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.[2] 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,[3] the deserter. Here were found a few filthy Ilongotes and some fine Negritos.”
Ilongot Men and Woman of Oyao, Nueva Vizcaya.
The man on the right wears a characteristic head cover of rattan, which confines his long hair.
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.[4] 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[5] 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?[6] 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.