important one to be found in Ifugao society. The monkalun is a whole
court, completely equipped, in embryo. He is judge, prosecuting
and defending counsel, and the court record. [21] His duty and his
interest are for a peaceful settlement. He receives a fee, called lukba
or liwa. To the end of peaceful settlement he exhausts every art of
Ifugao diplomacy. He wheedles, coaxes, flatters, threatens, drives,
scolds, insinuates. He beats down the demands of the plaintiffs or
prosecution, and bolsters up the proposals of the defendants until
a point be reached at which the two parties may compromise. If the
culprit or accused be not disposed to listen to reason and runs away
or "shows fight" when approached, the monkalun waits till the former
ascends into his house, follows him, and, war-knife in hand, sits in
front of him and compels him to listen.
The monkalun should not be closely related to either party in a
controversy. He may be a distant relative of either one of them. The
monkalun has no authority. All that he can do is to act as a peace
making go-between. His only power is in his art of persuasion, his
tact and his skillful playing on human emotions and motives. Were
he closely related to the plaintiff, he would have no influence with
the defendant, and mutatis mutandis the opposite would be true.
Ultimately in any state the last appeal is to a death-dealing
weapon. For example, in our own society a man owes a debt which he does
not pay. Action is brought to sell his property to pay the debt. If
he resists, he is in danger of death at the hands of an agent of the
law. Much more is he in danger if he resists punishment for crime. The
same is true in the Ifugao society. The lance is back of every demand
of importance, and sometimes it seems hungry.
An Ifugao's pride as well as his self-interest--one might almost
say his self-preservation--demands that he shall collect debts that
are owed him, and that he shall punish injuries or crimes against
himself. Did he not do so he would become the prey of his fellows. No
one would respect him. Let there be but one debt owed him which he
makes no effort to collect; let there be but one insult offered him
that goes unpunished, and in the drunken babbling attendant on every
feast or social occasion, he will hear himself accused of cowardice
and called a woman.
On the other hand, self-interest and self-respect demand that the
accused shall not accept punishment too tamely or with undue haste,
and that he shall not pay an exorbitant fine. If he can manage to
beat the demands of the complainant down below those usually met in
like cases, he even gains in prestige. But the monkalun never lets
him forget that the lance has been scoured and sharpened for him,
and that he walks and lives in daily danger of it.
The accuser is usually not over anxious to kill the accused. Should he
do so, the probabilities are that the kin of the accused would avenge
the death, in which case he, the slayer, would be also slain. The
kin of each party are anxious for a peaceable settlement, if such
can be honorably brought about. They have feuds a-plenty on their
hands already. Neighbors and co-villagers do not want to see their
neighborhood torn by internal dissension and thus weakened as to
the conduct of warfare against enemies. All these forces make for a
peaceful settlement.
It is the part of the accused to dally with danger for a time,
however, and at last to accede to the best terms he can get, if they
be within reason.
TESTIMONY
126. Litigants do not confront each other.--From the time at which a
controversy is formally entered into, the principals and their kin are
on a basis of theoretical--perhaps I ought to say religious--enmity. A
great number of taboos keep them apart. Diplomatic relations between
the two parties have been broken off and all business pertaining to
the case is transacted through the third party, the monkalun. He
hears the testimony that each side brings forward to support its
contention. Through him each controversant is confronted with the
testimony of the other. It is greatly to the interest of the monkalun
to arrange a peaceful settlement, not only because he usually receives
a somewhat larger fee in such case, but because the peaceful settlement
of cases in which he is mediator builds up a reputation for him,
so that he is frequently called and so can earn many fees. To the
end of arranging this peaceful settlement, the monkalun reports to
each party to the controversy the strong points of the testimony in
favor of the other party, and oftentimes neglects the weaknesses.
There are no oaths or formalities in the giving of testimony.
ORDEALS
127. Cases in which employed.--In criminal cases in which the accused
persistently denies his guilt, and sometimes in case of disputes over
property the ownership of which is doubtful, and in cases of disputes
over the division line between fields, ordeals or trials are resorted
to. The challenge to an ordeal may come from either the accuser or
the accused. Refusal to accept a challenge means a loss of the case,
and the challenger proceeds as if he had won the case.
