Reprinted from the Popular Science Monthly, December, 1910.
The grewsome practise of taking human heads is particularly associated
with the Igorot peoples of the Cordillera of Luzon. These all engage
in it or have done so until recently. But to-day the most persistent
and dreaded headhunters are neither Igorot nor inhabitants of the
Cordillera; they are a wild, forest-dwelling people in the broken
and almost impenetrable mountain region formed by the junction of
the Sierra Madre range with the Caraballo Sur. They have been called
by different names by the peoples contiguous to them on the north,
west and south, "Italon," "Ibilao," "Ilongot" or "Ilungut." The last
designation would for some reasons be the preferred, but "Ibilao,"
or as it is quite commonly pronounced locally through northern Nueva
Ecija, "Abilao," has perhaps the widest use. [5]
There are no early records of these people and until late in his
rule the Spaniard knew almost nothing of them. In the latter half
of the eighteenth century, the valley of the Magat was occupied and
the mission of Ituy founded, out of which came the province of Nueva
Vizcaya, with its converted population of Gaddang and Isinay. To
reach Ituy from the south the trail followed up the valley of the Rio
Pampanga almost to its sources and then climbed over the Caraballo Sur
to the headwaters of the Magat. On this trail along the upper waters
of the Pampanga grew up several small mission stations, Pantabangan
and Karanglan, with a population of Pampanga and Tagalog people drawn
from the provinces to the south. After more than a hundred years
these small towns are still almost the only Christian settlements
in northern Nueva Ecija. From the time of their establishment we
find references to the "Ilongotes" who inhabited the mountains to
the east and were spoken of as "savages," "treacherous murderers,"
"cannibals," and wholly untamable. Much as described a hundred years
ago they have continued to the present day. Their homes are in thick
mountain jungle where it is difficult to follow them, but, from time
to time they steal out of the forests to fall upon the wayfarer or
resident of the valley and leave him a beheaded and dismembered corpse.
Here are a few instances occurring in recent years which came under
my own notice or investigation. In 1902, the presidente of Bambang,
Nueva Vizcaya, informed me that four women had been killed while
fishing a short distance from the town. In March of the same year, a
party of Ilongot crossed the upper part of Nueva Ecija and in a barrio
of San Quentin, Pangasinan, killed five people and took the heads of
four. In November, 1901, near the barrio of Kita Kita, Nueva Ecija,
an old man and two boys were killed, while a little earlier two men
were attacked on the road above Karanglan, one killed and his head
taken. In January, 1902, Mr. Thomson, the superintendent of schools,
saw the bodies of two men and a woman on the road, six miles south of
Karanglan, who had been killed only a few moments before. The heads
of these victims had been taken and their breasts completely opened
by a triangular excision, the apex at the collar bone and the lower
points at the nipples, through which the heart and lungs had been
removed and carried away. As late as a year ago (1909), on the trail
to San José and Punkan, I saw the spot where shortly before four
men were murdered by Ilongot from the "Biruk district." These men
were carrying two large cans of "bino" or native distilled liquor,
from which the Ilongot imbibed, with the result that three of their
party were found drunk on the trail and were captured. These are
only a few out of numerous instances, but they explain why the great
fertile plains of northern Nueva Ecija are undeveloped and why the
few inhabitants dwell uneasy and apprehensive.
There have been no successful attempts to subdue or civilize these
people. Between 1883 and 1893, the missionary friar, Francisco
Eloriaga, founded the Mission of Binatangan in the forested hills east
of Bayombong, and the Spanish government had the project of erecting it
into a "politico-military commandancia," but so far as I know did not
reach the point of sending there an officer and detachment. Something
was learned about the most accessible Ibilao, but no permanent results
followed. [6] Since the American occupation, however, progress has
been made in our knowledge and control of this people. In October,
1902, the writer, at that time chief of the Bureau of Non-Christian
Tribes, and engaged in a preliminary reconnaissance of the pagan
peoples of northern Luzon, made a trip with a small party to one of
their communities in the mountains east of Bambang. Photographs,
measurements and notes on their language and social institutions
were made. In January, 1906, Mr. Dean C. Worcester, secretary of the
interior, approached these people from the north, by ascending the
Kagayan river. His party started from a station of the Tabacalera
Company, south of Echague, and from there rode through fine forest
to a "sitio" called Masaysayasaya. From here they "started at dawn
and about noon passed the 'dead line' set by the Ilongotes. A little
before sundown reached Dumabato, an Ilongote and Negrito settlement,
which had been the headquarters of Sibley, [7] the deserter. Here
were found a few filthy Ilongotes and some fine Negritos."
