572 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1911. 



bark. The joists are not selected for fitting to the posts as supports, 

 but are roughly held in place by the forked heads of the posts. You 

 notice also that the rafters are not mortised but are merely crossed 

 and fastened by bamboo binders. The tie-beams are fastened in the 

 same way. The ridge, nothing more than the mere laying together 

 of some narrow strips, is covered with a bamboo mat extending 

 down about 18 inches on each side of the roof. 



At Bolo I first observed how the Lolos weave their mantles and 

 their leggings. I asked the chief's daughter, who had charge of this 

 kind of work, to show me the implements for spinning and weaving. 

 The spindle was a thin rod with a little disk in the center serving as 

 a grasp for the fingers. One of the ends of the spindle was length- 

 ened with iron to a point for attaching the mass of wool. The thread 

 that was made was very coarse. The loom consists of three or four 

 rods or stretchers for intercrossing the threads and a large wooden 

 plate or blade for the underweaving. It was the primitive of primi- 

 tives, without balancing apparatus, properly speaking, with neither 

 ''harness" nor "comb." The threads constituting the warp are 

 brought together in a bundle at a stake driven in the ground. 



I also saw them make a thread garment, in the meshes of which are 

 worked fibers of the palm, Trachycarjms excelsa. This is the Lolo's 

 mackintosh, the cape that he needs while guarding his sheep in rainy 

 weather. The overlapping of the fibers is so effectively done that 

 the surface offers no chance for water to settle in it, and heavy drops 

 of rain run off without penetrating it at all. It is really a very 

 original kind of waterproof. 



PHYSICAL AND MORAL CHARACTERISTICS. 



The Lolos are, as a whole, a vigorous and healthy race. Living as 

 they do in the high mountains, where they are exposed to extremes 

 of temperature, with mild days and icy nights, in miserable shelters, 

 natural selection has played and still plays an important role in 

 this group of humanity. The weak do not survive, they quickly 

 disappear. 



Giving to their fields only the minimum of time needful, and 

 being occupied mostly with their cattle and in hunting for wild 

 animals, the Lolos practically pass all their lives outdoors. They 

 leave home in the morning to return only at nightfall. The steep 

 slopes of the mountains and the abrupt sides of the plateaus cut into 

 deep ravines make walking very difficult, so that this people have 

 acquired an extreme suppleness of muscles, the agility of a deer. So 

 also their favorite habit of the raid and the feud, the circuitous tramp 

 required, keep the men in constant activity, developing a vigor and 

 endurance rare in any other race, even the most warlike on the earth. 