If the accused comes unscathed from the ordeal, he has the right to
collect from his accuser the fine for false accusation.
If two people mutually accuse each other, panuyu, they are both tried
by ordeal. If both be scathed, they are mutually responsible for
the indemnity to the injured person. If only one be scathed, he is
responsible for the indemnity to the injured person and for a payment
of the fine for false accusation to the one whom he accused. [22]
128. The hot water ordeal.--A pot, a foot or more in depth, is filled
with water and heated to a furious boiling. A pebble is dropped into
it. The accused must reach his hand into the water without undue haste,
extract the pebble, and then replace it. Undue haste is interpreted
as a confession of guilt. This ordeal is used in certain sections of
Ifugao, while in others the hot bolo test is used. It is interesting to
note that neither of them is efficacious in determining accusations of
adultery. This is for the reason that the gods of animal fertility and
growth do not permit an accused to receive an injury for that act which
is so eminently useful in their particular sphere of activity. Thus,
Ifugao religion looks with the greatest disfavor upon things which
tend to restrict population, just as our law frowns upon statutes in
restriction of marriage.
129. The hot bolo ordeal.--In this, if two persons mutually accuse
each other, their hands are placed side by side. The monkalun lowers
a hot knife on their hands. The knife burns the guilty person much
more seriously than the guiltless one. If only one person be put to
the test, it is said that the knife bends away from the hands of
an innocent person. The monkalun, with all his might, it is said,
cannot put the knife down on the hand: the gods of war and justice
will not permit it. But if the person be guilty, the knife grips the
hand in its eagerness. If the accused show fear and try to withdraw,
the kin of the accuser may catch him and burn him well. I know a man
whose fingers were burned off in this way, the thumb adhering to and
coalescing with the palm.
130. The alao or duel.--Eggs, runo stalks, or spears are used in
trials, the accused facing each other and, at the word of the monkalun,
hurling their missiles. The duel is not without its dangers. Even
though eggs or runos be used, the one struck is likely to return a
stone; and from throwing stones to throwing spears is an easy step. The
two parties of kin are likely to take a hand. How much more likely
are they to take a hand and avenge their kinsman if spears be the
missiles and he be wounded!
The duel is used in cases of adultery, sorcery, and in some disputes
over rice fields, everywhere in Ifugao. In adultery cases, only eggs
are used in the duel.
131. Trial by bultong or wrestling.--This ordeal is used throughout
Ifugao, preëminently to settle cases of disputed rice-field boundaries.
The Ifugao clearly recognizes that the processes of nature--landslides,
the erosion of rainfall in wet weather, and caking and crumbling
in dry weather--tend to wear away a terrace not maintained by a
stone wall. A terrace maintained by a stone wall is a rarity in
the Kiangan district. Should the boundary not be well marked by
pagbok (see sec. 43) a dispute is nearly sure to result sooner or
later. These disputes are usually settled by wrestling matches. The
wrestling matches are usually friendly. The Ifugao believes that the
ancestral spirits of the controversants know which party is in the
right, that they know just where the true boundary is, and that they
see to it that he who is right shall win, provided always that they
be invoked with the proper sacrifices; and that they "hold up" even
the weaker of the wrestlers, and cause him to win, provided his cause
be just. Notwithstanding this belief, the people are sufficiently
practical to demand that the wrestlers be approximately evenly
matched. The owners of the adjacent fields may themselves wrestle,
or they may choose champions to represent them. Between kinsmen these
matches are presumably friendly; and only sacrifices of dried meat
are offered the ancestral spirits. But between those not related,
there is often a great deal of unfriendly feeling. In this latter
case numerous chickens and two or three pigs are sacrificed, and
ceremonies like those against enemies are performed.
