock, that the snake
showed this must happen. Unfortunately it did so happen!

The afternoon passed listening to stories and incidents like those just
given, until it was time to go and see the sports. [36] These, with one
exception, presented no peculiarity, races, jumping, tug-of-war, and
a wheelbarrow race by young women, most of whom tried to escape when
they learned what was in store for them. But the crowd laid hold on
them and the event came off; the first heat culminating in a helpless
mix-up, not ten yards from the starting-line, which was just what
the crowd wanted and expected. The exception mentioned was notable,
being a native game, played by two grown men. One of these sits on
a box or bench and, putting his right heel on it, with both hands
draws the skin on the outside of his right thigh tight and waits. The
other man, standing behind the first, with a round-arm blow and open
hand slaps the tightened part of the thigh of the man on the box, the
point being to draw the blood up under the skin. The blow delivered,
an umpire inspects, the American doctor officiating this afternoon,
and, if the tiny drops appear, a prize is given. If no blood shows,
the men change places, and the performance is repeated. The greatest
interest was taken in the performance this afternoon, many pairs
appearing to take and give the blow. The thing is not so easy as
it looks, the umpire frequently shaking has head to show that no
blood had been drawn. The prizes consisted of matches, which these
highlanders are most eager to get.

The day closed with a _baile_, given by the Ilokanos living in
Bontok. Many of these are leaving their narrow coastal plains on the
shores of the China Sea and making their way through the passes to
the interior, some of them going as far as the Cagayan country. It
is only a question of time when they will have spread over the whole
of Northern Luzon. This _baile_ was like all native balls, _rigodon_,
waltzes, and two-steps; remarkably well done too, these, considering
that the _senoritas_ wear the native slipper, the _chinela_, which
is nothing more or less than a heelless bed-room slipper. But one
_senorita_ danced the _jota_ for us, a graceful and charming dance,
with one cavalier as her partner, friend or enemy according to the
phase intended to be depicted.



CHAPTER XIX

The native village.--Houses.--Pitapit.--Native institutions.--Lumawig.


The next day, the 9th, Father Clapp very kindly offered to show
Strong and me the native village, an invitation we made haste to
accept. This village, if village it be, marches with the Christian
town, so that we at once got into it, to find it a collection of huts
put down higgledy-piggledy, with almost no reference to convenience of
access. Streets, of course, there were none, nor even regular paths
from house to house; you just picked your way from one habitation to
the next as best you could, carefully avoiding the pig-sty which each
considerable hut seemed to have. I wish I could say that the Igorot
out of rude materials had built a simple but clean and commodious
house! He has done nothing of the sort: his materials are rude enough,
but his hut is small, low, black, and dirty, so far as one could tell
in walking through. The poorer houses have two rooms, an inner and an
outer, both very small (say 6 x 6 feet and 4 x 6 feet respectively,
inside measurement), cooking being done in the outer and the inner
serving as a sleeping-room. There is no flooring; although the fire
is under the roof (grass thatch), no smoke-hole has been thought
of, and as there are no window-openings, and the entrance is shut
up tight by night and the fire kept up if the weather be cold, the
interior is as black as one would expect from the constant deposit
of soot. The ridge-pole of the poorer houses is so low that a man
of even small stature could not stand up under it. The well-to-do
have better houses, not only larger, but having a sort of second
story; these are soot-black, too. We made no examination of these,
not even a cursory one. The pig-sty is usually next to the house,
and is nothing but a rock-lined pit, open to the sky, except where
the house is built directly over it.

It is astonishing that these people should not have evolved a better
house, seeing that the Ifugaos have done it, and the Kalinga houses,
which we were to see in a day or two, are really superior affairs.

Passing by a certain house, Father Clapp stopped and said, "Here is
where Pitapit was born," and stood expectant. Strong and I looked
furtively at each other; it was evident that we were supposed to
know who Pitapit was. But as we did not, the question was put:
"Who is Pitapit?" Father Clapp, gazing pityingly upon us, as though
we had asked who George Washington was, then enlightened us. Pitapit
is a Bontok boy of great natural qualities, so great, indeed, that he
was sent to the States to a church school, where he had recently won
a Greek prize in competition! Father Clapp was naturally very proud
of this, as he well might be. The fact of the matter is that Igorot
children are undeniably bright; given the chance, they will accomplish
something. And I repeat what I have said before: we are trying to
give them and their people a chance, the only one they have ever had.

We remarked, as we walked about this morning, that although Father
Clapp seemed to know some of the people we met and would speak to them,
they never returned his greeting. None of these highlanders have any
words or custom of salutation. In the Ifugao country, however, they
shake hands, and would frequently smile when on meeting them we would
say, "_Mapud!_"--_i.e._, "Good!"--the nearest thing to a greeting
that our very scanty stock of Ifugao words afforded. But the Igorot
never shook hands with us nor offered to: they have no smile for the
stranger, though they seem good-humored enough among themselves.

Poor as we found the village on the material side, it has nevertheless
some interesting institutional features. For example, it has sixteen
wards, or _atos_, and each _ato_ has its meeting-place, consisting
of a circle of small boulders, where the men assemble to discuss
matters affecting the _ato_, such as war and peace; for the _ato_
is the political unit, and not the village as a whole. A remarkable
thing is the family life, or lack of it rather: as soon as children
are three or four years old, they leave the roof under which they
were born and go to sleep, the boys in a sort of dormitory called
_pabajunan_, occupied as well by the unmarried men, [37] and the girls
in one called _olog_. And, as one may ask whether pearls are costly
because ladies like them or whether ladies like pearls because they
are costly, so here: Is the Igorot house so poor an affair because
of the _olog_, etc., or does the _olog_ exist because the house is
poor? Be this as it may, and to resume, the children go on sleeping
in their respective _pabajunan_ and _olog_ until they are grown up
and married. A sort of trial marriage seems to exist; the young men
freely visit the _olog_--indeed, are expected to. If results follow,
it is a marriage, and the couple go to housekeeping; otherwise all the
parties in interest are free. Marriage ties are respected, adultery
being punished with death; but a man may have more than one wife,
though usually that number is not exceeded. However, a man was pointed
out to us, who maintains in his desire for issue, but without avail,
a regular harem, having no fewer than fifteen wives in different
villages, he being a rich man.

Among other things shown us by Father Clapp was a circle of highly
polished boulders, said traditionally to be the foundation of the house
of Lumawig, the Deity of the Bontok. One stone was pierced by a round
hole, made by Lumawig's spear: on arriving, he decided he would remain
permanently in Bontok, and began by sticking the shaft of his spear
in the stone in question--a very minor example, by the way, of his
magical powers. More interesting, perhaps, than the ruins of Lumawig's
house was a sacred grove on a hill rising just back of the village,
in which, according to Father Clapp, certain rites and ceremonies
are held once a year. The matter is one for experts, but it appears
strange that this people should have a sacred grove, as being unusual.

