PRIMITIVE SAI,T WORKS 



These works are operated b}' Igorots at Salinas, Nueva Vizcaya, and supply salt to some 



20,000 people 



The Ifugaos are very skillful in the 

 raising of rice, which they grow on won- 

 derful terraces constructed with infinite 

 pains on the steepest mountain sides and 

 irrigated by water brought in ditches 

 which are often of considerable length 

 (see the unusual photographs of these 

 terraces in the National Geographic 

 Magazine, September, 1912). The ter- 

 race walls are usually made of dry stones, 

 and the skill and industry which these 

 comparatively primitive people have dis- 

 played in thus building walls 10 to 40 

 feet high, which stand up not only under 

 irrigation water, but under the floods 

 caused by terrific rain-storms, in which 

 water sometimes falls for a day or more 

 at the rate of an inch an hour, are greatly 

 to their credit. Many centuries of hard, 

 continuous work must have been required 

 to construct these terraces. They must 

 be seen to be appreciated, and the more 

 one sees of them the more he appreciates 

 the high degree of intelligence and the 

 extraordinary industry of their builders. 



Advantage has been taken of the nat- 



ural ability of the Ifugaos to handle 

 stone, and mere boys have readily been 

 taught to split boulders, cut the stone 

 thus obtained to the required dimensions, 

 face it, and utilize it in the construction 

 of dignified and imposing public build- 

 ings (see pages 1244 ^^^ 1246). 



THE lEUGAOS are good EARMERS 



The Ifugaos cultivate their rice very 

 carefully and raise splendid crops when 

 irrigation water does not fail them. They 

 also raise beans, onions, gabi (taro), and 

 cotton on their terraces. Camotes, or 

 yams, are planted extensively on the 

 steepest mountain sides. Pigs and chick- 

 ens are kept in considerable numbers, 

 but as yet the Ifugaos have no cattle. 

 On state occasions the wealthiest men 

 sometimes purchase carabaos, which are 

 turned loose to be cut down with war- 

 knives by invited guests, each person be- 

 ing entitled to so much meat as he can 

 slice ofi^ and get away with. Terrific 

 scrimmages result, in the course of which 

 men are often badly cut, but the injuries 



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