NON-CHRISTIAN PEOPLES OF PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 



1245 



abiding when it is possible for the sol- 

 diers of the Philippine constabulary to 

 drop in on them at 2.30 a. m., for the 

 wild man does not like to be obliged to 

 take to the hills at night when the anitos, 

 or spirits of the dead, are astir. 



POLICING the: hill country WITH WILD 

 MEN 



A noteworthy feature of the work for 

 the establishment and maintenance of a 

 good state of public order has been the 

 use of the wild men for police duty. 

 Bontoc Igorots and Ifugaos have been 

 enlisted in the Philippine constabulary, 

 and the people of both tribes make splen- 

 did soldiers (see pages 1222 and 1224). 

 They are tireless on the march ; they are 

 obedient, loyal, and brave. 



As they are familiar with every foot- 

 path and are not hampered with trou- 

 sers or shoes when on the march, they 

 cover their territory rapidly and com- 

 pletely when occasion demands. They 

 are far less likely to commit abuses than 

 Filipino soldiers would be, for they are 

 dealing with their own people, while Fili- 

 pinos would be dealing with people whom 

 many of them dislike and despise. 



The Ifugaos are born riflemen, and 

 Ifugao soldiers have repeatedly come off 

 victors in rifle matches when competing 

 with Filipino soldiers. It would be en- 

 tirely feasible to recruit and to train at 

 small expense a force of Bontoc Igorots, 

 Ifugaos, and Kalingas, which would de- 

 fend the hill region of northern Luzon 

 with deadly efficiency and could be em- 

 ployed effectively in the lowlands should 

 occasion demand. 



THE ADMINISTRATION OE JUSTICE 



The administration of justice among 

 such an aggregation of tribes, where 

 might had always been right and where 

 acts which civilized men consider crimi- 

 nal had been regarded as creditable and 

 virtuous, has naturally involved many 

 embarrassments. Some of the tribes had 

 their own specific methods of administer- 

 ing justice and their own peculiar ways 

 of detecting the guilty. 



With the Mangyans there was a test 

 by fire. A person accused of theft or 



other serious crime was compelled to 

 grasp a piece of hot iron, which, it was 

 supposed, would not burn him if he was 

 innocent. If a piece of iron was not 

 readily available, the suspected criminal 

 was required to snatch a stone out of a 

 boiling pot of water. 



Among the Tagbanuas, when there 

 were conflicting statements from two 

 witnesses, both were compelled to dive 

 into a deep pool of water and remain 

 under as long as possible. It was held 

 that the man who came to the top first 

 was the liar. 



With the Bontoc Igorots bamboo lance- 

 heads were placed slanting upward, with 

 their points pressing against the skin at 

 the backs of the heads of witnesses who 

 had contradicted each other, and then at 

 the word of command each lance-head 

 was driven vigorously between the scalp 

 and the skull by a smart blow with a 

 stone. The lance-heads were then pulled 

 out and the man who bled least freely 

 was held to have told the truth ! 



If the wild man knew of courts at all 

 he had only fear of them, for in the old 

 days he never went to court unless com- 

 pelled to do so by some member of a 

 Christianized tribe, and then he invaria- 

 bly lost. i 



From the early days of the appoint- 

 ment of American governors the wild 

 men have come to them to have their 

 difficulties settled, having soon learned to 

 have an abiding faith in the honesty and 

 fairness of these officials. This naturally 

 led to the conferring of specific authority 

 on the latter in order that their decisions 

 might have the force and effect of law. 



All governors and lieutenant govern- 

 ors of special government provinces and 

 subprovinces are now justices of the 

 peace, with jurisdiction throughout their 

 respective territories. In general we 

 have refrained from going into ancient 

 history, and have informed the wild men 

 that as far as concerns the past we shall 

 let bygones be bygones, but that in fu- 

 ture murders and other crimes will be 

 severely punished. 



Thus far they have displayed an unan- 

 ticipated willingness to allow their trou- 

 bles to be settled in court; but justice as 