In the spring of 1908, Dr. William Jones, of the Field Columbian
Museum, began a residence among the Ilongot of the upper Kagayan and
lived with them continuously until nearly a year had passed, when he
was killed by them. His notes and specimens were fortunately preserved
and, when published, should constitute the most original and important
contribution ever made to Philippine ethnology. Dr. Jones was part
American Indian, a member of the Sac and Fox tribe. He was not only
a brilliant scientist, but one of the most engaging and interesting
men I have ever known--a man to cleave to. Here are brief extracts
from two letters written by him from the Ibilao country, valuable,
I think, not only for the information they contain about this people,
but for the light they throw upon him and his manner of work.
May 26, 1908. I am at present among the Ilongotes of the Cagayan,
where I am having the most enjoyable time since my arrival in
the islands. These people are wilder than the Igorrotes. We made
friends at the beginning and the friendship has grown wider and
stronger every succeeding day. I have a shack high up on poles
where I dwell with great comfort. And plenty of food is to be
had always; wild hog and venison in the jungle on either side
of the river; lurong and liesas in the river; wild honey back on
the mountain side; bananas, beans, camote and other things from
the cultivated patches, and rice which has been saved from last
season. For the last fortnight the people have been clearing in
the jungle for sementeras. [8] I wish you might hear the sweet
melody of the songs of boys and women at work in the clearings,
songs sung to the spirits of the trees and for good crops. Ilongot
society is much simpler than that of the Igorote; there is little
if any of what may be called village life. There is a house here,
another yonder and so on here and there along the river. Places
near the river are reached by going on balsas [9] and away from
the river the trails are dim and indistinct. I do not know where
I shall end up. I am heading up-stream. It may be that I shall
find myself going west and southwest into the country of the
Ilongotes, who are enemies of the ones I am now 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? [10] 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 treachery 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 relations
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 party emerged from the forest into the open
country. The greatest difficulty and peril was lack of food, which can
not be carried in sufficient quantities to sustain the entire journey.
In January, 1909, a very important exploration was made by Governor
Bryant, escorted by Captain Hunt with a detachment of soldiers,
and accompanied by Mr. Murphy and Dr. M. L. Miller, chief of the
ethnological survey. The party left Dupah, January 7, and traversed the
wholly unknown country lying to the southwest. The course of the wild
gorge of the "Kaseknan" river, the head of the Kagayan, was developed,
several important communities of Ilongot were discovered and visited
without hostilities and the first knowledge obtained of much of this
region. After struggling for ten days with the difficulties of jungle,
ravine and densely covered mountains, the party reached Baler on the
Pacific coast.
In May, 1909, the writer, accompanied by Lieutenant Coon and six native
soldiers, reached a small community of Ilongot east of Pantabangan,
called "Patakgao." This community seemed to be composed of renegades
and outlaws from several other communities. Certainly their hand was
against every man. They were charged by a small group of Ilongot living
near Pantabangan with the murder of two of their number a few weeks
earlier and they themselves professed to be harried and persecuted by
unfriendly Ilongot to the north and east of them. They had wounds to
exhibit received in a chance fray a few days before with a hunting
party from near Baler. Altogether, their wayward and hazardous life
was a most interesting exhibit of the anarchy and retaliation that
reign in primitive Malayan communities which are totally "in want of
a common judge with authority." A series of measurements was obtained
by me at Patakgao and vocabulary and notes extended.
With the above remarks as to what has been accomplished in throwing
light upon these people some description of them will be given. For
information of their location and condition I am indebted to several
others, and particularly to Mr. Murphy, otherwise the facts are the
results of my own investigation.