On the appointed day the two parties meet at the disputed boundary
and occupy opposite ends of the disputed land. A party of mutual
kin follows along and occupies a position midway between the
adversaries. With each party is one of the family priests. Taking
betels and dried meat (presuming the contest to be a friendly one)
from a head-basket, the priest prays very much as follows: "Come,
Grandfather Eagle, Grandfather Red Ant, Grandfather Strong "Wind,
Grandfather Pangalina; come, Grandmother Cicada, Grandmother Made
Happy, Grandmother Ortagon; come, Grandfather Gold, etc. [throughout
a list of perhaps a hundred ancestors]. Here are betels and meat;
they are trying to take our field away from us. And was it here,
Grandmother Grasshopper, that the boundary of the field was? No, you
know that it was a double arm's length to the right. Hold us up, you
ancestors, in order that we may be the wearers of gold neck-ornaments;
in order that we may be the ones who give expensive feasts. Exhort
[here the priest names over the gods of war and justice] to hold
us up. Was it here, Grandfather Brave, that the boundary was when
you bought the field? Do not let them take our land away from us,
for we are to be pitied. We are sorely tried!"
After the prayers of the priests, each champion is led by one of his
kinsman to the place where the first wrestling is to occur. This
leading is very ceremoniously done, and suggests the heralding of
the champions in feudal days. The dike of the upper terrace has been
cleaned off at intervals of fifteen to twenty-five feet in order that
the owner of the upper field may have no advantage. The champions
frequently work themselves down half-thigh deep in rice-field mud,
water, and slime. Catching fair and even holds, they begin to
wrestle, encouraged each by the shouts and cries of his kinsmen
and by the calling of the old men and old women on the spirits of
the ancestors. Each wrestler tries to push his opponent into the
territory that that opponent is defending and to down him there. If A
throws B in B's field, ten feet from the line on which they wrestle,
A wins ten feet of the rice field at that point. Finally, there is a
fall that more than likely capsizes one or both of them in the black
mud. One point in the boundary is determined. Frequently the lower
terrace is eight or ten feet lower than the upper one, but there are
no injuries for the reason that the mud is at least two feet deep
and is a soft place in which to fall.
At every fifteen or twenty feet along the disputed boundary there
is another wrestling match. Sometimes the champions are changed. The
new boundary runs through every point at which there has been a fall.
132. The umpire and the decision.--The monkalun is the umpire in
trials by ordeal. He interprets undue haste or a faulty performance
as a confession of guilt. On the day following the trial by fire or
hot water he goes to the house of the accused and examines the hand
and forearm. If he finds white inflamed blisters, he pronounces him
guilty. In the case of a duel, he pronounces the one struck by the
missile guilty. The Ifugaos believe that the gods of war and justice
turn missiles aside from the innocent in these duels. For the umpire
to be manifestly unfair, would be for him seriously to imperil his
own life.
As a matter of fact, a person whose skin is rough, dry, and horny has a
great advantage in these ordeals. Since sword climbing and the walking
on hot stones and live coals have occurred in other parts of the world,
it would seem that a question might be raised whether state of mind,
or other factors as yet unexplained, may not enter these affairs.
EXECUTION OF JUSTICE
133. Retaliation.--In the case of lives lost in feuds, sorcery,
murders, and head-hunting, capital punishment inevitably follows,
provided the kin of the slain be sufficiently daring to execute it.
Capital punishment is the rule, and is almost invariably inflicted
in cases of the refusal to pay proper fines, for which demand has
been made in correct form, and after a reasonable length of time
has been given in which to raise the sum demanded, in punishment
of adultery, manslaughter, the putting of another in the position
of an accomplice in case of murder or death in feud, or for wounds,
provided the culprit be not a kinsman or person closely related by
marriage. Rarely would there be much trifling in the infliction of
this penalty. Seizure of something of sufficient value to cover the
fine assessed might sometimes be made, except in the cases of adultery
and manslaughter. To practice seizure in the case of adultery--except
when a kinsman were the offender--would have the aspect of anxiety
to profit by the pollution of the wife's body and might give rise
to suspicion of conspiracy on the part of husband and wife to bring
about the crime in order to profit financially. In the same way, a
self-respecting family would disdain to accept payment for the life
of a kinsman except as a matter of forbearance and mercy to the taker
thereof. We have seen before that unless the tokom be collected the
injured person is in danger of losing his own life should he not slay
him from whom the tomok is due.