We wound up our stay in Bontok by going to a grand dinner in Government
House, given by Pack. [38]



CHAPTER XX

We push on north.--Banana skirts.--Albino child.--Pine uplands.--
Glorious view.


Our two days' stay had greatly refreshed our horses and ponies, and
they needed it, not only because of the work already done, but because
of the effort we were going to ask of them during the next forty-eight
hours, when the sum total of our ascents was to be 18,000 feet, and
of descents the same, and the distance to be travelled seventy miles.

We continued our journey on the 10th, leaving Van Schaick behind,
and also Cootes, both of whom had been taken ill, not seriously,
but enough to make it safer to fall out than to go on. On this day,
the relations between neighboring _rancherias_ being uncertain, we
changed _cargadoros_ at the outskirts of each village we came to. We
could undoubtedly have taken the same set of men through, but it
was thought best not to try it. At the same time, the mere fact of
our riding through unmolested, and still more the fact that Gallman
was taking a party of Ifugaos with him to show them the country, is
proof positive that peace is making its way in the North, just as it
has already done farther south.

Our first day the going was very hilly, and very hot; we dismounted
frequently so as to spare our cattle over the steepest ups and
downs. As before, not only was the scenery that unfolded itself,
as we rose from the valley of the Rio Chico, of great beauty, but
it increased in beauty the farther north we travelled. And I can
not but regret again my inability to give some idea, however faint,
of these mountains and valleys and rivers, especially of those that
paraded themselves before us on the second day's ride.

About four hours out (the hour, and not the mile, being the unit of
the highlands), as we were nearing the top of a ridge, a party of
young women and girls came out of the wood on our left, each with a
banana-leaf skirt on, no less and no more. They had simply stripped off
one side of the leaf, and, after splitting the other into ribbons, had
wrapped the stem about their waists, and there they were, each with a
sufficient skirt. One of them had apparently never seen a horse before,
and showed so much interest that Pack gallantly offered to let her
mount his and take a ride. When the remainder of her party understood
from her motions that she was actually going to bestride that monster,
they set up a chorus of ear-piercing shrieks and screams and laid
hold on their insane sister, and besought her with lamentations not
to risk her life. During the struggle, Mr. Worcester came up and
produced a diversion by offering red cloth, and, moving to the top
of the ridge for the distribution, we found there some twenty-five
or thirty more damsels, of all ages from grandmother to mere tot,
and all banana-skirted. Mr. Worcester said that in all his experience
he had never seen the like before. Heiser, in the meantime, had got
out his camera and tried to form a group with the children in front
and the older ones back. But when they realized that the effect of
this would be to conceal all but the heads and shoulders of those
in rear, the group broke up almost automatically, giving way to a
line with arms linked, which no amount of effort on anyone's part
succeeded in breaking. Each one was resolved to be in the picture at
full length! In the crowd, looking on, was a man carrying an albino,
a child two or three years of age, with absolutely fair white skin
and yellow hair. It was sound asleep, and so I did not see its eyes,
but otherwise it was a perfect albino; even here at home and as
a normal child it would have been regarded as unusually fair. The
pack had now got up, and Mr. Worcester began his issue. At his feet
stood a little lassie, whom he overlooked, and whose countenance,
as she saw the red cloth diminishing and likewise her chances,
displayed the most vivid play of emotion. Finally, when the last
yard of the stuff had been given out and she had got none of it,
two large tears formed and ran down her cheeks. Poor little thing,
but ten minutes ago she had braved it with the best of them, but her
skirt had now suddenly gone out of style! The eternal feminine! I
neither saw nor heard any other child cry during the whole trip. As
we rode off, our banana-grove accompanied us part way, singing, and,
disappearing behind a hillock on our left,


"Unrobed and unabashed in Arcady,"
shifted from Nature's weave to man's.


From this point to the stream at its foot, the ridge on which
we found ourselves was completely bare of trees, and presented
a different appearance from any other so far seen or to be seen,
tremendous rounded masses. One of these had been split through the
middle by a recent earthquake: the right half, as we looked at it,
dropping down eight or ten feet below the other, a splendid example of
convulsive power. Across the stream and nearly at the top of the climb
that followed we halted for chow and sleep under some tall pines. Two
hours later we were off again, through a country from which all visible
suggestion of the tropics had disappeared. We were passing through
red soil uplands, grass and pines, with a clear view in all directions.

Passing on, we now faced one of the most disagreeable ascents of the
whole trip: a bare, mountainous hill facing south, so steep that we
had to switch-back it to the top, with the sun blazing down on our
backs, the hour being three of the afternoon, and not a breath of
wind going. It was too steep to ride, and our water-bottles were
empty. When we got to the top, Gallman and I, we could both have
exclaimed with Villon,


"_Je crache blanc comme coton._"


What wonder, then, that on finding a clear, cold spring at hand,
Gallman should have drunk his fill of the cool water, and that
he should have persuaded me, against my better judgment, to take a
swallow of it, just one swallow, no more? Who would have believed that
a mere taste of such innocent-looking, refreshing water could have
had such dire consequences? For it made me ill for six weeks, at times
all but disabling me. However, as water, it was irreproachable; and,
anyway, as though to compensate the tiresome climb just finished, we
had before us now one of the most glorious views imaginable. From far
to the south--indeed, from the blue mountains bounding the view miles
away, the silver ribbon of the Rio Chico unrolled itself in a straight
line between green-sloped mountains, rising from its very banks and
towering into the clouds. At our feet, but far below, the river turned
square to the east in a boiling rapid between gigantic walls of rock,
the mountains here yielding to its sweep in a broadening valley only
to press on it beyond and thrust it back on its way northward. It
was all splendid and simple; if you please, nothing but a stream
filling the intersecting slopes of a wedge-shaped valley and turning
off because it had to. But the serenity of the whole composition:
gray rocks, shining waters, green slopes; white mists, enveloping the
crests, smiling in the afternoon sun! Jaded as were our faculties of
admiration by the many exquisite scenes we had already passed through,
this one held us. We had to leave it, though, making our halt later
for the night at a rest-house in a pine wood, near a good stream.



CHAPTER XXI

Deep valley.--A poor _rancheria_.--Escort of boys.--Descent of
Tinglayan Hill.--Sullen reception at Tinglayan.--Bangad.--First view
of the Kalingas.--Arrival at Lubuagan.


