Conclusions
The first impression gained by the student of Philippine ethnology is that there is a fundamental unity of the Philippine peoples, the Negrito excepted, not only in blood and speech, but in religious beliefs and practices, in lore, in customs, and industries. It is realized that contact with outside nations has in many ways obscured the older modes of thought, and has often swamped native crafts, while each group has doubtless developed many of its present customs on Philippine soil; yet it seems that enough of the old still remains to proclaim them as a people with a common ancestry. To what extent this belief is justified can be answered, in part, by the material in the preceding pages.
A study of the physical types has shown that each group considered is made up of heterogeneous elements. Pigmy blood is everywhere evident, but aside from this there is a well-marked brachycephalic and a dolichocephalic element. With the latter is a greater tendency than with the first for the face to be angular; the cheek bones are more outstanding, while there is a greater length and breadth of the nose. Individuals of each type are found in all the groups considered, but taken in the average, it is found that the Ilocano and Valley Tinguian fall into the first or round-headed class, the Bontoc Igorot are mesaticephalic, while between them are the mountain Tinguian and Apayao.
Judging from their habitat and the physical data, it appears that the Igorot groups were the first comers; that the brachycephalic Ilocano-Tinguian arrived later and took possession of the coast, and that the two groups have intermarried to form the intermediate peoples. However, a comparison of our Luzon measurements with the people of southern China and the Perak Malay leads us to believe that the tribes of northwestern Luzon are all closely related to the dominant peoples of southern China, Indo-China, and Malaysia in general, in all of which the intermingling of these types is apparent.
The dialects of northwestern Luzon, while not mutually intelligible, are similar in morphology, and have a considerable part of their vocabularies in common. Here again the Igorot is at one extreme, the Ilocano and Valley Tinguian at the other, while the Page 485intervening groups are intermediate, but with a strong leaning toward the coast tongue.
Considering, for the moment, the Bontoc Igorot and the Tinguian, it is found that both have certain elements of culture which are doubtless old possessions, as, for instance, head-hunting, terraced rice-fields, iron-working, a peculiar type of shield, and a battle-axe which they share with the Apayao of Luzon and the Naga of Assam.
A part or all of these may be due to a common heritage, at any rate, they help to strengthen the feeling that in remote times these peoples were closely related. But a detailed study of their social organizations; of their ceremonies, songs, and dances; of their customs at birth, marriage, death, and burial; of their house-building; as well as the details of certain occupations, such as the rice culture, pottery making, and weaving, indicates that not only have they been long separated, but that they have been subjected to very different outside influences, probably prior to their entry into the Philippines.
It is not in the province of this monograph to deal with the probable affiliations of the Igorot, neither is it our intention to attempt to locate the ancient home of the Tinguian, nor to connect them with any existing groups. However, our information seems to justify us in certain general conclusions. It shows that the oft repeated assertions of Chinese ancestry are without foundation. It shows that, while trade with China had introduced hundreds of pieces of pottery and some other objects into this region, yet Chinese influence had not been of an intimate enough nature to influence the language or customs, or to introduce any industry. On the other hand, we find abundant evidence that in nearly every phase of life the Tinguian were at one time strongly influenced by the peoples to the south, and even to-day show much in common with Java, Sumatra, the Malay Peninsula, and through them with India. As a case in point we find in the procedure at birth that the Tinguian are in accord with the Peninsular Malay in at least eight particulars, some of which, such as the burning of a fire beside the mother and newborn babe for a month or more, the frequent bathing of both in water containing leaves and herbs, the “fumigating” of the baby, the throwing of ashes to blind evil spirits, are sufficiently distinctive to indicate a common source, particularly when they still occur together in connection with one of the great events of life. Page 486
Frequent reference has been made to the parallels between Tinguian customs and those practiced in Sumatra, while the methods of rice-culture are so similar that they can have come only from the same source. In the weaving the influence of India seems evident, despite the fact that cotton is not bowed in Abra, and the Tinguian method of spinning seems unique. These methods, apparently distinctive, may once have been practised more broadly, but were superseded by more efficient instruments. The primitive method of ginning cotton by rolling it beneath a tapering rod appears to be found nowhere in the Philippines outside of Abra, but it is used in some remote sections of Burma.
Part I of this volume presented a body of tales which showed many resemblances to the Islands of the south, as well as incidents of Indian lore. There is, in fact, a distinct feeling of Indian influence in the tales of the mythical period; yet they lack the epics of that people, and the typical trickster tales are but poorly represented.
The vocabulary shows comparatively little of Indian influence; yet, at the time of the conquest, the Ilocano was one of the coast groups making use of a native script which was doubtless of Hindu origin.
The many instances of Indian influence do not justify the supposition that the Tinguian were ever directly in contact with that people. The Malay islands to the south were pretty thoroughly under Hindu domination by the second century of the Christian era, and it is probable that they were influenced through trade at a considerably earlier date. Judging from our data, it would seem that the Ilocano-Tinguian group had left its southern home at a time after this influence was beginning to make itself felt, but before it was of a sufficiently intimate nature to stamp itself indelibly on the lore, the ceremonial and economic life of this people, as it did in Java and some parts of Sumatra. It is possible that these points of similarity may be due to trade, but if so, the contact was at a period antedating the fourteenth century, for in historic times the sea trade of the southern islands has been in the hands of the Mohammedanized Malay. Their influence is very marked in the southern Philippines, but is not evident in northwestern Luzon.
Concerning the time of their arrival in Luzon, and the course pursued by them, we have no definite proof; but it is evident that the Tinguian did not begin to press inland until comparatively recent times. Historical references and local traditions indicate that most of this Page 487movement has taken place since the arrival of the Spaniards, while the distribution of the great ceremonies gives a further suggestion that the dominant element in the Tinguian population has been settled in Abra for no great period. The probable explanation for this distribution is that the interior valleys were sparsely settled with a population more akin to the Igorot than to the Tinguian, prior to the inland movement of the latter people; that the Tinguian were already possessed of the highly developed ceremonial life, before they entered Abra, and that this has been spread slowly, through intermarriage and migration, to the people on the outskirts of their territory.
These ceremonies are still practised by some families now residing in Christianized settlements in Abra and Ilocos Sur, while discreet questioning soon brings out the fact that they were formerly present in towns which have long been recognized as Ilocano. The relationship of the Tinguian and Ilocano has already been shown by the physical data and historical references; but were these lacking, it requires but a little inquiry and the compilation of geneaological tables to show that many Ilocano families are related to the Tinguian. It is a matter of common observation that the chief barrier between the two groups is religion, and, once let the pagan accept Christianity, he and his family are quickly absorbed by the Ilocano.
Uninterrupted trade with the coast in recent years, Spanish and American influence, have doubtless affected considerable changes in the Tinguian. If, however, we subtract recent introductions, it is probable that we have in the life of this tribe an approximate picture of conditions among the more advanced of the northern Philippine groups prior to the entry of the European into their islands. Page 488