Ilongot can not be said to live in villages, for their houses are not
closely grouped, but are scattered about within hallooing distance
on the slopes of cañons where clearings have been made. Each little
locality has its name and is usually occupied by families with blood
or social ties between them, and several such localities within a
few hours' travel of one another form a friendly group. Outside of
this group all other Ilongot as well as all other peoples are blood
enemies, to be hunted, murdered and decapitated as occasion permits.
The most considerable body of Ilongot appears to be those living
east of the towns of Nueva Vizcaya from Mount Palali south, along
a high-wooded range to the district of "Biruk," nearly east of
Karanglan. Here are some important occupied sites that go by the
names of Kampote, Kanatwan, Kanadem, Makebengat, Oyao and Biruk, as
well as others. Homes are shifted from time to time as new clearings
have to be made, and the name of a community's home will vary and
can not always be relied on. All of these communities seem to be in
fairly friendly relations with one another, though they are not bound
together by tribal or political ties. Southeast on the rough hillsides
of the Kaseknan River, the country first traversed by Mr. Bryant's
party in January, 1909, are several communities of very wild Ilongot,
Sugak, Kumian and Dakgang. Those places were greatly alarmed by the
approach of the party and used every effort to persuade it to pass
without visiting at their houses. Conversations had to be held by
shouting back and forth across deep gorges, and approach was very
difficult. These people have scattered rancherias toward Baler and
sustain trading relations with the Tagalog of that town, but are
hostile with the Ilongot of the Nueva Vizcaya jurisdiction. Appurtenant
to the towns of Karanglan and Pantabangan are a few minor communities,
among them Patakgao. Finally, further north on the Rio Kagayan,
toward the province of Isabela, we have the Ilongot communities in
which Dr. Jones worked, and lost his life, Dumabato, Kagadyangan and
others. It may be that these Ilongot communicate with the Tagalog town
of Kasiguran. In all of these communities together there are probably
only a couple of thousand souls at most. Few communities have as many
as twenty houses or 200 souls; the most are isolated groups of four or
five married couples and their immediate relations. The harsh nature
of their country, unsanitary life, occasional epidemics and most of
all their perpetual warfare contribute toward their diminution rather
than their increase.
Like other primitive Malayan people who live in the forest, the Ilongot
support life by cultivating a forest clearing or "kaingin." The great
trees are girdled, men ascend their smooth clean trunks a hundred
feet or more and daringly lop away their branches and stems that the
life of the tree may be destroyed and the sunlight be admitted to
the earth below. At Patakgao I was shown some beautiful long 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 dwelling 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 surrounding
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 light wood and the bow and arrow. The use of the latter
weapons is significant and here, as always in Malaysia, it indicates
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 Ilongot 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 occasionally quite curly. These rather unusual characteristics
of the Ilongot have led to some absurdly exaggerated reports of
their appearance.
My measurements include 15 men, 8 women and a young boy whose stature
is disregarded. The height of the men varied from 1,439 mm. to
1,610 mm., the mean being about 1,540, a very small stature though
considerably above the Negrito. The stature of the women was from 1,386
mm. to 1,510 mm., the mean being about 1,440. The cephalic index of all
but four of the 24 individuals was between 89 and 80 (brachycephalic),
one was 79.9, two were 79, and one 76 (mesaticephalic). The nasal
index of all but six varied from 100 to 87 (markedly platyrhinian),
while the remaining six had indices from 83 to 76. The mean index
of all was 88.6. The arm reach, as is usual in Negritic peoples,
exceeded the height.
A peculiarity of the Ilongot face is that, while it is relatively
wide at the cheek bones, it narrows rapidly below, giving the effect
of a pentagonal shaped face with sharp chin. The eyes are relatively
well opened and clear, like the eye of the Negrito, without slant or
folding lid.
In the Ilongot then we have a small, shortlegged, wavy or curly-haired
man, round headed generally, flat and broad nosed, with occasionally
bearded face and restless nervous physiognomy. Most of these are
not characteristics of the ordinary forest Malayan; on the contrary,
they suggest the Negrito, and occasion the belief, in my own mind,
that the Ilongot is, like many other peoples of the Philippines and
Malaysia, a mixed race resulting from the union of Negrito and Malayan.
