THE ILONGOT OR IBILAO OF LUZON 531 



pieces of the rattan an inch and a half in diameter with elaborately 

 woven loops at the ends. These are swung from one tree top to another 

 and serve as passage-ways for the men at work. To cross they stand 

 on the slack cable, one hand grasping it on each side, and so, crouching, 

 pass along it at a height above the ground of 80 to 100 feet. With 

 this in mind, I could understand their replying to my inquiry as to 

 when they prayed, by saying that they " prayed and sang to the spirits 

 when they went to climb the trees." Their crops are mountain rice, 

 camotes or sweet potatoes, gabi or taro, maize, squash, bananas, tapioca 

 and, in some places, sugar cane and tobacco. They are good gardeners, 

 although all their cultivation is by hand, their tools being a sliQrt hoe 

 or trowel and a wooden planting stick, which is ornamented with very 

 tasteful carving. 



The houses of the Ilongot are of two sorts. Sometimes they are low 

 wretched hovels, built two or three feet above the ground, with roofs of 

 grass and sides of bark. But frequently the Ilongot build really well- 

 constructed and creditable homes. These are set high above the ground, 

 fully twelve feet, on a large number of posts or piles ; the floor is made 

 of carefully set strips of palma brava, the door-posts, lintels and exposed 

 pieces of framework are curiously and tastefully carved. Such a dwell- 

 ing is built large and spacious for the occupancy of several families and 

 there is usually a hearth in each of the four corners of the big, single 

 room. Such a house set on a conspicuous ridge and lifted by its piles 

 high among the foliage of the surrounding jungle is a striking and 

 almost an imposing sight. 



The arms of the Ilongot are the spear, the jungle knife which they 

 forge into a peculiar form, wide and curving at the point, a slender, 

 bent shield of light wood and the bow and arrow. The use of the 

 latter weapons is significant and here, as always in Malaysia, it indi- 

 cates Negrito influence and mixture. They use a bow of palma brava 

 and the ingenious jointed arrow of the Negrito with point attached by 

 a long cord of rattan to the shaft, which separates and dragging behind 

 the transfixed animal impedes his escape. 



Both men and women wear the long rattan waist belt wound many 

 times about the loins with clouts and skirts of beaten bark cloth. The 

 men also use a curious rain hat not unlike a fireman's helmet, made 

 of rattan and deerskin, the light frame neatly decorated with carving, 

 and a deerskin rain coat to cover their backs in the dripping forest. 



The physical type of the Ilongot is peculiar and rather unlike that 

 of any other Philippine people. The men are small, with long bodies 

 and very short legs, weak, effeminate faces, occasionally bearded. The 

 hair is worn long, but usually coiled upon the head and held by a 

 rattan net. The color of the Ilongot is brown and a little lighter than 

 that of Malayans exposed to the sun by life on the water or in the plain. 

 Their head hair is sometimes nearly straight, usually wavy and occa- 



