242 VILLAVEKDE. 



SO repugnant to the heart of civilized society, are not recognized among 

 the Ifugaos; on the contrary they are accustomed always to attack 

 from behind, not doing otherwise unless by virtue of necessity. 



The Ifugaos can ascend frojn the plebeian to the noble class by acquir- 

 ing riches and making an ostentatious display of them before others in 

 the following fashion : The candidate for noble rank announces his 

 intention beforehand to those of his settlement as well as to his im- 

 mediate neighbors, and at once they all come forth with great satis- 

 faction and enthusiasm for the dinners that they expect. They go to 

 rather distant forests, and, selecting a very large tree of good wood, 

 make from its trunk a ridiculous figure, similar to a large quadruped, 

 stretching upward with its extremities cut off. While they are making 

 this sign of nobility they continually kill and eat hogs and carabaos 

 which the future nobleman pays for with great evidence of generosity. 

 When the work of art is concluded they leave it in the forest and return 

 to their settlements with great glee, eating the flesh of hogs or carabaos 

 always at the cost of the one who wishes to become a noble. AVhen the 

 work in the fields is concluded they return again to the forest in order 

 to carry to the settlement the image previously prepared, which they call 

 tagabi. (Plate VII, fig. 3.) Then it is that the candidate turns his 

 house inside out in order to acquire a reputation for magnificence among 

 his future inferiors. After eating to excess, and going through- with a 

 thousand ridiculous ceremonies, they load the tagabi upon the backs of 

 men and begin to walk very slowly to the sound of the gaiisa with great 

 shouting, and as a further proof of riches the future noble goes scattering 

 rice in the path. They leave the tagabi in the forest, returning to their 

 houses a third or even a fourth time, finally arriving at the settlement in 

 the midst of an indescribable enthusiasm. When the tagabi has been 

 placed under the house of the noble there begins another feast much 

 greater than those which preceded it, during which many hogs and buf- 

 faloes * are consumed, until the people take their departure drunk and full 

 of meat to their throats. Nobility therefore among the Ifugaos costs 

 them dear, and they spend their fortunes in acquiring it, although they 

 come back to them afterwards with interest. In order to maintain their 

 prestige over the jjlebeians or poor people they repeat from time to time 

 some little celebration, always enveloped in gross superstition, and 

 without forgetting the inevitable drunkenness which is an honor among 

 them. 



When for this or other reasons they kill a carahao, the mode of doing 

 it is horrible and is as follows : The animal is tied in front of the house 

 of the man who gives the feast. The guests are arranged (and every- 

 one comes who wishes to take part) ; they have knives in their hands, 



'The word "buffalo" tliroughout this article refers to the rnrabao. (Dean C. 

 Worcester. ) 



