THE IFUGAOS OF QUINGAN AND VICINITY. 247 



their fellows as if they were going to hunt deer or hogs^ and afterwards 

 carrying the heads of the victims to their settlements, making great 

 feasts, honoring themselves with the name of "the brave," and decorat- 

 ing the fronts of their houses with the skulls of their victims.^ (Plate 

 III, figs. 1 and 2.) 



If it is a matter of wounds which are not fatal, or of other assaults, 

 the matter is arranged readily with the healing of the injuries caused. 

 The frequency of deaths and wars even among the families of a settle- 

 ment, may be imagined when one takes into account the egotism and 

 independence of this barbarous people, their brutal manner of living, 

 the commonness of drunkenness, and the fact that they hold as honorable 

 their gross errors, their idolatry and their superstition. 



IDOLATRY AMONG THE IFUGAOS. 



I have proposed at various times to follow the course of the stories 

 and narratives of these Ifugaos, and noting at every step monstrous 

 contradictions and violent transitions, I questioned them to see if they 

 could follow the thread of the discourse, but always in vain, for they 

 answered me that they did not loiow the reasons of these transitions 

 and contradictions. It is to be noted in some of these narratives that 

 this race has possessed in very remote times remarkable astronomical 

 knowledge, especially of the signs of the zodiac, and I believe that even 

 now, if one were to go deeply into the meaning of their little stories 

 which are handed on from generation to generation by means of a sort 

 of traditional verse, which they very often sing, he might perhaps 

 determine with considerable accuracy the epoch of the arrival of the 

 Malayan race in these Islands. 



They pay great attention to the spots and the phases of the moon. 

 They believe that certain planets influence more or less the affairs of 



' As for taking heads, this is only done between rancherias which have a feud 

 or are strangers. If an Ifugao from one ranoheria kills another from a friendly 

 rancheria in a dispute it is onlj' a family affair; but if he should cut off his 

 head it would then become a rancheria affair and the feud would begin. An 

 ordinary killing is generally fixed up by the exchange of a few hogs or of other 

 property, but when a head is taken the rancheria from which it was taken must 

 get a head in return. It makes no difference whose head it is so long as it 

 comes from the rancheria which took the first head. Of course the more im- 

 portant the victim whose head is taken the better pleased are the avengers; still 

 they will lose no time in waiting for an important person, but will take the first 

 opportunity that presents itself to secure a head, whether it be that of a man, 

 a woman, or a child, and if the party is large and its members wish to secure more 

 than one souvenir over which to hold their canaos they will cut off feet, legs, arms, 

 or hands, and carry them home. I have had Ifugaos urge with tears in their 

 eyes that if I objected to their cutting oft' the head of a man who had been killed 

 in a fight I let them cut off only a finger so that they would have something to 

 take home and give a canao over. (L. E. Case.) 



