BUII.DING STONi; SPIviT AND CUT BY YOUNG IFUGAO BOYS 



trails have already been completed and 

 others are under way. Deep streams and 

 gorges are at the outset crossed by aerial 

 ''flying ferries," which are later replaced 

 by permanent bridges (see pages 1214 

 and 1215). 



It is a significant fact that we have 

 never had a man murdered on one of 

 our finished trails. The wild men have 

 come to appreciate highly the safety and 

 ease of travel over them and are glad to 

 aid in their construction. 



The law imposes on every able-bodied 

 man in the special government provinces 

 the obligation of working 10 days an- 

 nually on public improvements, which 

 usually means roads and trails or of pay- 

 ing a tax of one dollar ; but power is 

 vested in the Secretary of the Interior to 

 exempt people who have not advanced 

 sufficiently in civilization so that it seems 

 desirable to impose this burden upon 

 them. 



It has been my policy always to pay 

 cash for trail work at the start, and to 

 impose the public improvement tax only 

 after the wild men were themselves able 

 to appreciate its benefits and were willing 

 to pay it. The people of the hill tribes 



make sturdy laborers, moving earth in 

 large quantities and showing especial abil- 

 ity in handling rock. 



The dry stone retaining walls which 

 they constructed are admirably built. 

 They soon learn to handle sledge and 

 drill, and a number of them have become 

 quite skillful in the use of powder and 

 dynamite. 



SOME PRACTlCAIv RESULTS OE ROAD AND 

 TRAIL CONSTRUCTION 



The necessity of working side by side 

 has often resulted in the establishment 

 of friendly relations between old ene- 

 mies. The cost of living has been ma- 

 terially decreased in the wild man's coun- 

 try by the improvement in means of 

 communication, while the exportation of 

 his surplus products has been greatly 

 facilitated. As the result of recent road 

 work we expect to reduce by about one- 

 third the cost of salt used by the 123,000 

 people in the subprovince of Ifugao dur- 

 ing the present year. 



Another very important result is the 

 enormous increase in the efficiency of the 

 government police force. Ugly head- 

 hunting towns become peaceful and law- 



244 