From what has already been said it is apparent that in Ilongot society
we have a most rudimentary stage of political development. There is
no tribe. There is no chieftainship. There are no social classes,
for the Ilongot have neither aristocracy nor slaves nor what is very
common in most Malayan communities, a class of bonded debtors. They
have words to designate such classes, a slave being "sina lima"
and a debtor "makiotang," but this information was imparted with the
repeated statement, "There are none here." I was unable to get any word
whatever for a chieftain, although the Ilongot of Neuva Vizcaya spoke
of the "nalahaian" or head of the body of kin, but this person seemed
to be only the oldest influential relation in the family group. The
Ilongot of Patakgao said it was customary to hold a council called
"pogon" but it was evident that this gathering was without definite
constitution. The feebleness of the political life of the Ilongot
can be appreciated by comparing it to the Igorot, the sturdy mountain
headhunters in the Cordillera to the west. The Igorot likewise have no
conception of the tribe but they do have thoroughly organized towns and
town life. They have a detailed social system, based primarily on the
possession of wealth; there are slaves, servant and indebted classes,
and a carefully developed and adequate body of law covering property,
inheritance, conveyance and contract. Thus the political life of
the Igorot, although exceedingly weak on the side of federation or
agreement between the independent towns, is centuries of development
ahead of the almost institutionless communities of the Ilongot.
The Ilongot appears to be usually a monogamist and the wife is
purchased, or at least a dowry called "piyat" is paid in weapons,
utensils, liquor, wire, etc. Her position is not at all that of a
bought piece of property, but, like the woman in Malayan society
generally, she is the companion and almost the equal in influence
and independence of the man.
While the machinery for righting injuries or settling grievances is
almost non-existent, the Ilongot has a strong sense of injury and
of wrongful acts. He will say with the strongest feeling and disgust
that certain actions are "forbidden" (ma kul).
I once asked an Ilongot what he would do if a man of a neighboring
community, with which relations were peaceful, should come and steal
his pig. He thereupon detailed the steps open to him. He might take
his weapons and go within hallooing distance of the aggressor's home
and demand a double fine or restitution ("baiyad"). If the demand did
not avail he would make a solemn warning ("tongtongan") and then, if
satisfaction did not follow, there was no recourse but retaliation. I
believe, however, that compensation, even for such offenses as murder,
is frequently arranged through the anxiety of all members of the
family to escape retaliation. Feud, that inevitably arises under
such social conditions as these, pursues generation after generation
and the obligation that descends to posterity and relations to take
vengeance is spoken of as the "debt of life" (utang nu biay).
Apart from the taking of heads as an act of vengeance, murder with the
winning of the gruesome trophy is obligatory on the other occasions as
well. An Ilongot once said to me "A man may during his life take three,
four or even five heads, but he must take one, and that before he
marries. This head he carries to the relations of his intended wife to
prove that his heart and body are strong to defend her." Furthermore,
after the palay harvest each year the bundles of unthreshed rice or
palay are neatly piled into a stack about a tall stake which is set
up in the "kaingin." Then, for some ungodly reason, a human head
is very desirable to place on top of this pole. So raids are made,
usually on the Christian settlements below. Several questions may
be asked regarding these practises, but I can offer nothing by way
of answer. To whom is the "debt of life" owed? To the spirit of the
dead person? To the customary Malayan spirits of the forest? Only a
long acquaintance would enable one to get to the bottom of the motive
of such customs as these.
The primitive Malayan is full of beliefs and dreads of the malignant
spirits which throng his environment. These are the spirits of forest,
trees, cañons, streams and sea; horribly conceived monsters and ghouls,
and furthermore, and omnipresent in the affairs of the living, are
the spirits of the dead--the ghosts. The Negrito, on the contrary,
seems to be very little disturbed by such beliefs. His elementary
religious notions leave him free for the most part from terror by night
or by day. Where troubled with conceptions of "anito" or "diwata"
it is almost certain that he has been learning at the feet of some
demon-worshipping Malayan. Now, the Ilongot appear to have religious
ideas that have come from various sources. Those of Nueva Vizcaya, with
whom I talked, professed belief in spirits and called them "be tung";
the spirits of the dead were "gi na vá." The Ilongot of Patakgao,
curiously, have been affected by Christian nomenclature. The ruling
spirit or spirits is "apo sen diot" ("apo" meaning lord or sir and
"diot" being a corruption of Dios). They had no word for heaven,
but mentioned "Impiedno" (Infierno). They said that when people die
"they go to the mountains." They bury the dead near their houses
in a coffin of bark (ko ko). They said that there were no "aswang"
(malignant monsters believed in by the Christian Filipinos) in their
mountains. They stated that prayer is a frequent observance; that they
prayed when some one is sick or injured. "When an animal is killed
we pray before cutting up the animal," and as stated above prayer is
offered before the dangerous ascent of trees. In one house I saw a
little bundle of grasses which was put there, following prayer made
"at the first time when we are eating the new rice." Prayer is then
made that rats may not destroy the harvest or other ill occur to crops.