We were off early the next morning, the 11th, our destination
being Lubuagan, the capital of the Kalinga country. We had a long,
hard day before us. As I was about to mount, I noticed that Doyle,
Mr. Forbes's groom, looked seedy, and learned that Bubud had broken
loose in the night and gone the rounds of the herd, kicking every
animal in it before he could be caught, and so robbing poor Doyle
of a good part of his sleep. After riding a bit through the pines,
the ground apparently dropped off in front of us out of sight, rising
in a counter slope on the other side, in a great green wall from which
sprang a hogback; only this time it was a razor-back, so sharp was its
edge, up which back and forth ran the trail. It was another of those
deep knife-like valleys; this one, however, challenging our passage,
and justly, for it was more canon than valley, and it took us nearly
two hours to cross it. But it was worth the trouble and time. For
imagine a canon with forested sides and carpeted in green from the
stream in its bed to the highest bounding ridge! Near the top we came
upon a bank of pitcher-plants, the pitchers of some of them being fully
six inches long. A mile or so farther on, we halted and dismounted
near a little _rancheria_, Butbut by name, in a corner of the hills,
the people of which had been assembled for the "Commission." These
were the only physically degraded-looking people we saw on the trip;
small of stature, feeble-looking and spiritless. The reason was not
far to seek: it is probable that they live hungry, through lack of
suitable ground for rice-cultivation, and because their neighbors
are hostile. Now, I take it on myself to say that it is just this
sort of thing that will come to an end if Mr. Worcester is allowed to
carry out his policies. For, with free communication and diminishing
hostility, interchange of commodities must needs take place. Indeed,
the relations existing between _rancherias_ are nothing but our own
system of high protection carried to a logical extreme by imposing
a prohibitive tariff on heads! Fundamentally, granted an extremely
limited food-supply, every stranger is an enemy, and the shortest
way to be rid of the difficulty involved in his presence is to reduce
him to the impossibility of eating.

On reaching the top of Tinglayan Hill, which we did shortly after
leaving the poor people just mentioned, we saw a man coming towards us
accompanied by thirty or forty boys not more than ten or eleven years
of age, all gee-stringed, and eight of them carrying head-axes on their
hips. When the man got up, he handed Mr. Worcester a bamboo about a
yard long. Mr. Worcester drank and then passed it on back to us, the
best stuff, it seemed to us that hot morning, we had ever tasted. We
were now in the _basi_ country; this being a sort of fermented
sugar-cane juice, judiciously diluted with water. [39] The boys now
formed a sort of column with the ax-bearers immediately in front of
Mr. Worcester as a guard of honor, and we got a good look at them,
well-built, erect, of a light brown, with black flowing hair. They
were as healthy-looking as possible, and, what is more, intelligent of
countenance--by all odds the brightest, most cheerful lot of youngsters
we had yet seen. As we moved off they set up a chant, clear and wild,
beginning with a high note and concluding with as deep a one as their
young voices could compass. The thing was as beautiful as it was wild,
and astonishing from the number and range of notes used.

Marching thus, we came upon a large gathering of men, women, and
children, to whom various gifts of cloth, pins, beads, etc., were
made. Here Gallman found, to his amazement, that he could understand
the speech of these people. Not trusting his own ear in the matter,
he sent Comhit about to talk to them, and reported afterward that
both not only had understood what was said, but had made their own
selves understood. Neither of them could make out a word in the poor
village we had just passed through, nor anywhere else on the road in
the Bontok country.

We now began the long descent to Tinglayan, seven miles, most of us
walking and leading our ponies. At Tinglayan, instead of the usual
cheerful crowd waiting to welcome us, we found only a few extremely
sullen men and women, who held themselves persistently aloof. There
were no children, neither were chickens nor eggs offered--a bad
sign. This reception was due entirely to the refusal of the authorities
to give up the Constabulary private that had but recently shot and
killed the head man of the _rancheria_, as already explained. However,
in time, Mr. Worcester prevailed on the few present to accept gifts,
and we affected not to notice the character of our reception, not only
the best, but indeed the only thing to do. Here we had _chow_. We
were now directly on the left bank of the Chico, and, passing on,
found the country more open, and so better cultivated, the paddies
being broad, the retaining-walls low, and the countryside generally
wearing an air of peace and affluence. This impression deepened as
we reached Bangad, extremely well situated on a tongue running out
at right angles to the main course of hills. Here was a semblance
of a street, following the trail, or, rather, the trail, going
through, had followed the street. The houses were larger, cleaner,
better built; in short, substantial. One of them, unfinished, gave
us some idea of its construction: floor sills on posts to ground;
roof frame of planks, 1 x 6 inches, bent over to form the sides of
the house when completed, all hard wood, without a single nail, the
whole being held together by mortises and tenons and other joints,
accurately made and neatly fitted. We remained here an hour or so,
while the "Commission" was making gifts to the people. No weapons
whatever were visible, and the women and children moved about freely
without a trace of shyness or fear. Our way beyond the village now
took us by many turns back to the river, the trail finally rising
in the side of a vertical cliff, such that by leaning over a little
one could look past one's stirrup straight down to the water many
hundreds of feet below. At the highest point the trail turned sharp
to the left, almost back on itself. I am proud to say that I rode it
all, but was thankful when it was behind us. Heiser's horse this day
got three of his feet over the edge and rolled down eighty or ninety
feet, Heiser having jumped off in time to let his mount go alone. It
was fortunate for him that this particular cliff was not the scene of
this fall. Some three miles farther, on fording a stream, we passed
from Bontok into Kalinga, and were met by Mr. Hale, the Governor, with
two warriors, tall and slender, broad of chest and thin of flank, with
red and yellow gee-strings, tufts of brilliant feathers in their hair,
and highly polished head-axes on their hips. Greetings over, we went
on, and soon reached the river again, going down the left bank until
we came upon what seemed to me to be a most interesting geological
formation. For the bank of the river here rose sharply in a rounded,
elongated mass, the end of which toward us was cut off, as it were,
just as one cuts off the end of a loaf of bread, and showed alternate
thin black and white strata only three or four inches thick tilted
at an angle of sixty or seventy degrees and mounting several hundred
feet in the air. The trail itself had been cut out in the side of
the mass, and was so narrow that not only was everyone ordered to
dismount, but the American horses were all unsaddled, the inch or
two so gained being important in passing along. The black and white
strata showing on the path, there was an opportunity to examine them;
the black layers were so soft and friable that they could be gouged
out with ease with the hand, and appeared to be vegetable, while the
white stripes were most probably limestone. This bit of the trail
is regarded as dangerous, because the rock overhead is continually
breaking loose and tumbling down; for this reason it was unsafe to try
to dislodge pieces for later examination. One of our _cargadores_,
as it was, fell over, his pack getting knocked in, while he himself
escaped with a bruise or two. It was a bad place! At the end of it
a host of Kalingas acclaimed us, as picturesque as the warriors we
had met at the stream, and took over the pack. Leaving the river,
we began what appeared to be an interminable climb to Lubuagan. Up
ran the trail, disappearing far ahead above us, behind the shoulder
of the ridge; and we would all be hoping (those of us to whom the
country was new) that Lubuagan would be just around the turn, only to
find we had the same sort of climb to another shoulder; the fact being
that the ridge here thrust itself out in rising echeloned spurs, each
one of which had to be turned, so that we began to doubt if there was
such a place as the capital of the Kalinga province. In truth, we had
been up since 3:30 and were nearly spent from heat and thirst. But at
last we made the final turn, and entered upon a narrow green valley,
with a bold, clear stream rushing over and between the rocks that
filled its bed. Broad-leafed plants nodded a welcome from the waters,
as we rode through the grateful shadow of the overarching trees, and
shining pools smiled upon us. We crossed a bridge, came down a bit,
and, breaking through the fringe of trees and shrubs, saw before us
the place-of-arms of Lubuagan.



