ETHNOLOGICAL STUDIES 



247 



iridescent pagodas of Bangkok fade into the mist above the muddy waters 

 of the Menam river. 



Rennell Island was the destination, but as luck would have it work 

 began in the Philippines. At Manila I met, to our mutual surprise, an old 

 school friend and fellow-student, who turned out to be Professor of 

 Zoology in the University of the Phihppines; and — an even more 

 incredible piece of luck — his wife belonged by birth to the Bontoc 

 Isorot, one of the heathen and almost independent tribes of head hunters 

 in northern Luzon. Her relatives still lived high up there in the remote 

 mountains. The result was an unforgettable week in one of the small 

 Igorot villages. No one betrayed any designs on our heads : on the contrary, 

 we were warmly welcomed and were able not only to obtain considerable 

 collections for the National Museum in Copenhagen, but also to study 

 the Igorots' highly developed methods of rice cultivation and attend their 

 harvest festival, never previously described. My companion, Mr. Peter 

 Rasmussen, was able to take a unique film of this festival and of the 

 natives' daily life. 



Java, Bali, through Torres Strait to New Guinea — fleeting visits 

 calculated to tempt an ethnologist to make a longer stay - — and then, 

 finally, the Solomon Islands and Rennell. The island rises from the crystal- 

 clear tropical ocean Hke an almost perpendicular, green-clad wall. Mau- 



The Igorot in the moun- 

 tains of the Philippines 

 have retained their pic- 

 turesque appearance. 



