Appearance of the Ilongots.--Dress.--Issue of beads and
cloth.--Warrior dance.--School work.--Absence of old women
from meeting.
The next morning we turned out early, and got our first real
"look-see." Campote is completely surrounded by mountains, the
hogback dropping off into the valley below us. About four or five
hundred people had assembled, men, women, and children. As a rule,
they were small and well built, but not so well built as the tribes
farther north. The men were fully armed with spears, bows and arrows,
shields, and head-knives; gee-strings apart, they were naked. Some of
them wore on the head the scarlet beak of the hornbill; these had taken
heads. Quite a number, both men and women, had a small cross-like
pattern tattooed on the forehead; the significance of this I did
not learn. The shield is in one piece, in longitudinal cross-section
like a very wide flat V open toward the bearer, the top terminating
in a piece rising between two scoops, one on each side of the median
line. The women had on short skirts and little jackets (like what,
I am told, we call bolero jackets), the bosom being bare. Around
the waist they wore bands of brass wire or of bamboo stained red and
wound around with fine brass wire. These bamboo bands were pretty and
artistic. You saw the children as they happened to be; the only thing
to note about them being that they were quite bright-looking. What
the men lacked in clothes they made up in their hair, for they wore
it long and some of them had it done up in the most absolute Psyche
knots. Such earrings as we saw were worn in the upper cartilage of
the ear. It may be remarked, too, that the women had a contented and
satisfied air, as though sure of their power and position; we found
this to be the case generally throughout the Mountain Country.
The purpose of the visit being to cultivate pleasant relations with and
receive the confidence of these shy people, the real business of the
day was soon opened. Mr. Worcester took his place in the shade of his
shack, and proceeded to the distribution of red calico, beads, combs,
mirrors, and other small stuff, the people coming up by _rancherías_
(settlements or villages); none of the highlanders seem to have any
conception of tribal organization, a condition no doubt due to the
absence of communications. A _cabecilla_, or head man, would receive
two meters, his wife one, and others smaller measures. This sort
of thing was carefully studied out, so far as rank was concerned,
for it would never do to give a common person even approximately
as much as a _cabecilla_. One _ranchería_ would take all red beads,
another white, another blue, and so on. Not once did I see a trace
of greediness or even eagerness, though interest was marked. The
whole thing was conducted in the most orderly fashion, the various
_rancherías_ awaiting their turn with exemplary patience. [17]
The issue over, dancing began. In this only men and boys took part,
to the music of small rude fiddles, tuned in fifths, [18] played by
the men, and of a queer instrument consisting of two or three joints of
bamboo with strings stretched over bridges, beaten with little sticks
by the women. The fiddles must be of European origin. The orchestra,
seven or eight all told, sat in the shade, surrounded by an admiring
crowd. Among them was a damsel holding a civilized umbrella over her
head, whereof the stick and the rib-points were coquettishly decorated
with white horse-hair tied in little brushes, doubtless furnished by
our white pony.
The dancing at once fixed our attention. Two or three men, though
usually only two, took position on the little terreplein below the
shack, and began a slow movement, taking very short, formal, staccato
steps in a circle against the sun. Keeping back to back and side to
side, they maintained the whole body in a tense, rigid posture with
the chest out, head up and thrown back, abdomen drawn in, right hand
straight out, the left also, holding a shield, eyes glazed and fixed,
knees bent forward. Between the steps, the dancers would stand in
this strained, tense position, then move forward a few inches, and so
on around the circle. After a little of this business, for that is
just what it was, the next part came on, a simulation of fighting:
and, as everything before was as stiff, strained, and rigid as it
was possible to be, so now everything was light, graceful, agile,
and quick; leaps forward and back, leaps sideways, the two combatants
maneuvering, as it were, one around the other, for position. It was
hard to realize that human motions could be so graceful, light and
easy. Then head-knives were drawn, and cuts right, and cuts left,
cuts at every part of the body from the head to the ankles, were
added to the motion; the man on the defensive for the moment making
suitable parries with his shield.
The dance completed, the dancers would advance and face Mr. Worcester,
put their heels together in true military fashion, hold their arms out
right and left, and make a slight inclination of the head, a sort of
salute, in fact, to the one they regarded as the principal personage
of the party.
We saw much dancing later on in our trip, but none that equalled this
in intensity and character, apart from its being of a totally different
kind, Heiser managed, with some difficulty, to take a photograph of
the tense phase of one of the dances; it gives a better idea of the
phase than my imperfect description.
The dancing was followed by archery, the target being a small banana
stem at some thirty paces. This calls for no especial comment,
except that many hits were made, and many of the misses would have
hit a man. More interesting was an ambush they laid for us, to show
how they attacked. While collecting for it, to our astonishment the
entire party suddenly ran in all directions at top speed and hid
behind whatever offered. On their return, in four or five minutes,
they explained that a spirit had suddenly appeared among them, and
that they had had to run. On our asking how they knew a spirit had
turned up, they asked if we had not noticed leaves and grass flying in
a spiral. As a matter of fact, some of us had, a very small and very
gentle whirlwind having formed for a second or two. They had seen it,
too, and that was the spirit.
It was now mid-day; we had _tiffin_, and began preparations for
our departure. The various arms, shields, and other things we had
bought were collected to be cargadoed back to Pangasinán. Among them,
alas! were not two beautiful head-knives, which their wearers had
absolutely declined to part with on any terms whatever. They resisted
the Governor-General even. I give a photograph here of a knife and
scabbard that Connor sent me on later. It is a handsome one, but not
as handsome as those two jewels!
Our last performance was to look at the garden and to see the school
at work, making thread and rope, weaving mats, and so on. I take it
that this school was really the significant thing at Campote, apart
from the significance of the occasion itself. We spent but little time
over it, however, our interest in the arts of war having left us only
a few minutes for those of peace. Nevertheless, here is a beginning
that will bear fruit, and in the meantime Connor rides alone and
in safety among these wild people, which proves a good many things,
when you select the right man to do your hard work.
Mr. Worcester, as we rode off, expressed the liveliest satisfaction
with the meeting. These people, returning to their _rancherías_, he
said, would talk for a year of their treatment at the hands of the
Americans, of the gift of _palay_ (rice) to four hundred people,
for two days, to say nothing of two _vacas_ (cows) and of other
gifts. Next year, he hoped, half of them would come in; besides, the
start made was good; the presence of so many women and children was a
good sign, and equally good was the total absence of old women. For
these are a source of trouble and mischief with their complaints of
the degeneracy of the times. They address themselves particularly
to the young men, accusing them of a lack of courage and of other
parts, taunting them with the fact that the young women will have
none of them, that in _their_ day _their_ young men brought in heads,
etc. Thus it has happened, especially when any native drink was going
about, that trouble has followed. It is the practice, therefore,
of our Government when arranging these meetings to suggest that the
old women be left at home, and if so left, it is a good indication.