CHAPTER XXII

Splendid appearance of the
Kalingas.--Dancing.--Lubuagan.--_Basi_.--Councils.--Bustles and
braids.--Jewels and weapons.--Excellent houses.


The sight that greeted us was stirring, suggesting to the piously
minded Bishop Heber's unmatched lines:


"A noble army, men and boys,
The matron and the maid."


There must have been thousands of people, as many women as men, and
almost as many children as women, all of whom set up a mighty shout
as our little column emerged. But what especially and immediately
caught the eye was the brilliancy of the scene. For, whereas the
people so far encountered had impressed us by the sobriety of color
displayed, these Kalingas blazed out upon us in the most vivid reds
and yellows. Many of them, women as well as men, had on tight-fitting
Moro jackets of red and yellow stripes; but whatever it was--skirt,
jacket, or gee-string--only one pattern showed itself, the alternation
of red and yellow, well brought out by the clear brown of the skin. As
though this were not enough, some men had adorned their abundant
black hair with scarlet hibiscus flowers, and all, or nearly all,
wore plumes of feathers, one over each ear. Each _rancheria_ has its
distinctive plume; as, red with black tips, black with red, all red,
white with black, and so on, some with notched and others with natural
edges. Many men had axes on their hips. The whole effect was startling,
and all the more that these people, erect, sinewy, of excellent build
like their comrades farther south, were perceptibly taller, men five
feet ten inches tall not being uncommon. Add to this a stateliness of
walk and carriage, combined with a natural, wholly unconscious ease
and grace of motion, and it is easy to imagine the fine impression
made upon us by our first look upon these assembled people. It is
not too much to say that the whole sight was splendid; but, more than
this, under the surface of things, it was easy to catch at once the
possibility of a real development by these people under any sort of
opportunity whatever.

We had hardly dismounted before the dancing began, in general against
the sun, as elsewhere. Each _rancheria_ of the many present had its
dancers, and all made a display. One event, if the sporting term be
permissible, seemed to be a sort of "follow-my-leader"; the motions,
however, being confined to the circle, across which the file would go
from time to time, thus differing from any other dance seen. In some
cases, the step was bold and lively; in others, slow and stately, with
arms outstretched. The _gansa_ music was not nearly so well marked as
that of the Ifugaos; it seemed to lack definition (an opinion advanced
with some hesitation, and which a professional musician might not
agree with). Sometimes women only appeared; in fact, up here the
sexes did not mix in the dance. If we had remained longer in this
part of the country, perhaps the differences and characteristics of
this expression of native genius would have stood out more clearly;
but in our short time, with so much dancing going on, impressions
necessarily overlapped. And, in any case, shortly after our arrival,
night fell, putting an end to the show, and we betook ourselves
to our quarters; Captain Harris, of the local Constabulary forces,
most kindly receiving some of us in his house.

_Kalinga_ is neither a race nor a tribe name, but a word meaning
"enemy" or "outlaw," as though the hand of the people that bear
it had been against everybody's else. These people have been great
head-hunters, and have not yet entirely abandoned the practice, though
it is steadily diminishing. It should be recollected, however, that
it is only within the last three or four years that we have had any
relations with them, Mr. Worcester's first visit to Lubuagan having
occurred in 1907. On this occasion, immediately on arriving, he was
shut up with his party in a house; and all night a lively debate went
on outside as to whether the next morning his head should be taken or
not, his native interpreter informing him of the progress of opinion
as the night wore on.

In some respects these Kalingas differed from the tribes already
visited. Their superior height has already been noted. It may be noted
further that they are sloe-eyed, and their eyes are wide apart. It
is said that they have an infusion of Moro blood, brought in, many
years ago, by exiles from Moroland turned loose on the north coast of
Luzon by the Spaniards, with the expectation that the local tribes
would kill them; instead, they intermarried. Among themselves they
call their important men _dato_, a Moro title, and their Moro dress
has already been mentioned. They will not marry outside of their own
blood, and their women, so we were told, would not look at a white man.

Lubuagan itself is extremely well situated on a gigantic terrace-like
slope, as though, as at Kiangan, an avalanche of earth had burst
through the rim of encompassing mountains. Here live the Governor of
the province and the inspector of Constabulary with a detachment; their
houses, with the _cuartel_ and public offices, are disposed around a
sort of parade, divided into an upper and a lower terrace. Aguinaldo
marched through the place during his flight, and left behind seventeen
of his men, sick and wounded. He had no sooner gone than these were
all taken out and beheaded. The native town lies above and just back
of the parade, with its houses running well up on the slopes. These
are, everywhere possible, terraced for rice, and so successfully
that two crops are made every year, as against only one at Bontok
and elsewhere. It follows that the Kalingas have more to eat than
their relatives to the south, and that is perhaps one reason of their
greater stature.

The morning of the 12th, our one full day at Lubuagan, broke clear,
bright, and hot, and so the day remained. Events during the next few
hours had no particular axis. We looked on mostly, though, of course,
here as elsewhere, business there was to be dispatched. The upper
terrace was the scene of crowded activity, being packed with people
from sunrise to sunset. Dancing went on the whole day; the sound
of the _gansa_ never ceased. A particularly interesting dance was
that of a number of little girls, eight or ten years of age, who went
through their steps with the greatest seriousness and dignity, a very
pretty sight. In yet another the performers, nine all told, grown men,
attracted attention from the fact that the handles of their _gansas_
were human lower jaws, apparently new, in the teeth of two of which
gold fillings glistened. The Ifugaos, who, it will be recollected,
had accompanied us from Banawe, also danced, their steps, motions,
and music forming a sharp contrast. This dance over, Comhit could
not restrain himself, but made a speech, in which he declared that
"These people up here, the Kalingas, are very good people indeed,
but not so good as the Ifugaos." Fortunately, only his own people
understood him. He had noticed on the way that the people we passed
offered nothing to drink to the traveller, and had commented freely to
Gallman on this lack of hospitality, so different from his country's
habits. We had nothing to complain of, however, on this score at
Lubuagan, for _basi_ circulated freely the whole day, being passed
along sometimes in a tin cup, at others in a bamboo; everybody drank
out of one and the same vessel. On the whole, this _basi_ was poor
stuff, not nearly so good as _bubud_. Harris told me after the day
was over, and we had taken innumerable tastes, at least, of the brew
(for one must drink when it is passed), that in preparing _basi_ a
dog's heart, [40] cut up into bits, is added to the fermenting liquid
to give it body. One man amused us by going around with a bamboo six
inches or more in diameter and at least eight feet in length over
his shoulder, and obligingly stopping to let his friends bend down
the mouth and help themselves--a "long" drink if there ever was one!

