The Bontoc Igorot Part 25

In March we were returning from a trip to Banawi of the Quiangan area, and were warned we might be attacked near a certain river. As we approached it coming down a forested mountain side three or four men were seen among the trees on the farther side of the stream. Presently they called their dogs, which began to bark; then our Bontoc Igorot Constabulary escort "joshed" the supposed enemy by loudly caning dogs and hogs. Presently the calls worked themselves into a rhythmic chorus for all like a strong college yell, "A'-su, a'-su, a'-su, a'-su, fu'-tug, fu'-tug, fu'-tug, fu'-tug." It is probable the men across the river were hunting wild hogs, but at the time the Constabulary considered the dog calls simply a bluff, which they "called" in the only way they could as they continued down the mountain trail.

Rocks are often thrown in battle, and not infrequently a man's leg is broken or he is knocked senseless by a rock, whereupon he loses his head to the enemy, unless immediately a.s.sisted by his friends.

There is little formality about the head taking. Most heads are cut off with the battle-ax before the wounded man is dead. Not infrequently two or more men have thrown their spears into a man who is disabled. If among the number there is one who has never taken a head, he will generally be allowed to cut this one from the body, and thus be ent.i.tled to a head taker's distinct tattoo. However, the head belongs to the man who threw the first disabling spear, and it finds its resting place in his ato. If there is time, men of other ato may cut off the man's hands and feet to be displayed in their ato. Sometimes succeeding sections of the arms and legs are cut and taken away, so only the trunk is left on the field.

Frequently a battle ends when a single head is taken by either side -- the victors calling out, "Now you go home, and we will go home; and if you want to fight some other day, all right!" In this way battles are ended in an hour or so, and often in half an hour. However, they have battles lasting half a day, and ten or a dozen heads are taken. Seven pueblos of the lower Quiangan region went against the scattered groups of dwellings in the Banawi area of the upper Quiangan region in May, 1902. The invaders had seven guns, but the people of Banawi had more than sixty -- a fact the invaders did not know until too late. However, they did not retire until they had lost a hundred and fifty heads. They annihilated one of the groups of the enemy, getting about fifty heads, and burned down the dwellings. This is by far the fiercest Igorot battle of which there is any memory, and its ferocity is largely due to firearms.

When a head has been taken the victor usually starts at once for his pueblo, without waiting for the further issue of the battle. He brings the head to his ato and it is put in a small funnel-shaped receptacle, called "sak-o'-long," which is tied on a post in the stone court of the fawi. The entire ato joins in a ceremony for the day and night; it is called "se'-dak." A dog or hog is killed, the greater part of which is eaten by the old men of the ato, while the younger men dance to the rhythmic beats of the gangsa. On the next day, "chao'-is,"

a month's ceremony, begins. About 7 o'clock in the morning the old men take the head to the river. There they build a fire and place the head beside it, while the other men of the ato dance about it for an hour. All then sit down on their haunches facing the river, and, as each throws a small pebble into the water he says, "Man-i'-su, hu! hu! hu! Tukukan!" -- or the name of the pueblo from which the head was taken. This is to divert the battle-ax of their enemy from their own necks. The head is washed in the river by sousing it up and down by the hair; and the party returns to the fawi where the lower jaw is cut from the head, boiled to remove the flesh, and becomes a handle for the victor's gangsa. In the evening the head is buried under the stones of the fawi.

In a head ceremony which began in Samoki May 21, 1903, there was a hand, a jaw, and an ear suspended from posts in the courts of ato Nag-pi', Ka'-wa, and Nak-a-w.a.n.g', respectively. In each of the eight ato of the pueblo the head ceremony was performed. In their dances the men wore about their necks rich strings of native agate beads which at other dances the women usually wear on their heads. Many had boar-tusk armlets, some of which were gay with ta.s.sels of human hair. Their breechcloths were bright and long. All wore their battle-axes, two of which were freshly stained halfway up the blade with human blood -- they were the axes used in severing the trophies from the body of the slain.

On the second day the dance began about 4 o'clock in the morning, at which time a bright, waning moon flooded the pueblo with light. At every ato the dance circle was started in its swing, and barely ceased for a month. A group of eight or ten men formed, as is shown in Pl. Cx.x.xI, and danced contraclockwise around and around the small circle. Each dancer beat his blood and emotions into sympathetic rhythm on his gangsa, and each entered intently yet joyfully into the spirit of the occasion -- they had defeated an enemy in the way they had been taught for generations.

It was a month of feasting and holidays. Carabaos, hogs, dogs, and chickens were killed and eaten. No work except that absolutely necessary was performed, but all people -- men, women, and children -- gathered at the ato dance grounds and were joyous together.

