﻿488 The Philippine Journal of Science 191* 



HOW THE IGOEOT WORKS 



The women do all the work in the rice and camote fields; they till 

 the soil by means of iron bars; they transplant the rice and also cut 

 the rice when it is ready for harvest; the men only help the women to 

 build the walls in the rice fields and to carry home, once a day, part 

 of the rice that has been cut by the women. 



The men's work consists in pounding out the rice from the palay, 

 getting the water for home use, pasturing the animals if they have any, 

 cooking their rice, feeding the hogs, taking care of the house, and carrying 

 the baby around.™ 



To build or remove an Igorot's house is very easy; no nails are needed, 

 only split bamboo is used to join the house together; the house is con- 

 structed out of lumber, it has only 4 posts; the boards used are 1 decimeter 

 thick, 4 decimeters wide, and 2 meters long. 



When an Igorot intends to remove his house, he prepares two big 

 jars of tapuy with which to entertain the people at his house; at twilight 

 he sends a man to notify his neighbors and townspeople that he intends 

 to remove his house to another place the next day, so that all those 

 who were so notified will not go away but come and work on his house 

 that day; this house is built entirely during one day's work. When it 

 is completed, they drink the tapuy that has been prepared for them, but 

 eat no food. 



CLIMATE 



The climate of Banaao is pretty cold throughout the year; we raise 

 two rice crops a year. 



There are no more old barrios left in this township in which any 

 of the present inhabitants were born. 



All the people living in any of the barrios, comprising this township, 



"Lillo de Gracia, Distrito de Lepanto. Manila (1877), says: "The 

 Igorot woman is the one who attends to the planting, and on that account 

 she is away from home most of the day. The man only plows the 

 field and builds the rock walls of the fields. After these labors the men 

 only attend to public matters, and even in the performance of the latter 

 tasks, it is usual to see the women substitute the men. The children 

 accompany the women. Meanwhile the man stays at home, cooks the 

 rice and other food, and amuses the nursing children while their mothers 

 are away. They give the children masticated morisqueta [cooked rice] 

 from their own mouths. It would not be imagined that a robust, agile 

 man, well able to work, should lend himself to so feminine an occupation 

 and pastime, unless this was a fitting custom of the law that belongs 

 to woman among heathen people of backward intelligence. On the other 

 hand, the men are wont to work for a medium wage, far from their own 

 neighborhood, and for a very small sum do not hesitate to carry heavy 

 loads. They are good cultivators, and are always eager to get seeds 

 and plants unknown to them." The report just cited is excellent and the 

 work of a good observer. Lillo de Gracia was comandante politico militar 

 of the district of Lepanto. Among the Bontocs, some care of the children 

 devolves on the men. See Jenks, Pub. P. I. Ethnol. Surv. (1905), 1, 

 134-136. 



