AN IFUGAO BURIAL CEREMONY. 231 



PART II. THE BURIAL OF BAHATAN.^ 

 THE LITE AND DEATH OF BAHATAN. 



Bahatan of Aiigadal was in early life a serf of Taiiggana,* one of 

 the wealthiest and most popular village chiefs of Banauol clan. When 

 the first Americans came to Banaue, Baliatan found employment with 

 them, and proved exceptionally faithful and intelligent. His employ- 

 ment was remunerative and he was soon able to redeem the mortgaged 

 rice teiTaees inherited from his father. He then married a well-to-do 

 girl with several fields of her own, and became a substantial middle-class 

 citizen. In 1907 he was enlisted in the special Ifugao police. These 

 Ifugao policemen hold responsible positions, but Bahatan proved fully 

 equal to the work and soon became the most trusted and capable man 

 at the Banaue station. 



On March 31, 1908, Bahatan went to a village in Namulditang district 

 on a matter of business connected with the roadwork then in progress. 

 Having accomplished his errand before noon, he was resting under the 

 house of the village chief when a man of the Lingai clan came up. 

 Lingai had not then been brought under governmental control, and 

 was still at war with Banauol. Moreover, the man in question had 

 lost several ancestors and relatives in fights with the Banauol people. 

 He at once determined to kill Bahatan. He approached him with fair 

 words, drawing his blanket closely around his body to conceal his bolo, 

 and ofl'ered Bahatan a betel nut which the man from Lingai inten- 

 tionally dropped upon the ground. As Bahatan stooped to pick up 

 the nut the man quickly threw off his blanket and with two well- 

 directed blows of his bolo severed Bahatan's head from his body. The 

 man did not stop to take the head. Before the people in the vicinity 

 fully realized what had happened, he had vanished in the 7-uno '' thicket 

 surrounding the village, eventually escaping safely to Lingai. 



THE BRINGING IN OF THE BODY. 



There was great excitement and grief in Banauol when the news 

 reached us. Several hundred armed warriors assembled within a few 

 hours, ready to go after the body and look for a fight on the way. 

 However, Lieutenant Gallman would not let them go, although he 

 had some difficulty in restraining the warriors. Only the wife, mother, 



= By H. Otley Beyer. 



' See figure on left, in Plate V. 



' Rvno, a species of large grass, common throughout the Philippines. Ifugao 

 name: bildu. Scientific name: Miscanthus sinensis Andr. (Gramineae). This 

 and following plant identifications were made by Elmer D. Merrill, botanist of 

 the Bureau of Science, from specimens collected by the authors. 