Each ato brought a score of loads of palay, and for two days women threshed it out in a long wooden trough for all to eat in a great feast. This ceremonial threshing is shown in Pl. Cx.x.xII. Twenty-four persons, usually all women, lined up along each side of the trough, and, accompanying their own songs by rhythmic beating of their pestles on the planks strung along the sides of the trough, each row of happy toilers alternately swung in and out, toward and from the trough, its long heavy pestles rising and falling with the regular "click, click, thush; click, click, thush!" as they fell rebounding on the plank, and were then raised and thrust into the palay-filled trough.

After heads have been taken by an ato any person of that ato -- man, woman, or child -- may be tattooed; and in Bontoc pueblo they maintain that tattooing may not occur at any other time, and that no person, unless a member of the successful ato, may be tattooed.

After the captured head has been in the earth under the fawi court of Bontoc about three years it is dug up, washed in the river, and placed in the large basket, the so-lo'-nang, in the fawi, where doubtless it is one of several which have a similar history. At such time there is a three-day's ceremony, called "min-pa-fa'-kal is nan mo'-king." It is a rest period for the entire pueblo, with feasting and dancing, and three or four hogs are killed. The women may then enter the fawi; it is said to be the only occasion they are granted the privilege.

In the fawi of ato Sigichan there are at present three skulls of men from Sagada, one of a man from Balugan, and one of a man and two of women from Baliw.a.n.g. Probably not more than a dozen skulls are kept in a fawi at one time. The final resting place of the skull is again under the stones of the fawi. Samoki does not keep the skull at all; it remains where buried under the ato court. As was stated before, a skull is generally buried under the stones of the fawi court whenever the omens are such that a proposed head-hunting expedition is given up. They are doubtless, also, buried at other times when the basket in the fawi becomes too full. Sigichan has buried twenty-eight skulls in the memory of her oldest member -- making a total of thirty-five heads taken, say, in fifty years. Three of these were men's heads from Ankiling, nine were men's heads from Tukukan, three were men's heads from Barlig, three were men's heads and four women's heads from Sabangan, and six were men's heads from Sadanga. During this same period Sigichan claims to have lost one man's head each to Sabangan and Sadanga.

No small children's skulls can be found in Bontoc, though some other head-hunters take the heads even of infants. In fact, the men of Bontoc say that babes and children up to about 5 years of age are not killed by the head-hunter. If one should take a child's head he would shortly be called to fate by some watchful pinteng in language as follows: "Why did you take that babe's head? It does not understand war. Pretty soon some pueblo will take your head." And the pinteng is supposed to put it into the mind of some pueblo to get the head of that particularly cruel man.

The friends of a beheaded person take his body home from the scene of death. It remains one day sitting in the dwelling. Sometimes a head is bought back from the victors at the end of a day, the usual price paid being a carabao. After the body has remained one day in the dwelling it is said to be buried without ceremony near the trail leading to the pueblo which took the head. The following day the entire ato has a ceremonial fishing in the river, called "mang-o'-gao" or "tid-wil." A fish feast follows for the evening meal. The next day the mang-ay'-yu ceremony occurs. At that time the men of the ato, go near the place where their companion lost his head and ask the beheaded man's spirit, the pinteng, to return to their pueblo.

Pl. Cx.x.xVI shows the burial of a beheaded corpse in Banawi in April, 1903.[34] After the head-taking the body was set up two days under the dwelling of the dead man, and was then carried to the mountain side in the direction of Kambulo, the pueblo which killed the man. It was tied on a war shield and the whole tied to a pole which was borne by two men, as is shown in Pl. Cx.x.xV. The funeral procession was made up as follows: First, four warriors proceeded, one after the other, along a narrow path on the dike walls, each beating a slow rhythm with a stick on the long, black, Banawi war shield, each shield, however, being striped differently with white-earth paint. The corpse was borne next, after which followed about a dozen more warriors, most of whom carried the white-marked shield -- an emblem of mourning.

About half a mile from the dwelling the party left the s.e.m.e.nteras and climbed up a short, steep ascent to a spot resembling the entrance to the earth burrow of some giant animal, and there the strange corpse was placed on the ground. A small group of people, including one old woman, was awaiting the funeral party. At the back end of the burrow two men tore away the earth and disclosed a small wall of loose stones. These they removed and revealed a vertical entrance in the earth about 2 feet high and 2 1/2 feet wide. Through this small opening one of the men crawled, and crouching in the narrow sepulcher sc.r.a.ped up and threw out a few handfuls of earth. We were told that the corpse before us was the fifth to be placed in that old tomb, all being victims of the pueblo of Kambulo, and four of whom were descendants of the first man buried at that place -- certainly "blood vengeance" with a vengeance.