But it was not all _basi_ and dancing: councils were held, the visiting
_rancherias_ profiting by the opportunity of enforced peace to clear up
issues. At these councils, which came off in the open, on the parade,
the people of the _rancherias_ interested would sit on the ground
in a circle, maintaining absolute silence, while their spokesmen, a
head man from each, walked around in the circle. The man who had the
floor, so to say, would remain behind and address his adversary in
the debate, who meantime kept on walking around with his back turned
squarely on the speaker. As soon as the argument in hand had been
made, both would countermarch, and the listener would now become the
speaker. A great part of the debate was taken up on both sides by a
recital of the crimes and misdemeanors of which the other party had
been guilty. In one of these councils, one debater--wearing civilized
dress, by the way--suddenly broke through the circle and disappeared,
much to our astonishment, until it was explained that his opponent
in the debate had charged him with having recently poisoned six
persons; as this was perilously near the truth, the criminal simply
ran away. The accuser was a fine-looking man, splendidly dressed, of
a haughty countenance, displaying the greatest contempt for all the
arguments addressed to him, his impatience being marked by "_Has!_"
accompanied by stamping on the ground the while and striking it with
the butt of his spear. This chief was in confinement at Lubuagan,
but, to save his face, Governor Hale had enlarged him during our stay.

Naturally there was an opportunity during the day of observing many
things in some detail. Who shall say, for example, that the Kalingas
are not civilized? The women and girls all wear bustles, a continuous
affair made of _bejuco_, an endless roll, in short, of varying radius,
that over the small of the back being considerably the greatest. The
top of the skirt is tucked in all round, instead of being directly on
the skin, as farther south. In further proof of the local civilization,
the women wear false hair. One matron was obliging enough to undo her
coiffure for our benefit, and held out by its end, for our admiring
inspection, a mighty wisp nearly three feet long. She put it back on
for us after the manner, as I have since been informed, of a coronet
braid. The men gave fewer evidences of civilization, unless smoking
cigars in holders will serve. However, one man brought up his wife
and children and regularly introduced them to us, the woman doing
her part with great coolness, while the children gave every sign of
terror. This incident struck me as being very unusual. Everyone had on
at least one necklace, and some three or four necklaces, of dog-teeth,
of agate beads (these being immensely prized, agate not being native to
the Philippines), or of anything else the form, color, and hardness of
which could make it answer for purposes of ornament. One young woman
had on sleigh-bells, the tinkle of which we heard before we saw its
source, an incongruous sound in those parts. These bells must have
been brought down by Chinese trading from the plains of Manchuria. Two
or three young men displayed what looked like lapis lazuli around
their necks, but what turned out at closer quarters to be pieces of
a blue china dinner-plate. They had cut out the white interior and
then divided the rim radially, the jewels thus formed being all of the
same size and shape, with perfectly smooth edges. Here, too, were the
same pill-box hats as those seen at Bontok, some elaborately beaded
and costing from one to five carabaos apiece; in one case the lid of
a tomato tin had been pressed into service as a hat. But the finest
thing of all was the head-ax, a beautiful and cruel-looking weapon,
the head having on one side an edge curving back toward the shaft, and
on the other a point. To keep the weapon from slipping out of the hand,
a stud is left in the hard wood shaft, about two-thirds of the way from
the head, the shaft itself being protected by a steel sheathing half
way down; the remainder being ornamented with decorative brass plates
and strips, and the end shod in a ferrule of silver. The top of the ax
is not straight, but curved, both edge and point taking, as it were,
their origin in this curve; the edge is formed by a double chamfer,
the ax-blade being of uniform thickness. All together, this weapon is
perhaps more original and characteristic than any other native to the
Philippine Archipelago. With it goes the Kalinga shield of soft wood,
made in one piece, with the usual three horns or projections at the
top and two at the bottom. These projections, however, are cylindrical,
and the outside ones are continued down the edge of the shield and so
form ribs. In the ordinary Igorot shield the horns are flat, merely
prolonging the surface of the shield, or else presenting only a very
small relief. As usual, a lacing of _bejuco_ across top and bottom
protects the shield against a separation in the event of an unlucky
stroke splitting it in two.

We found the town unusually clean. Public latrines exist, and public
drinking-tanks, both put in by Governor Hale, and highly approved of
the people. The houses themselves were the best we had seen, some of
them hexagonal in ground plan, and built of hard woods. The pigs stay
underneath, to be sure, but their place is kept clean. Rich men have
rows of plates, the dinner-plates of civilization, all around their
houses, and take-up floors of split bamboo are common, being rolled up
and washed in the neighboring stream with commendable frequency. All
together, Lubuagan made the impression of an affluent, not to say
opulent, center, inhabitated by a brave, proud, and self-respecting
people.



CHAPTER XXIII

We leave the mountains.--Nanong.--Passage of the Chico.--The
Apayao.--Tabuk.--The party breaks up.--Desolate plain.--The Cagayan
Valley.--Enrile.


The morning of Friday, May 13th, broke clear after a night of hard
rain. We set off before sunrise, our way now taking us eastward for
the last stage of the mountain journey proper. The whole earth this
morning seemed to be a-drip: every stream was rushing, and banks of
cloud, fog, and mist crowned the heights and filled the valleys. To
describe even approximately our course as we descended from the great
terrace of Lubuagan is well-nigh impossible; but, as we came down,
scene after scene of the greatest beauty offered itself to our
admiration. The landscape softened too; we were leaving the high
mountain land behind us, not too suddenly, however; for example,
at one point a huge valley lay below us, bounded on the other side
by a tremendous vertical wall of rock, over which fell a powerful
stream. I estimated the fall at the time as at least four hundred feet.

