BONTOC IGOROT WOMKN 



They are bringing in camotes, or yams, which have been laboriously dug up with sharpened 



sticks 



The Bontoc Igorots are only just now 

 learning the use of agricultural tools. 

 Heretofore they have performed most of 

 their agricultural operations with their 

 own hands and feet and with sharply 

 pointed sticks. They harvest their rice, 

 as do the hill people of the other tribes, 

 by cutting the heads one at a time. 



When laboring in the mud and water 

 in the rice fields at planting time, or 

 when obliged to be out in the rain, both 

 men and women often go stark naked, 

 a condition of things which I have not 

 observed among the people of any other 

 tribe in the Philippines. The women 

 commonly wear skirts of leaves while 

 performing field work, thus saving wear 

 on their highly prized cloth skirts. 



Their towns are divided into what we 

 should perhaps call wards, and in each 



division there is usually a group of build- 

 ings, consisting of a long, low dormitory 

 for girls and unmarried women or wid- 

 ows ; a second for young boys, unmar- 

 ried men, and widowers, and a sort 

 of men's clubhouse. The people who 

 sleep at home are ordinarily the fathers, 

 mothers, and very young children. All 

 others go to the above-mentioned public 

 dormitories. In addition there is an open 

 stone court from which a long two-room 

 building extends. The room nearest the 

 court opens directly upon it, the outer 

 end being without a wall. It serves as 

 a sort of men's clubhouse. Here all im- 

 portant public events are discussed. The 

 second room is dark. Access to it is had 

 through a very narrow door at the side 

 and only the elect may enter. It is used 

 as a depository for the skulls of enemies 



905 



