254 VILLAVERUK. 



believe it necessarv to make use of this augiuy to free themselves from 

 the thousand stupidities which cause them fear of death, of sickness, or 

 of some otlier liarjii to their fortunes? Who could enumerate tlie fowls 

 and other animals whicli they kill on account of their journeys to sojue- 

 what distant places, on which they fear the lances of their enemies; or 

 by reason of their troubles, or those of their families: or when they ai'e 

 surprised in their labors in the fields by the song of some innocent bird, 

 by the rainbow, or by other natural phenomena? For all of these imagi- 

 nary evils they seek a remedy in wliat, on the other liand, causes them an 

 interminable series of debts. 



EXOGHITAXT f.smV AilONG TIFE IFfGAOS. 



It is an inimemorablc custom among tlie Ifugaos, received and prac- 

 ticed by all, that a pullet borrowed but not returned within a certain 

 time, produces a hen oi' the equivalent of a hen; so it is that a hen must 

 be given in payment for it if a sufficieitt time lias passed since it was 

 borrowed for it to grow into a hen. If a still longer time has passed, 

 so that it is calculated that if it had lived it might have laid eggs and 

 raised chickens, the price ascends to a hog of moderate size. If another 

 year passes it is converted into a hog of the largest dimensions. And 

 finally when the third year since the l)orrowing has passed, it makes 

 itself into a carabao. It makes no difference whether it was a male or 

 a female; in any event, it makes a hen a hog or a buffalo. In an anal- 

 ogous manner they return payment for other small things borrowed. 



According to the Ifugao principle of interchangeable justice, the 

 debts of parents descend to their sons, and if they have none, to their 

 nearest relatives and their sons, although they did not enjoy any benefit 

 from what was borrowed, nor iniierit any estate from their elders. All 

 of this is constantly carried out without anyone finding fault with 

 anyone else. At the most, the only complaint is bad luck. They say 

 it is a custom among them, and the fact that it is a custom is reason 

 enough for its being venerated and cai-ried out without complaint. 

 Furthermore, everyone who borrows does the same, and it often happens 

 that he who is the debtor to some, is the creditor of others. 



The most unfoi-tunate are the orphans whose parents were sick for 

 a long time and who incurred heavy debts for the many pullets which 

 they were obliged to kill. 



This iniquity has an attendant circumstance which perennially aug- 

 ments it. The rich men, who are the noliles and the headmen, are 

 always seeking opportunity to lend these things to everyone who asks. 

 The poor are always ready to ask for loans, both because they can get 

 them without difficulty, and because their ci'editors do not compel theui 

 to pay promptly, while the latter usurers, who do nothing but fill them- 

 selves with meat, get drunk, and pass an idle life, desire that they may 



