NOX-CHRISTIAN PEOPLES OF PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 1209 



the usual man's costume. The women 

 wear short skirts reaching from the knee 

 to the waist and, when obtainable, upper 

 garments as well (see page 1186). Often 

 both men and women are clad in bark 

 cloth only, on account of the impossi- 

 bility of obtaining anything better. 



A PASSION I^OR ORNAMI:nT 



They take delight in ornamenting their 

 garments with beads, bits of shell, and 

 other bright objects, and display extra- 

 ordinary patience and skill in doing this 

 work and in fabricating elaborate chains 

 from bits of wire and tasseled ornaments 

 from white horse-hair (see page 11 82). 

 Garments and tobacco pouches are often 

 embroidered with some little skill. Many 

 of the men wear brass-mounted ear or- 

 naments fashioned from strips of the 

 scarlet beaks of hornbills. Their hair, 

 which is apparently never cut, is usually 

 confined above the forehead with a net 

 and, wrapped with rags or bark, forms a 

 projecting chignon at the back of the 

 head. Back baskets and knife sheaths 

 are elaborately ornamented with beads, 

 tassels, and horse-hair plumes. Both 

 sexes wear belts or girdles of cowries. 



Their houses are somewhat primitive 

 and one is sometimes occupied by several 

 families. Access to them is obtained by 

 climbing notched poles. Pieces of wood 

 fashioned like long horns usually extend 

 from the two ends of the short ridgepole. 

 A number of houses may be found near 

 each other, but, so far as my observation 

 goes, never closely grouped. 



The Ilongots cultivate forest clearings 

 in a haphazard sort of way, growing up- 

 land rice, camotes, and a little sugar- 

 cane, but they subsist largely on game 

 and fish. They are skillful in the use of 

 the bow and arrow, which they have 

 probably learned from their neighbors, 

 the Negritos. Their lances have small, 

 weak heads and the shafts are usually 

 ornamented with spiral bands, differing 

 in this respect from the lances of all 

 other Philippine tribes. War-knives, or 

 holos, are well made and formidable. 

 They are carried in rather elaborately 

 carved sheaths, the form of the sheath 

 not corresponding at all to that of the 

 knife. Their light, narrow wooden 



shields are primarily intended for stop- 

 ping arrows. 



he:ad-hunte:rs in an aimIvKSS sort of* 



WAY 



The Ilongots are head-hunters in an 

 aimless sort. of a way. They invariably 

 attack from ambushes, which are often 

 most skillfully prepared. Until quite re- 

 cently, they have annually killed a con- 

 siderable number of Filipinos, and al- 

 though they have now given up this 

 highly objectionable custom, in the more 

 remote settlements they still fight among 

 themselves. 



They are a timid, A^ery suspicious, and 

 highly emotional people. When friends 

 who have been separated for some time 

 meet they often weep copious tears for 

 no apparent reason except that they are 

 glad to see each other. 



The Ilongots are a filthy people, and 

 as a result suffer dreadfully from skin 

 diseases. 



Their dancing, which, so far as my ob- 

 servation goes, is indulged in by men 

 alone, is a most extraordinary perform- 

 ance which must be seen to be appreci- 

 ated. 



Two schools have been established for 

 them and, contrary to my expectation, 

 their children have proved bright and 

 teachable, readily learning to speak Eng- 

 lish quite fluently and promptly profiting 

 by opportunity to do industrial work. 

 The extraordinary patience and manual 

 dexterity which these barbarians display 

 in fashioning their ornaments should 

 some day become a valuable commercial 

 asset for them. 



Friendly relations have now been es- 

 tablished with the people of practically 

 all their settlements, but it will require a 

 much longer time to civilize them than 

 will be needed with most of the wild 

 tribes, and there is no present reason to 

 believe that individuals having much 

 Negrito blood will ever be civilized. 



In many particulars there are extraor- 

 dinary similarities between the Ilongots 

 of northern Luzon and the Mandayas of 

 Mindanao. The relationship between 

 these two peoples, now so widely sepa- 

 rated, ought to be carefully worked out. 



