1202 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



stoves. ]^Iarked improvement in house 

 architecture is one of the results of con- 

 tact with Americans. 



The houses are usually grouped in 

 small villages, but sometimes stand singly 

 in A-ery isolated places. 



THK ONLY NATIVE PHILIPPINE: MINI^RS 



The Benguet and Eepanto Igorots have 

 mined gold for centuries and are the only 

 native miners in the Philippines. An- 

 cient gold ornaments of unknown origin 

 are still to be found among them. 



At the time the Spaniards entered their 

 territory they were armed with lances, 

 shields, bows and arrows, and offered 

 resistance to the invaders ; but, so far as 

 is known, they have never been head- 

 hunters and today they are entirely peace- 

 ful. 



Like the other tribes of northern Lu- 

 zon, they are a music-loving people. They 

 sing very pleasantly and sometimes use 

 bamboo flutes to accompany vocal music. 

 Their dance music is produced by gansas 

 and long-barreled wooden drums with 

 skin heads. The tone of such a drum is 

 varied by fingering the head and by press- 

 ing the long barrel with the bare arm. 

 The sounds produced by these instru- 

 ments are supplemented by striking a bit 

 of steel upon a stone. When a dance is 

 in progress a man with the steel and 

 stone and two gansa players march about 

 with the dancers, while the drum players, 

 usually two in number, squat close by. 



A dance which is absolutely character- 

 istic of this tribe is the so-called "bird 

 dance," usually participated in by one 

 man, wearing blankets over his extended 

 arms in imitation of the wings of a bird, 

 and one woman, who wears a blanket 

 wrapped closely about her body. Another 

 common dance is a circle dance, partici- 

 pated in by a line of men and a line of 

 women, who devote much time to singing 

 and bending their bodies about, but in- 

 dulge in comparatively little footwork. 



A number of schools have been estab- 

 lished for these people. Girls are taught 

 to weave good cloth (see page 1169). 

 Young men have already been educated 

 sufficiently to serve successfully as secre- 

 taries and treasurers of their towns. 



The daily wage has risen steadily since 



the American occupation and opportunity 

 to work can practically always be had by 

 those who wish for it. The people of this 

 tribe have prospered under American 

 rule and today live in better houses, are 

 better fed, wear better clothes, and enjoy 

 better health than ever before. 



THi: IGOROTS O^ BONTOC (S^I^ PICTURI^S, 

 PAGES 1 167 AND 1222) 



The Bontoc Igorots are a strong, war- 

 like, head-hunting tribe numbering ap- 

 proximately 76,000. They are almost 

 limited to the very mountainous region 

 constituting the subprovince of Bontoc, 

 but a very few are to be found in the 

 subprovince of Kalinga. For the most 

 part their territory is separated from 

 that of neighboring tribes by mountain 

 barriers. 



They are straight-haired people, prob- 

 ably of Malayan origin. Both men and 

 women are splendidly developed. I my- 

 self consider them physically superior to 

 any other Philippine tribe except the 

 Kalingas. While on the average they are 

 more muscular than the latter people, 

 they are at the same time more heavily, 

 not to say clumsily, built. Both men and 

 women are uncleanly, but there is a no- 

 ticeable improvement in this regard. 



The dress of the men is usually a clout, 

 although this is sometimes replaced by a 

 mere apron. Blankets are comparatively 

 rare. The men have long hair banged 

 across the forehead and rolled into a 

 knot behind, where it is confined by a 

 jaunty, more or less highly ornamented, 

 rattan cap. They make huge holes in 

 the lobes of their ears, into which they 

 thrust wooden plugs, bamboo rings, and 

 various other objects which they con- 

 sider ornamental. Occasional individuals 

 wear huge metal pendants in thejr ears. 



Chains of brass wire are highly prized 

 as waist ornaments, and the man who can 

 attach a valve of a pearl oyster-shell to 

 his girdle is considered fortunate indeed. 

 The men tattoo their chests and backs 

 very extensively. They often have nu- 

 merous tattoo-marks on their arms and 

 faces as well. These facial marks sup- 

 posedly have to do with head-hunting 

 exploits. 



