
162 PEOPLES OF THE PHILIPPINES 
of this primitive practice seems to have been recognized 
as unnecessary or even objectionable, and head-hunting 
as such fell into disuse. In religion, the custom of formal 
human sacrifice partially took its place; and as for a 
man’s reputation, it was no longer felt necessary for him 
to display the physical proofs of his success in combat. 
The knowledge that he had slain so and so many 
enemies sufficed. But with all this comparative refine- 
ment of custom, the ancient attitude continued to be 
adhered to. The Javanese and Mohammedanized 
Malay have long ago ceased head-hunting; but the 
more primitive tribes, particularly of interior Borneo 
and Sumatra, still hold to the practice. 
The same stages of development can be traced in the 
Philippines. All through northern Luzon, even along 
the coasts, the Spaniards found head-hunting in vogue. 
The Sambal, Ilokano, and Cagayan have long since 
given up the custom. The Tinggian and the Nabaloi 
have also discontinued the practice, but recollections 
of it remain in their traditions as well as in their ritual. 
The Apayao, Kalinga, Bontok, and Ifugao were still 
taking one another’s heads with undiminished interest 
when the American appeared in the islands, and firm 
pressure was required to induce them to nbarcee the 
practice. In fact it is only in the last dozen years that 
the custom has been generally stamped out; and in the 
remotest districts it is probably still followed when 
opportunity offers. 
The Tagalog and Bisaya of old, like the modern 
Manobo, Mandaya, and Bagobo, and the Mohammedan 
groups, fepying come more fully under native civilizing 
influences, were no longer taking heads when the 
Siaminnds came among them. Now and then they col- 
lected the ears of the dead or clipped their hair for tassels 
to their garments. In the main, however, each man 
