THE MATERIAL SIDES OF LIFE 85 
of Luzon. Theoretically, it might have been the very 
ancestors of the wild people now settled there. But if 
so, they came from the higher center of civilization 
where the art of terracing took its origin. They might 
thus be expected to have brought along other achieve- 
ments, such as writing or statecraft. Since they are 
deficient in these elements-of culture, it follows that 
they must have suffered a degeneration in all matters 
other than agriculture; and of such a decadence there is 
not the least indication. 
It seems therefore distinctly more probable that the 
mountaineers of Luzon first. settled in their present 
habitats and grew upland rice or other crops, or did not 
follow agriculture at all; and that subsequently the 
practice of growing part of their rice by irrigation be- 
came established through importation of the technique 
by more advanced peoples. As the mountain popula- 
tion increased, the new art became more and more 
valuable, and its practice was elaborated and perfected 
to a degree which the otherwise superior lowlanders did 
not attain, because necessity failed to spur them on. 
It is rather in support of this interpretation that 
apart from its actual irrigation works, the Igorot and 
Ifugao rice culture is an excessively simple one. The 
work is all done by hand. The planter is nothing but a 
stick; seeding, transplanting, and weeding are all 
carried on with the fingers. The only tool employed by 
the Ifugao is a simple wooden shovel. Where the plow 
is used, it seems to be an adaptation of Spanish usage. 
Throughout the Philippines rice is stored either in 
the house or in thatched granaries. It is cooked in 
bamboo joints, in pottery vessels, or in iron kettles 
according to the general advancement and trade facili- 
ties of each group. Being as tasteless as it is a nourish- 
ing food, a great variety of vegetable condiments are 
i ee es 