We were without means of understanding the two or three simple oral ceremonies said over the body, but the woman played a part which it is understood she does not in the Bontoc area. She carried a slender, polished stick, greatly resembling a baton or "swagger stick," and with this stood over the gruesome body, thrusting the stick again and again toward and close to the severed neck, meanwhile repeating a short, low-voiced something. After the body was cut from its shield a blanket was wrapped about it -- otherwise it was nude, save for a flayed-bark breechcloth -- and it was set up in the cramped sepulcher facing Kambulo, and sitting supported away from the earth walls by four short wooden sticks placed upright about it. An old bamboo-headed spear was broken in the shaft and the two sections placed with the corpse.

The stones were again piled across the entrance, and when all was closed except the place for one small stone a man gave a few farewell thrusts through the opening with a stick, uttering at the same time a short low sentence or two. The final stone was placed and the earth heaped against the wall.

The pole to which the corpse was tied when borne to the burial was placed horizontally before the tomb, supported with both ends resting on the high side walls of the burrow, and on it were hung a dozen white-bark headbands which were worn, evidently, as a mark of mourning, by many of the men who attended the burial.

How long it would be, in a state of nature, before the tomb would be required for another burial is a matter of chance, but a relative, frequently a son, nephew, or brother of the dead man, would be expected to avenge the dead man on the pueblo of Kambulo, with chances in favor of success, but also with equal chances of ultimate loss of the warrior's head and burial where six kinsmen had preceded him.

PART 7

AEsthetic Life

There is relatively little "color" in the life of the Bontoc Igorot. In the preceding chapter reference was made to the belief that this lack of "color," the monotony of everyday life, has to do with the continuation of head-hunting. The life of the Igorot is somber-hued indeed as compared with that of his more advanced neighbor, the Ilokano.

Dress

The Bontoc Igorot is not much given to dress -- under which term are considered the movable adornments of persons. Little effort is made by the man toward dressing the head, though before marriage he at times wears a sprig of flowers or of some green plant tucked in the hat at either side. The young man's suklang is also generally more attractive than that of the married man. With its side ornaments of human-hair ta.s.sels, its dog teeth, or mother-of-pearl disks, and its red and yellow colors, it is often very gay.

About one hundred and fifty men in Bontoc and Samoki own and sometimes wear at the girdle a large 7-inch disk of mother-of-pearl sh.e.l.l. It is called "fi-k.u.m'," and its use is purely ornamental. (See Pls. Lx.x.x and x.x.x.) It is valued highly, and I have not known half a dozen Igorot to part with one for any price. This sh.e.l.l ornament is widespread through the country east and also south of the Bontoc area, but nowhere is it seen plentifully, except on ceremonial days -- probably not a dozen are worn daily in Bontoc.

Other forms of adornment, though only a means to a permanent end, are the ear stretchers and variety of ear plugs which are worn in a slit in the ear lobe preparing it for the earring -- the sing-sing, which all hope to possess. The stretcher consists of two short pieces of bamboo forced apart and so held by two short crosspieces inserted between them. The bamboo ear stretcher is generally ornamented by straight incised lines. The plugs are not all considered decorative. Some are bunches of a vegetable pith (Pl. Cx.x.xVIII), others are wads of sugar-cane leaves. Some, however, are wooden plugs shaped quite like an ordinary large cork stopper of a bottle (Pl. Cx.x.xVII). The outer end is often ornamented by straight incised lines or with red seeds affixed with wax or with a small piece of a cheap gla.s.s mirror roughly inlaid. The long ear slit is not the end sought, because if the owner despairs of owning the coveted earring the stretchers and plugs are eventually removed and the slit contracts from an inch and one-half to a quarter of an inch or less in length. The long slit is desired because the people consider the effect more beautiful when the ring swings and dangles at the bottom of the pendant ear. The gold earring is the most coveted, but a few silver and many copper rings are worn in subst.i.tution for the gold.

FIGURE 8

Metal earrings.

(A, gold; B, copper (both are two or three generations old and their patterns are no longer made); C, copper; D, silver.)

This is practically the extent of the everyday adornment worn by the boys and men. Small boys sometimes wear a bra.s.s-wire bracelet; but the bra.s.s wire, so commonly worn on the wrists, ankles, and necks of the people east, north, and south of the Bontoc area, is not affected by the people of Bontoc.

