A SCHOOIv-HOUSE AT BONTOC 

 Most of the stone and brick was laid by Bontoc Igorots 



previously administered by them had at 

 least an advantage in that punishment 

 for evil doing was prompt, and they have 

 naturally been impatient over the law's 

 delays. The only complaints they have 

 made relative to sentences have been that 

 they were not severe enough, the Su- 

 preme Court of the Philippines having 

 thus far commuted nearly all death sen- 

 tences imposed on wild men. 



one: method o^ obtaining swift 



JUSTICE 



Last year a Bontoc Igorot policeman 

 shot and killed the Igorot presidente of 

 Tinglayen, a former head-hunting town, 

 whose inhabitants are particularly war- 

 like. There was no excuse for the act of 

 the policeman, which was nothing less 

 than an unprovoked murder. Some of 

 the more unruly inhabitants attempted to 

 kill him, but he Avas defended by the bet- 

 ter element, including a famous fighting 

 chief named Agpad, and the son of the 

 man who had been shot, on the ground 

 that the government had undertaken to 

 kill evil-doers, and that this murderer 

 must he turned over to the government 

 to he killed! 



They were, however, anxious for 



prompt action, and feeling that the self- 

 restraint which they had shown entitled 

 them to it, I arranged for a special ses- 

 sion of court at Bontoc. Immediately 

 after the hearing of the case had been 

 completed, the judge asked the lieuten- 

 ant governor of Bontoc whether the lat- 

 ter official thought there was any par- 

 ticular reason why he should not delay 

 his decision in the case. The lieutenant 

 governor replied that he thought there 

 was. The judge rather indignantly in- 

 quired what that reason might be ; where- 

 upon the lieutenant governor led him to 

 the window and showed him some 500 

 Tinglayen warriors, armed with shields, 

 head-axes, and spears, standing on the 

 hillside just outside the court-room and 

 quietly awaiting the verdict. The judge's 

 decision was rendered without delay ! 



The frankness with which guilty wild 

 men tell the truth is sometimes rather 

 appalling, and their ideas as to right and 

 wrong are calculated rudely to shock the 

 unitiated. 



OUR justice not always comprehensi- 

 ble TO THE WILD MAN 



A wild Tingian named Abaya, of Apa- 

 yao, had a so-called comisionado, or 



1247 



