THE ILONGOT OR IBILAO OF LUZON $3" 
pieces of the rattan an inch and a half in diameter with elaborately 
woven loops at the ends. These are swung from one tree top to another 
and serve as passage-ways for the men at work. To cross they stand 
on the slack cable, one hand grasping it on each side, and so, crouching, 
pass along it at a height above the ground of 80 to 100 feet. With 
this in mind, I could understand their replying to my inquiry as to 
when they prayed, by saying that they “ prayed and sang to the spirits 
when they went to climb the trees.” ‘Their crops are mountain rice, 
camotes or sweet potatoes, gabi or taro, maize, squash, bananas, tapioca 
and, in some places, sugar cane and tobacco. They are good gardeners, 
although all their cultivation is by hand, their tools being a short hoe 
or trowel and a wooden planting stick, which is ornamented with very 
tasteful carving. 
The houses of the Ilongot are of two sorts. Sometimes they are low 
wretched hovels, built two or three feet above the ground, with roofs of 
grass and sides of bark. But frequently the Ilongot build really well- 
constructed and creditable homes. These are set high above the ground, 
fully twelve feet, on a large number of posts or piles; the floor is made 
of carefully set strips of palma brava, the door-posts, lintels and exposed 
pieces of framework are curiously and tastefully carved. Such a dwell- 
ing is built large and spacious for the occupancy of several families and 
there is usually a hearth in each of the four corners of the big, single 
room. Such a house set on a conspicuous ridge and lifted by its piles 
high among the foliage of. the ¢urrounding jungle is a striking and 
almost an imposing sight. 
The arms of the Ilongot are the spear, the jungle knife which they 
forge into a peculiar form, wide and curving at the point, a slender, 
bent shield of ight wood and the bow and arrow. ‘The use of the 
latter weapons is significant and here, as always in Malaysia, it indi- 
cates Negrito influence and mixture. They use a bow of palma brava 
and the ingenious jointed arrow of the Negrito with point attached by 
a long cord of rattan to the shaft, which separates and dragging behind 
the transfixed animal impedes his escape. 
Both men and women wear the long rattan waist belt wound many 
times about the loins with clouts and skirts of beaten bark cloth. The 
men also use a curious rain hat not unlike a fireman’s helmet, made 
of rattan and deerskin, the light frame neatly decorated with carving, 
and a deerskin rain coat to cover their backs in the dripping forest. 
The physical type of the Ilongot is peculiar and rather unlike that 
of any other Philippine people. The men are small, with long bodies 
and very short legs, weak, effeminate faces, occasionally bearded. The 
hair is worn long, but usually coiled upon the head and held by a 
rattan net. ‘The color of the Hongot is brown and a little lighter than 
that of Malayans exposed to the sun by life on the water or in the plain. 
Their head hair is sometimes nearly straight, usually wavy and occa- 