The crime of arson undoubtedly justifies the death penalty; but it
is so rare a crime that it is impossible to say what is the usual
Ifugao practice in punishing it.
The non-payment of a debt when there is the ability to pay it, and
after many and repeated demands have been made in the proper manner
for it, justifies the infliction of the death penalty.
Capital punishment is administered by the injured person and his
kin. In all cases it is fraught with the greatest danger to the
inflicters. Usually it is inflicted from ambush, although it may
be a sudden slaying in the heat of passion. The culprit is never
notified that he has been sentenced to death. The withdrawal of a
go-between from a serious case is, however, a pretty good warning. It
has about the same significance as the withdrawal of an embassy in
an international complication.
The infliction of a death penalty has been the starting point of
many an interminable feud between families. For this reason the
injured person exhausts every effort to effect a punishment in some
other way if any other punishment be consistent with his dignity
and respectability.
134. Seizure of chattels.--If a kinsman of remoter kinship than that
existing between brothers commit a crime punishable by death, except
sorcery or murder, and obstinately refuse to pay the fine assessed,
seizure of his property or part of it is made.
Seizures are made from unrelated persons to cover fines due in
punishment of theft, malicious killing of animals, arson, and the
minor crimes, also to secure payment of a debt.
The following is a list of the things usually seized: gongs, rice-wine
jars, carabaos, gold beads, rice fields, children, wives.
A seizure may be made by fraud or deceit, or it may be made in the
absence of the owner of his household, or it may be made by superior
force. Considering only the manner of the seizure, there is but one law
to be followed: the seizure must be made in such a manner as to leave
no doubt as to the identity of him who seizes. Thus if B persistently
refuses to pay a fine owed to A, A may go to B's house when there is
nobody at home and may run away with a gong. If he leaves his bolo,
his scabbard, his blanket or some other personal effect in the house
as a sort of a visiting card, his seizure is legal. Or A may go to
B's house and, pretending friendship, borrow the gong, representing
that he wants to play it at a feast and, having secured possession
of it, refuse to return it till the fine be paid. Or suppose that an
agent of B's is bringing a carabao up from Nueva Vizcaya, and that
the agent has to travel through A's village. A and his friends stop
the agent and take the carabao away from him, telling him to inform
B that the carabao will be delivered to him when the fine is paid.
There is a second kind of seizure, a seizure of the property of
some relative or kinsman of the culprit. The property of a wealthy
kinsman may be seized to cover a fine due from a poor kinsman who has
no property. This kind of seizure is more likely to lead to a lance
throwing than a seizure from the culprit himself. The danger of such
an ending increases with the remoteness of the kinship between the
culprit and the person from whom the seizure is made.
A third kind of seizure is practiced against neighbors of delinquents
who live in another district. Suppose a man B in one of the districts
to the west of Kiangan to have gone to Nueva Vizcaya (east of Kiangan)
and there to have purchased a carabao. He owes no debts, nor have any
fines been levied against him. He returns through Kiangan, however,
and his carabao is seized by A, a Kianganite. B is informed that C,
a resident of the same district as he, stole a pig a year or two ago
from A. The evidence against C is placed before him in the minutest
details. He is given thirty pesos as patang (interest in advance) and
told to collect from C the payment proper to the case, and in addition
the thirty pesos advanced as patang. When he makes these collections,
and delivers them to A, he gets back his carabao. If C is innocent
of the crime charged, he may kill A for this, or he may do so even
if guilty. More likely he kidnaps A's wife or child and sells them
for a ransom sufficiently great to repay B, and leave a substantial
surplus for himself. A may or may not retaliate with the lance.
