﻿ix. p. 6 Robertson: The Iyorots of Lepavto 501 



At the nomination of another maestre de canipo, to relieve the outgoing 

 one whose term had expired, the old men went again to Vigan by way of 

 Candon. They stopped there for a while to talk over the matter of the 

 land, but the people of Candon denied everything, and when our people 

 asked them to return to them the old papers about the land they informed 

 them that they were burned up. That ended the collection of rentals for 

 this land, and from that time on they had to pay for all the salt and cotton 

 that they got from there. They proceeded on their journey to Vigan, and 

 when they arrived there they called on the civil governor and requested 

 him that he change the title of their official from maestre de campo to 

 that of gobernadorcillo. The civil governor granted them their request, 

 and Mangudang was appointed with that title and became the first gober- 

 nadorcillo of Besao, and after Mangudang had received the cane of office 

 they all returned to their homes. About that time Sr. Antonio,' a Spaniard, 

 arrived at Cayan as comandante politico militar for the province of Le- 

 panto; not very long after that a man from Vila, a barrio of the rancheria 

 of Bauco, made a trip to Besao, and upon his return he stole a carabao,. 

 but the people saw him and pursued him; they overtook him at a place 

 called Anaman in the confines of Besao, and there they killed him. When 

 the Vila people heard that one of their men had been killed by the Besao 

 people, they made a complaint to Sr. Antonio, the comandante politico 

 militar. Sr. Antonio sent a force of soldiers against Besao, headed by a 

 captain of infantry. The people of Besao heard of this expedition and 

 the old men gathered together and with the gobernadorcillo went to meet 

 them. They displayed a white flag (a piece of white cloth) ; they took 

 with them also a drum, and the gobernadorcillo carried his cane; when the 

 captain of infantry saw all these things, he knew that the people of Besao 

 were not alzados (outlaws). However, he arrested all the old men, together 

 with the gobernadorcillo, and took them to Cayan, the official station of 

 the comandante politico militar. Upon their arrival there, a great many 

 people from different towns had gathered there, to witness the executions, 

 for they believed that the Besao people were going to be shot. The Besao 

 people were taken to the upper story of the comandancia, to the office of 

 the comandante politico militar, and after he had heard their declarations 

 he decided that they were peaceful people and gave them G strings, made 

 of condiman.'' also some handkerchiefs; but, in the place of Mangudang, 

 he appointed Gaoli gobernadorcillo for the three towns of Besao, Payeo, and 

 Banguitan, and gave him the official cane; he also appointed other subor- 

 dinate officials; such as teniente mayor and cabezas de barangay. The 

 people from the other towns, who had come there to witness the executions, 

 were greatly surprised to see that instead of these people being executed 

 they had been given clothes and had been honored with official positions 

 besides. 



"" Probably Antonio Perea, the first comandante politico militar of Le- 

 panto, who held office during the years 1852-56. See Perez, Igorrotes, 47 

 and Pub. P. I. Ethnol. Surv. (1904), 3, 362. 



"Condiman (Ilocano for red) is a red cloth used extensively by the 

 Ilocano women for making the small upper covering worn by them, as well 

 as for tablecloths, towels, and various other purposes, such as the decora- 

 tion of buildings on certain holidays. It is also traded by the enterprising 

 Ilocanos with the mountain peoples. 



