The highlanders[4] believe in bird signs and omens drawn from animals generally. A party sent out to arrest a criminal had been ordered to cross the river at a designated point. Returning without their man, the chief was asked where they had crossed, and, on answering at so-and-so (a different point from the one ordered), was asked why he had disobeyed orders. It seems that a crow had flown along the bank a little way, and, flying over, had alighted in a tree and looked fixedly at the party. This was enough: they simply had to cross at this point. Sent out again the next day, a snake wriggled across the trail, whereupon the chief exclaimed joyfully that he knew now they would get their man at such a spot and by one o’clock, that the snake showed this must happen. Unfortunately it did so happen!
The afternoon passed listening to stories and incidents like those just given, until it was time to go and see the sports.[5] These, with one exception, presented no peculiarity, races, jumping, tug-of-war, and a wheelbarrow race by young women, most of whom tried to escape when they learned what was in store for them. But the crowd laid hold on them and the event came off; the first heat culminating in a helpless mix-up, not ten yards from the starting-line, which was just what the crowd wanted and expected. The exception mentioned was notable, being a native game, played by two grown men. One of these sits on a box or bench and, putting his right heel on it, with both hands draws the skin on the outside of his right thigh tight and waits. The other man, standing behind the first, with a round-arm blow and open hand slaps the tightened part of the thigh of the man on the box, the point being to draw the blood up under the skin. The blow delivered, an umpire inspects, the American doctor officiating this afternoon, and, if the tiny drops appear, a prize is given. If no blood shows, the men change places, and the performance is repeated. The greatest interest was taken in the performance this afternoon, many pairs appearing to take and give the blow. The thing is not so easy as it looks, the umpire frequently shaking has head to show that no blood had been drawn. The prizes consisted of matches, which these highlanders are most eager to get.
The day closed with a baile, given by the Ilokanos living in Bontok. Many of these are leaving their narrow coastal plains on the shores of the China Sea and making their way through the passes to the interior, some of them going as far as the Cagayán country. It is only a question of time when they will have spread over the whole of Northern Luzon. This baile was like all native balls, rigodón, waltzes, and two-steps; remarkably well done too, these, considering that the señoritas wear the native slipper, the chinela, which is nothing more or less than a heelless bed-room slipper. But one señorita danced the jota for us, a graceful and charming dance, with one cavalier as her partner, friend or enemy according to the phase intended to be depicted.
[1] See a native account of the part played by the Igorots in this battle, in Seidenadel’s “The First Grammar of the Language Spoken by the Bontoc Igorot”; Chicago, Open Court Publishing Company, 1909.
[2] Sometimes also called the Caicayán.
[3] Samoki is celebrated for its pottery, sold all through this region, and of such quality that the Igorots use vessels made here to reduce copper ore. The potter’s wheel is unknown. In regard to the skill of the highlanders in metallurgy, see Jagor, “Travels,” p. 181.
[4] So do their cousins of Formosa. Pickering, “Pioneering in Formosa,” p. 150; London, Hurst & Blackett, 1898.
[5] For a full account of the way in which the Igorots have taken to our sports, see Mr. Worcester’s article in the March, 1911, number of the National Geographic Magazine.