[17] Blair and Robertson, op. cit., Vol. XXXVIII, p. 199.
Physical Type and Relationships
From the time of the Spanish invasion up to the present, nearly every author who has mentioned the people of northern Luzon has described the Tinguian as being different from other Philippine tribes. The majority of these writers has pictured them as being of larger stature than their neighbors; as lighter in color, possessing aquiline features and mongoloid eyes; as being tranquil and pacific in character, and having a great aptitude for agriculture. From these characteristics they have concluded that they are probably descended from early Chinese traders, emigrants, or castaways, or are derived from the remnants of the pirate band of the Chinese corsair Limahon (Lin-fung), which fled into the mountains of Pangasinan after his defeat by Salcedo in 1574.
These conjectures are strengthened by the reported discovery, in early times, of graves in northwestern Luzon, which contained bodies of men of large stature accompanied by Chinese and Japanese jewels. The undisputed fact that hundreds of ancient Chinese jars and dishes are still among the cherished possessions of the Tinguian is also cited as a further proof of a close relationship between these peoples. Finally it is said that the head-bands, jackets, and wide trousers of the men resemble closely those of the fishermen of Fukien, one of the nearest of the Chinese provinces.[1]
Two writers,[2] basing their observations on color, physical resemblances, Page 246and the fact that the Tinguian blacken their teeth and tattoo their bodies, are convinced that they are the descendants of Japanese castaways; while Moya[3] states that the features, dress, and customs of this people indicate their migration from the region of the Red Sea in pre-Mohammedan times.
Finally, Quatrefages and Hamy are quoted as regarding the Tinguian as modern examples of “the Indonesian, an allophylic branch of the pure white race, non-Aryan, therefore, who went forth from India about 500 B.C.”[4]
Dr. Barrows[5] classes all the pagan tribes of northern Luzon—the pygmies excepted—with the Igorot, a position assailed by Worcester,[6] particularly in regard to the Tinguian; but the latter writer is convinced that the Apayao and Tinguian are divisions of the same people, who have been separated only a comparatively short time.
In the introduction to the present volume (p. 236) I have expressed the opinion that the Tinguian and Ilocano are identical, and that they form one of the waves of a series which brought the Apayao and western Kalinga to northern Luzon, a wave which reached the Islands at a later period than that represented by the Igorot, and which originated in a somewhat different region of southeastern Asia.[7]
In order to come to a definite decision concerning these various theories, we shall inquire into the cultural, linguistic, and physical types of the people concerned.