In quarrels between kadangyang (for their dignity is very dear to
them) and between persons of different districts or contrary parties,
it is more frequently than not the case that the thing seized is
not returned. Powerful individuals in a district are rather glad to
have a seizure made of their property, since they can nearly always
manage to come out winner in the finish. Thus in the case above,
B, if a powerful individual, probably collects two or even three
carabaos or their equivalent value from C, and besides he receives
thirty pesos patang. It would seem that the obligation rests on
every Ifugao--notwithstanding there is no political government--so
to conduct himself as not to involve his neighbors in trouble with
individuals of inimical or semi-inimical districts; and that should
he so involve them, he is liable to whatever punishment circumstance
metes out to him.
In the case of altercations between individuals of different
districts, seizure of animals was generally practiced by persons
of those districts through which the road led to the region from
which the animals were imported. Of all districts, Kiangan was most
advantageously situated in respect to this matter; since, for the
greater part of Ifugao-land, the road to Nueva Vizcaya (whence most
of the animals imported into Ifugao came) led through it.
135. Seizure of rice fields.--The seizure of rice fields is
practicable only in case the fields are near the village of him who
seizes them. For if located in a distant district, the working of the
field would be extremely hazardous, and its protection and continuous
holding impossible.
Fields may properly be seized for collection of debt or for refusal
to pay fines or indemnities. Portions of fields are seized sometimes
in disputes as to ownership or boundaries.
Disputes over ownership and boundary come to a head during spading
time. One party begins to spade for the next year's crop the land
claimed by the other. The other party sticks up runos, tied "ethics
lock" fashion (alpud), along the line which he claims to be the true
boundary. The first party then pulls up these runos, and sticks down
others along the line claimed by it as the true boundary. The issue
is joined. The defendant has made his "rejoinder." A monkalun is
now selected by the plaintiff party, and tries to arrange--and in
case of disputed boundaries nearly always does arrange--a means
of peaceful settlement, either by compromise or through trial
by wrestling. Sometimes the ownership of a field itself is in
question. Usually the question is one of inheritance; although there
are a number of other causes that may give rise to dispute. [23]
Ownership is usually peaceably settled by means of a wrestling match.
"We come now to those cases in which a field is seized for debt as
payment of a fine or indemnity. The plaintiff or prosecutor seizes
the field at spading time by planting runo stalks, alpud, in it. The
defendant probably pulls up these stalks and throws them away. [24]
An attempt may be made by mutual friends and relatives to secure a
peaceful settlement of the trouble. A rice field is a thing so dear
to the Ifugao, and so necessary and useful to him, that such attempts
are extremely likely, however, to come to naught.
If the matter be not arranged otherwise, the seizer of the field
sends a body of men to spade it, holding in reserve an armed force of
kinsmen and relatives to protect and maintain the spaders if they be
attacked. The other party emerges with an armed force to drive the
spaders away. The two parties meet. If one be greatly superior in
strength, the other usually retires, and surrenders the field. If
they be fairly evenly matched, a battle is likely to ensue. If the
first wound be a slight one, the party receiving it is likely to
withdraw; but if it be serious, or if one of their number be killed,
they fight to avenge him. Sometimes four or five men are killed in
one of these frays.
But in the meantime, and often before actual fighting begins, a body
of mutual relatives, friends, and neighbors emerges and tries to make
peace and secure an amicable settlement.
136. Enforced hospitality.--Sometimes a creditor and a numerous
and powerful following of kinsmen descend upon a debtor's house as
unwelcome guests, consume his stores of food, and force his hospitality
until appeased by the payment of the debt.
This form of collection can only be used in the case of debts, for in
all other controversies, taboos forbid the eating of the adversary's
food, drinking his water, chewing his betels, etc. Even in the case of
debt, if a go-between has been sent to the debtor, this means may not
be used. It can only be used in a case where "diplomatic relations"
have not been ruptured.
137. Kidnapping or seizure of persons.--Interior districts had no
opportunity to seize animals from those districts nearer than they
to the region whence animals were imported. Of necessity, then,
they kidnapped and sold or held for ransom women and children from
those districts.
138. Cases illustrating seizure and kidnapping.--The following
instances actually occurred in times past. They are excellent and
veritable illustrations of this phase of Ifugao administration
of justice: