The generations of descendants of men who did distinct things are kept carefully in memory; and from the list of descendants of the builders of some of the newer a′-to it seems probable that Cha-kong′ was the last one built. One of the builders was Sal-lu-yud′; he had a son named Tam-bul′, and Tam-bul′ was the father of a man in Bontoc now some twenty-five years old. It is probable that Cha-kong′ was built about 1830—in the neighborhood of seventy-five years ago. The plat of the pueblo seems to strengthen the impression that Cha-kong′ is the newest a′-to, since it appears to have been built in territory previously used for rice granaries; it is all but surrounded by such ground now.
One of the builders of Bu-yay′-yĕng, an a′-to adjoining Cha-kong′, and also one of the newer ones, was Ba-la-ge′. Ba-la-ge′ was the great-great-great-grandfather of Mud-do′, who is a middle-aged man now in Bontoc. The generations of fathers descending from Ba-la-ge′ to Mud-do′ are the following: Bang-ĕg′, Cag-i′-yu, Bĭt-e′, and Ag-kus′. It seems from this evidence that the a′-to Bu-yay′-yĕng was built about one hundred and fifty years ago. These facts suggest a much greater age for the older a′-to of the pueblo.
An a′-to has three classes of buildings occupied by the people—the fawi and pabafunan, public structures for boys and men, and the olag for girls and young women before their permanent marriage; and the dwellings occupied by families and by widows, which are called afong. Each of these three classes of buildings plays a distinct rôle in the life of the people.
Pabafunan and fawi
The pa-ba-fu′-nan is the home of the various a′-to ceremonials. It is sacred to the men of the a′-to, and on no occasion do the women or girls enter it.
All boys from 3 or 4 years of age and all men who have no wives sleep nightly in the pa-ba-fu′-nan or in the fa′-wi.
The pa-ba-fu′-nan building consists of a low, squat, stone-sided structure partly covered with a grass roof laid on a crude frame of poles; the stone walls extend beyond the roof at one end and form an open court. The roofed part is about 8 by 10 feet, and usually is not over 5 feet high in any part, inside measure; the size of the court is approximately the same as that of the roofed section. In some pa-ba-fu′-nan a part of the court is roofed over for shelter in case of rain, but is not walled in. Under this roof skulls of dogs and hogs are generally found tucked away. Carabao horns and chicken feathers are also commonly seen in such places.
In many cases the open court is shaded by a tree. Posts are found reared above most of the courts. Some are old and blackened; others are all but gone—a short stump being all that projects above the earth. The tops of some posts are rudely carved to represent a human head; on the tops of others, as in a′-to Lowingan and Sipaat, there are stones which strikingly resemble human skulls. It is to the tops of these posts that the enemy’s head is attached when a victorious warrior returns to his a′-to. Both the roofed and court sections are paved with stone, and large stones are also arranged around the sides of the court, some more or less elevated as seats; they are worn smooth and shiny by generations of use. In the center of the court is the smoldering remains of a fire. The only opening into the covered part is a small doorway connecting it with the court. This door is barely large enough to permit a man to squeeze in sidewise; it is often not over 2½ feet high and 10 inches wide. The occupants of the pa-ba-fu′-nan usually sleep curled up naked on the smooth, flat stones. A few people have runo slat mats, some of which roll up, while others are inflexible, and they lie on these over the stone pavement. Fires are built in all sleeping rooms when it is cold, and the rooms all close tightly with a door.
In the court of the building the men lounge when not at work in the fields; they sleep, or smoke and chat, tend babies, or make utensils and weapons. The pa-ba-fu′-nan is the man’s club by day, and the unmarried man’s dormitory by night, and, as such, it is the social center for all men of the a′-to, and it harbors at night all men visiting from other pueblos.