In due course we came to an affluent of our old friend the Chico, and
had to ford. The stream was up, but we got over without mishap. Fording
is always a delicate operation in these, mountains after a hard rain,
since no one can ever tell what the nature of the footing will be,
because of the boulders swept down. On this occasion Evans's pony
stopped short in mid-stream, refusing either to move on or back. There
was nothing for it but dismount and investigate, Evans discovering
that his pony had put one foot down between two large stones close
together and so was simply caught fast. The country had now become
decidedly more open; the trail for long stretches was almost a road. As
a matter of fact, we were on the old main line of communication from
the highlands to the Cagayan Valley. We made our first halt at Nanong,
where everybody brought in gifts of chickens, eggs, and _camotes_
and received beads, red cloth, pins and needles in return. What made
a particular impression here was the number of children brought in,
all wide-eyed, sloe-eyed, and some of them extremely pretty. The
remainder of the day we spent going down the left bank of the Chico,
encountered again at Nanong. Shortly after leaving this point two
large monkeys, brown with white breasts, appeared on the edge of
the trail, apparently protesting with the utmost indignation against
our presence in those parts. Harris remarked that once passing this
point alone he had run into eighteen of them, and that for a time he
thought they were going to dispute his passage. These were the only
animals we saw on the whole trip, not counting a few birds. The valley
opened hereabouts, and on the other bank, the right, a sharp-edged
terrace came into view, fully three hundred feet above the river and
continuing for miles as far as the eye could see. This must be an
unusually good example of river terrace. On our side the trail was cut
out of the cliff, solid rock, with a straight drop to the river below,
a stretch of two of the hottest miles conceivable, what with the full
blaze of the sun and the heat radiated and reflected from the face
of the cliff. I was so weak from the water I had drunk the other day
that I dismounted and walked the whole way, so that, if knocked out
by the heat, I should at least not fall off my pony; a tumble on the
wrong side would have brought the journey to a very sudden end. But,
fortunately, nothing happened, and we at last got down to the level
of the river again, only to find it half in flood and fording out of
the question. We were on the upstream side of a huge dome of rock,
rising from the river itself, the only way around which was to
cross twice. The rest of the party coming up with the _cargadores_,
we had to wait until bamboo rafts could be built, the raft really
being nothing but a flat bundle lashed together with _bejuco_. In
this case our rafts were so small that under the weight of only one
man and his kit they immediately became submarines, so that one got
partially wet crossing. Our horses and ponies were swum over.

We were six hours making the two passages; still we were in luck,
for had the stream been really up, we should simply have had to camp
on its bank and wait for the waters to fall, a fate that sometimes
overtakes the traveller in a country where an innocent stream may
become a raging torrent almost while one is looking at it.

We slept that night in a rest-house just across the river from Tabuk,
and next morning the party divided, Mr. Worcester, Dr. Strong,
Governor Pack, and Lieutenant-Governor Villamor to continue the
mountain trip into Apayao, while the remainder of us, having been
invited to accompany Mr. Worcester only as far as Tabuk, went on to
the Cagayan River. It may be of interest, however, to say a few words
here about the Apayao country, my authority being the "Seventh Annual
Report of the Secretary of the Interior to the Philippine Commission"
for the fiscal year 1907-1908.

This country was first visited by Mr. Worcester in 1906. The Spanish
Government never having succeeded in gaining a foothold in it. "During
the insurrection Lieutenant Gilmore, of the United States Navy, and
his fellow-captives were taken into the southern part of it and there
abandoned." "So far as is known, no white man had ever penetrated
the southern and central portions of Apayao until" Mr. Worcester,
suitably accompanied and escorted, crossed the Cordillera, in 1906,
from North Ilokos. A later expedition, commanded by a Constabulary
officer, was attacked, not necessarily from any hostility to it
as such, but because it was accompanied by natives hostile to a
_rancheria_ (Guenned) approached on the way. A punitive expedition,
led by the same officer, afterward met with some success, but American
popularity suffered in consequence. The Apayao country is the only
sub-province under a native Governor, and its Governor, Senor Blas
Villamor, is the only Filipino that has ever shown any interest in
or sympathy for the highlanders. His task has been a difficult one;
for example, his only line of communication, the Abulug River, runs
through a territory inhabited by Negritos, who had been so abused
by the Christian natives on the one hand, and whose heads had been
so diligently sought by the wild Tinguians of the mountains, on the
other, that they had acquired the habit of greeting strangers with
poisoned arrows. His mountain region itself was inhabited by inveterate
head-hunters, most of whom had never even seen a white man. Conditions
are improving, however; the raids against the Christian and Negrito
inhabitants of the lowlands of Cagayan have been completely checked,
and Mr. Worcester hopes that head-hunting will diminish. It still
exists. Strong told me, on his return to Manila, that, looking into
a head-basket after leaving Tabuk, he found in it fresh fragments
of a human skull; for the Apayaos take the skull like the other
highlanders, but unlike them, break it into pieces. But with these
people head-hunting is a part of their religious belief, and so all
the harder to uproot. With the others it is a matter of vengeance,
or else even of sport. "On the other hand, the people of Apayao have
many good qualities. They are physically well-developed and are quite
cleanly. They erect beautifully constructed houses. Their women are
well clothed, and both men and women love handsome ornaments. They
are quite industrious agriculturists and are now begging for seed and
for domestic animals in order that they may emulate their Christian
neighbors in the raising of agricultural products."

Of course we should have been very glad to go on with Mr. Worcester
into the Apayao country if he had asked us; but it is practically
trailless as yet, and for a party as large as ours would have been,
questions of supply and transportation would have been difficult, to
say nothing of the impolicy of taking a large number into the country
at all. And so, on Saturday morning, May 14th, we shook hands with
Mr. Worcester and his companions. His progress so far had been an
unqualified success, unmarred by a single adverse incident, for the
deplorable loss of life at Kiangan could in no wise be attributed
to our presence or to the occasion. What the results of the visit
of 1910 will be, only time can tell; but experience shows that every
year marks an advance in the spread of friendly relations, not only
between the Government and the people, but between the subdivisions
of the people itself. [41]

The Chico being still up when we reached it, we crossed again on
submarines, climbed the bank, and found ourselves in Tabuk (or Talbok),
the most pestilential hole in the Archipelago. Nothing is left of it
now but a ruinous church and one or two houses. The first mass was said
here or hereabouts in 1689, by the Dominicans, who kept up the mission
until the monks all died of fever. Did an occasional officer in the old
days prove objectionable to the authorities in Manila, he got an order
to proceed to Tabuk for station; it was almost certain that he would
never return. The point is of unquestionable importance, commanding,
as it does, the main outlet, of the Kalinga country to the plains of
the Cagayan Valley; and so our own Government undertook to garrison
it with Constabulary as a check on raids. The garrison remained long
enough to be carried out on stretchers, and was removed to Lu-bagan,
where the check is just as complete and personal control possible.

We had a long and hard day before us, but we did not know it when we
set out from Tabuk at about seven in the morning. Gallman, Harris,
and I kept together; our first business was to cross a vast, roughly
circular plain fifteen miles in diameter, and densely overgrown with a
rough, reedy grass two feet and more high. A foot-path ran across the
plain, visible for only a very short distance ahead as long as one was
in it, but imperceptible twenty yards to the right or left. To lose
this path would have been a serious matter, as it would have been a
heart-breaking thing to force one's way through the undisturbed grass.

