HEAD-HUNTERS OF NORTHERN LUZON 



HKAD-TAKING CELEBRATION 



The customs connected with head- 

 taking which prevail in the northern part 

 of the Kahnga country are pecuhar and 

 interesting. We will suppose for sim- 

 plicity's sake that a war party has taken 

 a single head. Upon its return it is re- 

 ceived with war cries and shouts of joy, 

 and amidst uproar and confusion each 

 warrior runs home and brings back a 

 piece of clean white bark cloth. He dips 

 this in the blood oozing from the severed 

 neck, again hastens home, and hangs it 

 over the door of his house. The bloody 

 emblem constitutes a sort of "sign of 

 the passover," since it is believed to avert 

 sickness and to protect the occupants of 

 the house from the vengeance of the 

 friends of the decapitated enemy. 



Meanwhile the fortunate individual 

 who took the head carefully cuts through 

 the cap of the skull with his head-axe 

 and removes it, scalp and all. He chops 

 it into as many pieces as there are mem- 

 bers of the party, and each warrior on 

 returning from his home is presented 

 with a bit as a keepsake. 



It is asserted that it is a common prac- 

 tice to pour basi over the brain, which 

 has been exposed by the removal of the 

 top of the sicull, and to mix brain-matter 

 and basi by vigorous stirring. This hor- 

 rible concoction is then passed around, 

 the head serving as a drinking cup, and 

 these who will may partake. It is said 

 that only the very brave do so, and this 

 can readily be believed ! The skull is 

 then cleaned by boiling, and the lower 

 jaw is used for the handle of a tom-tom, 

 or gansa. 



The old women take charge of the re- 

 mainder of the skull and place it, with 

 similar relics, in some safe hiding-place. 

 Once a year these old hags bring forth 

 all the mutilated skulls and use them in 

 connection with a secret ceremony from 

 which men are strictly excluded. One 

 of the objects of this ceremony is to 

 insure good crops. 



PREPARING THE HEAD 



Prior to boiling and cleaning, the head 

 is placed on a heap of flowers in a bas- 

 ket of peculiar and characteristic form, 

 woven at one end of a piece of bamboo. 



The other end of the bamboo is sharp- 

 ened and driven into the ground. 



A canao is then held. The men squat 

 in a great circle, around which the 

 women walk or stand. Basi circulates 

 freely and the excitement of intoxication 

 is soon added to that caused by the re- 

 turn of the victorious war party. Three 

 or four men beat with their hands upon 

 gansas, the handles of which are hooked 

 into the waistbands of their clouts, the 

 gansas themselves resting upon their 

 thighs as they kneel. The deafening 

 clash of the gansas, in the old familiar 

 cadence which for uncounted centuries 

 has celebrated success in war, adds to 

 the general excitement, which finds vent 

 in the monotonous, high-pitched, ululat- 

 ing war cries characteristic of the people 

 of this tribe. 



REACTING THE ACHIEVEMENT 



Into the ring steps the hero of the 

 occasion, dressed in his best clothes, 

 decked with his gaudiest ornaments, and 

 bearing the shield, lance, and head-axe 

 used in the recent fight. Behind him 

 there creeps along the ground a strange 

 shrinking figure clad in soiled garments, 

 with a dirty cotton blanket pulled over 

 its head. The hero attracts attention to 

 himself by emitting a squall which re- 

 sembles nothing so much as the yell of 

 a puppy when its tail is heavily trodden 

 upon. 



He then begins to speak in a monoto- 

 nous and highly artificial falsetto voice, 

 the tones and cadences of which are 

 strongly suggestive of those of a Japa- 

 nese actor. With word and gesture he 

 describes his recent exploit, using the 

 shrinking figure beside him as a dummy 

 to represent his fallen foe. When he 

 stops for breath the gansas strike up 

 again, and when their clangor ceases he 

 resumes his narrative. After concluding 

 his pantomimic discussion of his latest 

 exploit, he describes and boasts of pre- 

 vious achievements. 



Incidentally he indulges in high step- 

 ping and high jiimping, and displays 

 deadly skill in the manipulation of his 

 weapons. The crowd grows ever more 

 excited and, during the intervals while 

 the gansas are playing, shrieks its ap- 



