THE ILONGOT OR IBILAO OF LUZON 527 
with. I have to go much lighter than what I am now to keep up with the 
little black Negrito. He is like a flea; here to-day, there to-morrow, and ever 
on the move when food is gone, and at rest, when he has a supply, long enough 
to consume it. He is at outs with the particular people I am with at present. 
Kagadyangan, on the Cagayan, Isabela. July, about the 12, 1908. I am 
compelled by force of circumstances to continue in this field for three or four 
months more; at least that much time must pass before I can observe a full 
cycle of the various activities of these people. Furthermore, the rainy season 
sets in about September and it is difficult ascending in this region where the 
rapids are numerous and swift... . I have come upon Ilongote habitations in 
cliff and rock shelters. Why might their ancestors or those of others not have 
lived in such in ages past and left evidences of an earlier culture? Many Ifugao 
burials are in sepulchres on mountain sides and the practise is no doubt very 
old. Places like these and those of rock shelters in other lands have given 
fruitful results and might they not in these islands?* I am having a pleasant 
time with these people. They are the wildest of any people that I have yet 
come across in Luzon. But like all wild people, they are cordial and hospitable. 
I live in their houses and so have their presence day and night. I hunt, fish 
and hike with them, see them on and off their guard, observe them in all their 
varying moods—in short, I’m very close to them all the time. Some time I 
will tell you a thing or two about them. 
Alas, for his intimacy and confidence in them! Alas, that so gifted 
and lovable a man should have been lost by their Pee to science 
and to his friends! 
From the Nueva Vizcaya side considerable progress has been made 
in the acquaintance and control of these people. For several years, 
Mr. Conner, the superintendent of schools, cultivated their friendship 
and gained information that led to his successor, Mr. R. J. Murphy, 
organizing a school in the community of Makebengat. The method 
followed was to hire a very trustworthy and capable Filipino of the 
town of Bambang who speaks their language and has had friendly rela- 
tions with them, to go out and dwell with them, persuading and hiring 
them to build a good dwelling house for the teacher, a school house and 
shop, and to bring their own dwellings into the locality fixed upon for 
the school. Then there were sent out two native teachers (one a woman, 
capable of teaching spinning and loom weaving), to begin the instruction 
of the children in language, figuring and in industrial arts not known 
to the Ilongot.. This school experiment promises to succeed and has 
already led to starting one or two other schools in communities still 
more distant in the forest. 
Governor Bryant, of the province, has felt much interest in these 
people, and two years ago performed the very difficult feat of traversing 
the forests from these first communities northward to the province of 
Isabela. This hazardous exploration occupied about two weeks before 
*The Ifugao are an Igorot people inhabiting the Kiangan region. All the 
Tgorot people practise, wherever possible, the burial of their rich and important 
personages in ‘caves and artificial grottos, Burial eaves occur in many places 
in the Philippines andhave yielded a large store of jars, skulls and ornaments. 