As has been mentioned, there is an unique display of dress by the man at the head-taking ceremony of the ato, when some of the dancers wear boar-tusk armlets, called "ab-kil'," and a boar-tusk necklace, called "fu-yay'-ya."

The necklace quite resembles the Indian bear-claw necklace, but it is worn with the tusks pointing away from the breast, not toward it, as is the case with the Indian necklace. There are about six of these necklaces in Bontoc, and it is almost impossible to buy one, but the armlets are more plentiful. They are worn above the biceps, and some are adorned with a tuft of hair cut from a captured head.

The movable adornments of the woman are very similar to those of the man.

The unmarried woman wears the flowers or green sprigs in the hair, though less often than does the man. She wears the ear stretchers, ear plugs, and earrings exactly as he does. Probably 60 per cent of men and women in some way dress one ear; probably half as many dress both ears.

The chief adornment of the woman is her hairdress. It consists of strings of various beads, called "a-pong'." The hair is never combed in its dressing, except with the fingers, but the entire hair is caught at the base of the skull and lightly twisted into a loose roll; a string of beads is put beneath this twist at the back and carried forward across the head. The roll is then brought to the front of the head around the left side; at the front it is tucked forward under the beads, being thus held tightly in place. The twist is carried around the head as far as it will extend, and the end there tucked under the beads and thus secured. One and not infrequently two additional strings of beads are laid over the hair, more completely holding it in place.

The first string of beads placed on the head usually consists of compact, glossy, black seeds. Frequently bra.s.s-wire rings are regularly dispersed along the string. These beads are shown in Pl. CXLII. The second string, with its white, lozenge-shaped stone beads (Pl. Cx.x.xIX), is very striking and attractive against the black hair. This string reaches its perfection when it is composed solely of spherical agate beads the size of small marbles and the longer white stone beads placed at regular intervals among the reddish agates. It is practically impossible to purchase these beads, since they are heirlooms. The third string is usually of dog teeth. They are strung alternately with black seeds or with sections of dog rib. This string is worn over the hair, running from the forehead around the back of the head, the white teeth resting low on the back hair, and making a very attractive adornment as they stand, points out, against the black hair. (See Pl. CLII.)

Igorot women dress their hair richly in their important ceremonials. In an in-pug-pug' ceremony of Sipaat ato in Bontoc I saw women wearing seven strings of agate beads on their hair and about their necks. The woman loves to show her friends her acc.u.mulated wealth in heirlooms, and the ato or pueblo ceremonies are the most favorable opportunities for such display. All these various hairdress beads are of Igorot manufacture.

I have seen Tukukan women come to Bontoc wearing a solid diadem about the hair. It consisted of a rattan foundation encircling the head, covered with blackened beeswax studded with three parallel rows of encircling bright-red seeds. It made a very striking headdress.

Now and then a woman is seen wearing beads around the neck, but the Bontoc woman almost never has such adornment. They are seen frequently in pueblos to the west, however. The beads for everyday wear are seeds in black, brown, and gray. There is also a small, irregular, cylindrical, wooden bead worn by the women. It is sometimes worn in strings of three or four beads by men. I believe it is considered of talismanic value when so worn.

Many women in Mayinit and some women of Bontoc wear the heirloom girdle, called "a-ko'-san," made of sh.e.l.ls and bra.s.s wire encircling a cloth girdle (see Pl. CXL). The cloth is made in the form of a long, narrow wallet, practically concealed at the back by the encircling wire and sh.e.l.ls. Within this wallet the cherished agate and white stone hairdress is often hidden away. In Mayinit this girdle is frequently worn beneath the skirt, when it becomes, in every essential and in the effect produced, a bustle. I have never seen it so worn in Bontoc.

Decoration

Under this head are cla.s.sed all the forms of permanent adornment of the person.

First must be cited the cutting and stretching of the ear. Whereas the long, pendant earlobe is not the end in itself, nor is the long slit always permanent, yet the mutilation of the ear is permanent and desired. In a great many cases the lobe breaks, and the two, and even three, long strips of lobe hanging down seem to give their owner certain pride. Often the lower end of one of these strips is pierced and supports a ring. The s.e.xes share alike in the preparation for and the wearing of earrings.

The woman has a permanent decoration of the nature of the "switch"

of the civilized woman. The loose hair combed from the head with the fingers is saved, and is eventually rolled with the live hair of the head into long, twisted strings, some of which are an inch in diameter and three feet long; some women have more than a dozen of these twisted strings attached to the scalp. This is a common, though not universal, method of decorating the head, and the ma.s.s of lard-soaked, twisted hair stands out prominently around the crown, held more or less in place by the various bead hairdresses. (See Pls. CXLI and CXLII.)

Tattoo