It would be hard to imagine anything else more wearisome than that
fifteen-mile stretch. The sun was riding high in the heavens, "shining
on both sides of the hill"; not a breath of wind was stirring nor
was there, barring a rare bird or two, a sign of life save the
thousands of flies which, as our ponies pushed aside the grass
overhanging the path, rose in clouds only to settle on our faces,
hands, necks, backs, everywhere. We began by brushing them off,
but it was of no use, and so we rode with our faces turned to a dim
haze of low mountains bounding the plain on the east, and themselves
dominated by still another range, the Sierra Madre, so distant as
to look like a bank of immovable blue cloud. For miles our plodding
seemed to bring them no nearer. If we could only get out of that sea
of olive-gray grass, on which the heavy, stifling air seemed to press,
and reach those nearer mountains! Twice the path led us into sinks or
depressions fully ninety or one hundred feet below the level of the
plain; why these could not have been avoided when the path was first
struck out is hard to imagine, unless it was to get to water. For
one of these sinks boasted of a clear, bold stream with all of its
course underground save the part in the depression. In both were
full-grown trees and grateful shade. Had we not been pressed to get
through, it would have been interesting to explore these huge sinks;
but we passed on, the flies, which had abandoned us on our descent,
rejoining us when we climbed out on the other side. In time we reached
our mountains, arid, bare, eroded, wind-bitten, and made our way
slowly and painfully up and through the pass, our trail hereabouts
being nothing but a trench so deep and narrow that part of the way we
could not keep our feet in the stirrups. As we neared the crest of
the range the pass disappeared, and for the last half-mile or so we
attacked the ridge directly. When we got to the top, we found a gallant
breeze blowing, and, spreading out before us, the vast plains of the
Cagayan Valley. Far over in the east, and apparently no nearer than
ever, rose the blue, cloud-like mountains of the Sierra Madre, now
showing like a wall, which indeed they are, and one which no man has
so far succeeded in scaling. But not a sign of life, of man or beast,
caught our eye. And yet this valley is an empire in itself; its axial
stream, the Rio Grande de Cagayan, or Ibanag, the "Philippine Tagus"
of the ancient chronicles, the longest river of the Archipelago, by
overflowing its banks every year, renews the fertility of the soil
wherever its waters can reach. We stood here on the ridge a long time,
resting and looking. Below us green ribbons, following the undulations
of the plain, marked the trail of various water-courses; but, apart
from this evidence of Nature's living forces, somehow or other the
entire landscape was silent and desolate. We now began the descent,
leading our ponies, for it was too steep to ride, and at last came to
a stream where we found shade and grass, and, better yet, the advance
guard of the party with food and drink ready. Our next stage was over
rolling country, covered with fine short grass; once over this, the
ground broke in our front, and we made the descent, finally coming
out on the lowest floor of the valley at Enrile, two or three miles
from the river. Night was falling as we made our way through its
grass-grown streets, finding the air heavy, the people dull-looking,
and everything commonplace: we had already begun to miss our mountains.



CHAPTER XXIV

Tobacco industry.--Tuguegarao.--Caves.--The Cagayan
River.--Barangayans.--Aparri.--Island of Fuga.--Sail for Manila.--Stop
at Vigan.--Arrival at Manila.


The great valley in which we now found ourselves really deserves more
notice than perhaps it is suitable to give it here. As everyone knows,
it furnishes the best tobacco of the Islands, tobacco that under proper
care would prove a dangerous rival to that of Cuba, though it can
never quite equal the product of the Vuelta Abajo. The cattle industry
should prosper here--in fact, did a few years ago; the broad savannas,
some of which we had crossed, furnishing excellent pasturage. It was
proved long ago that this region was naturally adapted to the culture
of silk and to the raising of indigo and sugar-cane. While tobacco
was a Government monopoly, [42] the valley was wealthy, traces of
wealth being still found in the hands of the people under the form
of jewels, some of them costly and beautiful.

The passage of the Payne bill has already brightened the prospects of
the people, and especially of the small growers, for prices paid on
the spot have already gone up very considerably. The valley is sure
to flourish before many years shall have passed, and nothing else
would so much hasten this end as the completion of the railway from
Manila. But when we passed through, a sort of general apathy seemed
to fill the air: the people were listless, and so much of the tobacco
crop as we could see looked neglected. A partial explanation is to be
found in the belief, wide-spread in these parts at this time, that the
comet had come to mark the end of all things, and that any work done
would be wasted. This belief, however, did not check the native and
courteous hospitality of the people; all of us were taken in for the
night, Evans and I going to Senor Cipriano Pagulayan's, where we found
an excellent dinner awaiting us--in particular, coffee of superlative
excellence. Don Cipriano was very modest about it, explaining that the
coffee had been roasted only after our arrival and ground just before
it was set on; but none the less it was admirable. Now, this coffee,
of course, was grown in the valley, and there is no reason why its
cultivation should not be taken up on a large scale for export.

Enrile held us only for the night. The next morning we all mounted,
alas! for the last time, and, escorted by a great number of local
magnates, took the road for the river. Here we left our mounts to
Doyle, who was to return with them to Baguio. It was with great regret
that I parted from Bubud: he had carried me faithfully and well, and
I shall not soon forget his saucy head, looking after us as we got
down the bank to go on board the motor-launch of the Tabacalera. [43]

In a few minutes we had crossed and landed at Tuguegarao, the
capital of the province, and still retaining traces of its wealth
and importance in the great days of the tobacco monopoly. It has an
imposing church built of brick, a hospital, and a Dominican college,
all of substantial construction; its streets are broad and well laid
out, but of the town itself not much can be said, as a fire swept off
most of it a few years ago. Still Filipino towns rise easily from the
ashes, and there is no reason why prosperity should not again smile
upon this ancient borough.

We tarried two or three days in Tuguegarao, waiting for river
transportation and meanwhile greatly enjoying the hospitality
so generously shown us. Major Knauber, of the Constabulary, and
Mr. Justice Campbell, of the Court of First Instance, invited me to
stay with them in a fine old Spanish house they had together. Every
evening Herr ----, of the ---- Company, had us to dinner in his
beautiful bungalow. At a grand _baile_ given us the day after our
arrival, Heiser asked me if I had not dined that day and the day before
at Herr ----'s; on my saying yes, he laughed and remarked that he had
just taken up his cook as a leper to be sent to the leper hospital
on the Island of Culion. But in the East nobody bothers about a thing
like that.

Tuguegarao is a point of departure for some interesting trips,
notably one to some limestone caves, larger than the Mammoth Cave
of Kentucky. In one of these caves, receiving light, air, and
moisture from fissures in the natural surface of the ground, palms
(cocoa and other), bamboos, and other plants and trees are growing
in natural miniature. I was told that this cave was fascinating and
that I ought to go and see it. But time was pressing; although the
commanding General had set no limit on my absence, I felt I ought now
to return. Accordingly, on the morning of the 18th, our transportation
being ready, Mr. Justice Campbell and I went aboard a motor-launch
and set out for Aparri, at the mouth of the river.

