AN IFUGAO BURIAL CEREMONY. 229 



THE SUPPKESSION OF HEAD-HUNTING BY AMERICAN AUTHORITY. 



The first task that confronted the American government in the Ifugao 

 country was the unifying of the Ifugao clans, the establishment of peace 

 among them, and the suppression of head-hunting. The rapidity and 

 completeness with which these objects were attained after the organi- 

 zation of the Subprovince of Ifugao in September, 1908, has few parallels. 

 jSTo heads have been taken in Ifugao for more than two years past, nor 

 has there been any fighting among the clans. About 450 kilometers of 

 new roads and trails have been built which greatly facilitate commun- 

 ication between the various clans, and have been one of the chief factors 

 in the development of the era of peaceful intercourse now in progress. 



The better features of Ifugao culture will develop rapidly under these 

 conditions, while many of the older customs will become much changed 

 or entirely lost. To preserve the laiowledge of them for future gen- 

 erations they must be studied and recorded at once. 



THE MUNHtutTNG BURIAL CEREMONY. 



Sources of information. — The writers of this paper have each resided 

 for several years among the Ifugao people. The writer of this in- 

 troduction witnessed, in whole or in part, four niunlnmung burials in the 

 Central Ifugao area, and Mr. Barton one in the Kiangan Ifugao area. 

 Two of these ceremonies will be described very briefly, and two in full 

 detail. The other will be mentioned only. 



The sole previously published description of one of these ceremonies is that 

 given by Jenks,- who, as a member of the party of Mr. Dean C. Worcester, 

 arrived at Banaue in April, 1903, just in time to witness the burial of a 

 beheaded man, but not the preceding ceremonies. The description is very brief, 

 but the two plates ' published with it are of interest. These plates are from 

 photographs taken by Mr. Worcester at that time, and show the beheaded body 

 in the procession aijd at the tomb. The pictures are typical of the ceremonies 

 witnessed by the writer, excepting' that usually 4 men in place of 2 carry the 

 body in the burial procession. The statement that only about 20 men accompanied 

 the body to the tomb '' indicates that the beheaded man was of low rank in the 

 community. The case is very similar to the first munhimung ceremony that 

 I witnessed; that of Mangili of Panangan who was killed and beheaded in an 

 expedition against Kambulo clan, and was buried by Banauol elan on June 6, 

 1906. He was a serf of Tagtagon, the head chief of Banauol, who bore the ex- 

 penses of the ceremony which was not very elaborate and was poorly attended. 



THE DEATH AND BUBIAL OF BATTANG. 



On June 30, 1906, Battaiig, an Ifugao chief of great prominence, was killed 

 at his house in the village of Bokos (clan district of Banauol) by an hereditary 

 enemy from the clan district of Kambulo. Conditions were rather unsettled 



^ Ethnological Survey Publications, Ma-nihi (1905), 1, 182, 183. 

 ''Idem, Plates CXXXV and CXXXVI. 



' There is an error in Jenks' statement as to the number of men in this instance. 

 [D. C. W.] 