These notes are too fragmentary to give any definite idea of what
the religion of the Ilongot may be, but two other things observed
had religious significance. When our party reached the vicinity of
the community at Patakgao, we encountered in the bed of the cañon
we were following a curious contrivance placed over the running
water. Two stakes had been set up, and attached horizontally was a
branch twelve feet long, five or six feet from the ground. A chicken
had been sacrificed here and its blood had been daubed along this pole
in at least eighteen different stains. Feathers had been tied to the
ends of the upright poles and midway between them a curiously whittled
stick of shavings was tied perpendicularly and the giblets and head of
the fowl stuck upon it. Our guide, who was a Christian native from a
small barrio which has some relations with this community, pronounced
this contrivance to be a warning against further approach, in fact a
"dead line." But later, Buliud, one of the important men of Patakgao,
insisted that it was an offering made for the cure of their wounds
received a few days before in a fight with hostile Ilongot.
In the houses of the Ilongot at Bayyait were many curiously whittled
sticks suspended from the rafters. Some of these were of irregular
shape like a ray of lightning; many were bunches of shavings,
singularly suggestive of the prayer sticks of the Ainu.
The language of the Ilongot is predominantly Malayan. It contains a
large bulk of words identical or related to the surrounding Malayan
tongues. There are a few Sanskrit or Indian words, "pagi" (palay,
"paddy," the unhulled rice) and "pana" for arrow, both words widely
diffused in Malaysia. But besides, there is a doubtful element which
does not seem to be Malayan; at least no similar words or roots occur
in any of the other vocabularies of primitive peoples of northern Luzon
collected by me. The Ilongot continually makes use of a short u, which
sometimes becomes the German sound ü as in "buh dük," a flower. These
sounds can not be imitated by the Christian people in contact with
them. This is a condition similar to what we find in Negrito speech,
where, with a preponderance of terms occurring in Malayan languages,
are often a number of totally distinct and usually eccentric words
and sounds.
Finally, it is manifest that the Ilongot are a problem to the
government of the islands. What is to be done with such people as
these? They can not be allowed to continue, as they have done, to
harass and murder the peaceful population of Nueva Ecija, northern
Pangasinan and Nueva Vizcaya. Some means must be found to restrain
them. Humanity does not permit their extermination. Steps are now
being taken to do something to get them in hand. The exploring parties
above referred to have opened the way. The communities organized
under teachers of the Bureau of Education seem to promise something as
well. Last fall when I left the islands search was being made for the
right sort of an American teacher to put in charge of school interests
at Baler, with jurisdiction over the Ilongot villages appurtenant
thereto. The people of Patakgao since my visit have accepted an
invitation, then made, to send their young men and boys to the barrio
of San Juan, a village in the mountains back of Pantabangan, where a
school is conducted and where several of these youth are now living
in charge of a native man in whom the Ilongot have confidence. The
Bureau of Education meets the slight expenses of this educational
experiment. This work of social development, here as in a thousand
similar places in the Philippines, will be best done by the American
teacher, but the task is inviting only to the man in whom the spirit
of youth and adventure and fascination with human problems runs strong.
Mr. Murphy's last report concluded, "I believe the schools can do
these people a great amount of good and solve the government's worst
problems. The work, however, is dangerous, as the man who undertakes
it has no protection but his own diplomacy in handling the people. If
trouble comes it will be from the young bucks, desirous of gaining
a reputation."