All river trips here in the East have an interest; this one proved no
exception to the general rule, though it presented nothing especially
worthy of record. But the Rio Grande is the great road of the Valley,
to such an extent, indeed, that there are no land roads to speak of. We
passed between low, muddy banks, frequently of uncertain disposition,
as though wondering how much longer they could possibly resist the wash
of the current. The stream itself is shallow, uncharted, unbeaconed;
its navigation requires constant attention, which it certainly got this
day from our quartermaster, who remained on duty for ten consecutive
hours. We had the ill-luck not to see a single crocodile, although the
river is said to be full of them, all of ferocious temper. On the other
hand, we did see the oddest possible ferry: a bundle or raft of bamboo,
with chairs on top, towed across stream by a carabao regularly hitched
up to it and getting over himself by swimming. This he does on an
even keel, his backbone being entirely out of the water when under way.

There is nothing picturesque about the lower reaches of the Rio Grande,
though its upper course, through hilly country, is different in
this respect. The remains of one or two old towns, cut in two by the
shift of the river-bed, excited our curiosity. So did, from to time,
the _barangayans_, or native river-boats, huge, clumsy, ill-built,
and generally with but four or five inches of free-board amidships
on full load. These craft look as though they ought to sink by mere
capillary attraction. However, people are born, live, and die aboard
of them, so they must be safe enough. In the afternoon the river
widened and its right bank, anyway, grew bolder and occasionally
more permanent-looking, and finally, about an hour before sunset, we
perceived the low white godowns of Aparri. We landed not at a wharf,
but at the outer edge of the huddle of craft crowding the water front,
and put up at the Fonda de Aparri, having done eighty-odd miles in
a little over ten hours.

All the tobacco of the Valley reaches the world through Aparri;
it is consequently a port of considerable importance. But it has no
safe anchorage and is frightfully exposed to typhoons, all of which,
if they do not pass over the place directly, somehow or other appear
to step aside to give this region a blow. There is a never-ending
conflict in the adjacent waters between the currents of the China Sea
and those of the Pacific, making navigation hazardous, and for small
boats perilous. On the day of our arrival, calm and fair as it was,
a tremendous surf was beating on the bar, the spray and foam mounting
in a regular wall many feet high, and driven up, not by the gradual
attack of an advancing wave, but by the tireless energy of angry
waters ceaselessly beating upon the same spot.

Of Aparri itself little can be said here: but, small as it is, it
has nevertheless the bustle of all seaports in activity. Many of its
streets are paved with cobble-stones, and some of its buildings are,
if not handsome, at least substantial. But it is cursed with flies:
in our inn, otherwise comfortable enough, the kitchen and the temple of
Venus Cloacina were side by side. The flies were all the more annoying
that we had seen none in the mountains, nor indeed do I recollect ever
having seen them in any number elsewhere in the Archipelago than at
Aparri and in the never-to-be-forgotten plain of Tabuk. However, we
survived the flies, and late in the afternoon of the third day went
on board a Spanish steamer bound for Manila. We used our cabin to
stow our kit, but lived and slept on the deck of the poop, the main
deck between which and the forecastle was crowded with natives. Poor
things! Each family appeared to have an area assigned to it, on which
were piled indiscriminately all its earthly possessions in the shape
of clothes, bags, pots and pans generally; the heap once formed,
its owners sat and slept on it, with the inevitable family rooster
at its highest point lording it over all. In fact, every spot on the
main deck not otherwise occupied was simply filled with roosters,
all challenging one another night and day by indefatigable crowing. As
illustrating the difficulties of navigation in these parts, our steamer
was two hours getting out of the river and across the bar, a matter
of not more than a mile. Once out, she began to roll and pitch in an
incomprehensible manner, seeing there was no wind and no sea. It was
simply the never-ending contest between the Pacific Ocean and the
China Sea. Once fairly in the latter, she behaved steadily enough.

Our journey was without incident; it did not, much to
my disappointment, include the side trip sometimes made to the
Babuyanes Islands for cattle. One of these islands, Fuga, is
especially interesting; urn-burial prevailed in it in the past, the
urns in some cases being arranged in a circle around a central urn
or altar. Moreover, there is in Fuga a stone building known as the
"Castle," with arched doorways, said not to be of Spanish origin,
and near by is a plain strewn with human skulls and other bones,
probably the scene of a battle. The skulls are remarkable from their
great size, some of them being reported as extraordinary in this
respect. The present inhabitants of these islands and of the Batanes
live in stone houses, much like those of North Ireland and the islands
west of Scotland. [44] And so we had hoped, Campbell and I, that
we might get at least a look at Fuga. For, although it lies near to
Aparri, it is hard to reach; small boats, even on calm, smooth days,
being occasionally caught in the wicked currents of these waters and
swamped out of hand. The next morning we made Kurrimao, which has a
shore-line strikingly picturesque in a land almost surfeited with the
picturesque. We stayed long enough to take on a number of carabaos,
which were swum out to the ship, and then hauled out of the water by
a sling passed around their horns.

Our next stop was at Vigan, a well-built town, many of whose houses
are of stone. We reached the town in a motor-car, passing through well
cultivated fields of maguey. The mountains, rising abruptly from the
coastal plain, are here cut by the famous Abra de Vigan, a conspicuous
gap serving as a land-mark to the mariner for miles. And it is the
custom to take a ride of many hours up the pass, and then come down
the rapids in two, on bamboo rafts built for the purpose. This is
a most exciting trip; alas! we had to be contented with an account
of it! But Vigan itself was worth the trouble of going ashore; its
churches and monasteries are extensive, dignified of appearance,
and far less dilapidated than is unfortunately so frequently the
case elsewhere in the Islands. Not the least interesting item of our
very short stay was a visit to a new house, built and owned by an
Ilokano, and equipped with the most recent American plumbing. The
house itself happily was after the old Spanish plan, the only one
really suited to this climate and latitude. But then the Ilokanos are
the most businesslike and thrifty of all the civilized inhabitants:
their migration to other parts, a movement encouraged of long date
by the Spanish authorities, is one of the most hopeful present-day
signs of the Archipelago, I was sorry to take my leave of Vigan;
the place and its environs seemed full of interest. One more stop we
made at San Fernando de Union the following day, a clean-built town,
but otherwise of no special characteristics. Here we met an officer
of Constabulary that had been recently stationed at Lubuagan, who
told us of coming suddenly one day upon a fight between two bodies
of Kalingas, numbering twenty or twenty-five men each, and this in
Lubuagan itself. According to our ideas, it was no fight at all,
the champions of each side engaging in single combat, while the rest
looked on and shouted, waiting their turn. One man had already been
killed, his headless trunk lying on the ground. On the approach of the
officer they all ran. Here, too, we heard from another Constabulary
officer, that the _insurrectos_ in 1898-1899 forced the Igorots to
carry bells and other loot taken from the _conventos_ and churches,
and would shoot the _cargadores_ if they stumbled or fell, or could
go no farther under the weights they were carrying.

Twenty-four hours later we steamed up Manila Bay. The trip was over.



CHAPTER XXV

Future of the highlanders.--Origin of our effort to improve their
condition.--Impolicy of any change in present administration.--Transfer


 


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