THE ILONGOT OR IBILAO OF LUZON 527 



with. I have to go much lighter than what I am now to keep up with the 

 little black Negrito. He is like a flea; here to-day, there to-morrow, and ever 

 on the move when food is gone, and at rest, when he has a supply, long enough 

 to consume it. He is at outs with the particular people I am with at present. 

 Kagadyangan, on the Cagayan, Isabela. July, about the 12, 1908. I am 

 compelled by force of circumstances to continue in this field for three or four 

 months more; at least that much time must pass before I can observe a full 

 cycle of the various activities of these people. Furthermore, the rainy season 

 sets in about September and it is difficult ascending in this region where the 

 rapids are numerous and swift. ... I have come upon Ilongote habitations in 

 cliff and rock shelters. Why might their ancestors or those of others not have 

 lived in such in ages past and left evidences of an earlier culture? Many Ifugao 

 burials are in sepulchres on mountain sides and the practise is no doubt very 

 old. Places like these and those of rock shelters in other lands have given 

 fruitful results and might they not in these islands ? " I am having a pleasant 

 time with these people. They are the wildest of any people that I have yet 

 come across in Luzon. But like all wild people, they are cordial and hospitable. 

 I live in their houses and so have their presence day and night. I hunt, fish 

 and hike with them, see them on and off their guard, observe them in all their 

 varying moods — in short, I'm very close to them all the time. Some time I 

 will tell you a thing or two about them. 



Alas, for his intimacy and confidence in them ! Alas, that so gifted 

 and lovable a man should have been lost by their treachery to science 

 and to his friends ! 



From the Nueva Vizcaya side considerable progress has been made 

 in the acquaintance and control of these people. For several years, 

 Mr. Conner, the superintendent of schools, cultivated their friendship 

 and gained information that led to his successor, Mr. K. J. Murphy, 

 organizing a school in the community of Makebengat. The method 

 followed was to hire a very trustworthy and capable Filipino of the 

 town of Bambang who speaks their language and has had friendly rela- 

 tions with them, to go out and dwell with them, persuading and hiring 

 them to build a good dwelling house for the teacher, a school house and 

 shop, and to bring their own dwellings into the locality fixed upon for 

 the school. Then there were sent out two native teachers (one a woman, 

 capable of teaching spinning and loom weaving), to begin the instruction 

 of the children in language, figuring and in industrial arts not known 

 to the Ilongot. This school experiment promises to succeed and has 

 already led to starting one or two other schools in communities still 

 more distant in the forest. 



Governor Bryant, of the province, has felt much interest in these 

 people, and two years ago performed the very difficult feat of traversing 

 the forests from these first communities northward to the province of 

 Isabela. This hazardous exploration occupied about two weeks before 



•The Ifugao are an Igorot people inhabiting the Kiangan region. All the 

 Igorot people practise, wherever possible, the burial of their rich and important 

 personages in caves and artificial grottos. Burial caves occur in many places 

 in the Philippines and have yielded a large store of jars, skulls and ornaments'. 



