With friendly relations so long established, it is to be expected that many evidences of Chinese material culture would be found in all the northern provinces; and it is not unlikely that a considerable amount of Chinese blood may have been introduced into the population in ancient times, as it has been during the historic period. It does not seem probable, however that either the influence of Chinese blood or culture need have been stronger in the Ilocos provinces than in the other regions which they visited.
When Salcedo attempted a landing at Vigan, he was at first opposed; but the superior weapons of the Spaniards quickly overcame all resistance, and the invaders took possession of the city, which they rechristened Fernandino. From this center they carried on an energetic campaign of reduction and Christianization. As fast as the natives accepted the rule of Spain, they were baptized and taken into the church, and so rapid was the process that by 1587 the Ilocano were reported to be Christianized.[10] In fact, force played such a part that Page 241Fray Martin de Herrada, who wrote from Ilocos in June, 1574, protested that the reduction was accomplished through fear, for if the people remained in their villages and received the rule of Spain and the Church, they were accepted as friends and forthwith compelled to pay tribute; but if they resisted and fled to other settlements, the troops followed and pillaged and laid waste their new dwellings.[11]
Paralleling the coast, a few miles inland, is a range of mountains on the far side of which lie the broad valleys of the Abra river and its tributaries. The more conservative elements of the population retreated to the mountain valleys, and from these secure retreats bade defiance to the newcomers and their religion. To these mountaineers was applied the name Tinguianes—a term at first used to designate the mountain dwellers throughout the Islands, but later usually restricted to his tribe.[12] The Tinguian themselves do not use or know the appellation, but call themselves Itneg, a name which should be used for them but for the fact that they are already established in literature under the former term.
Although they were in constant feuds among themselves, the mountain people do not appear to have given the newcomers much trouble until toward the end of the sixteenth century, when hostile raids against the coast settlements became rather frequent. To protect the Christianized natives, as well as to aid in the conversion of these heathens, the Spanish, in 1598, entered the valley of the Abra and established a garrison at the village of Bangued.[13]
As before, the natives abandoned their homes and retreated several miles farther up the river, where they established the settlement of Lagangilang.
From Bangued as a center, the Augustinian friars worked tirelessly to convert the pagans, but with so little success that San Antonio,[14] writing in 1738, says of the Tinguian, that little fruit was Page 242obtained, despite extensive missions, and that although he had made extraordinary efforts, he had even failed to learn their number.
In the mountains of Ilocos Sur, the missionaries met with somewhat better success, and in 1704 Olarte states that in the two preceding years one hundred and fifty-six “infidel Tinguianes” had been converted and baptized. Again, in 1760, four hundred and fifty-four converts are reported to have been formed into the villages of Santiago, Magsingal, and Batak.[15] About this time the work in Abra also took on a more favorable aspect; by 1753 three Tinguian villages, with a combined population of more than one thousand, had been established near Bangued, and in the next century five more settlements were added to this list.[16]
In general the relations between the pagan and Christianized natives were not cordial, and oftentimes they were openly hostile; but despite mutual distrust the coast people have on several occasions enlisted the aid of the mountaineers against outside enemies. In 1660 a serious revolt occurred in Pangasinan and Zambales, and the rebels, after gaining control of these provinces, started on a looting expedition in the northern districts. In the face of strong resistance they proceeded as far north as Badok, in Ilocos Sur, burning and pillaging many villages including the capital city of Vigan (Fernandino). The Tinguian came to the aid of the hard-pressed Ilocano, and their combined forces fell upon the enemy just outside the village of Narbacan. The tribesmen had previously made the road almost impassable by planting it thickly with sharpened sticks; and, while the invaders were endeavoring to remove these obstacles, they set upon them with great fury and, it is said, succeeded in killing more than four hundred of the Zambal, a part of whom they beheaded.[17]
As Spanish rule was extended into the Tinguian territory, Ilocano settlers pressed in and acquired holdings of land. This led to many bitter disputes which were consistently settled in favor of the converts; but at the same time many inducements were offered the pagans to get them into the Christianized village. All converts were to be exempted from paying tribute, while their villages received many favors withheld from the pagan settlements. This failing to bring Page 243the desired results, all the nearby villages of the Tinguian were incorporated with the civilized pueblos, and thereafter they had to furnish the major part of all taxes and most of the forced labor.
Following the appointment of Gov. Esteban de Penñarubia in 1868, the tribesmen suffered still greater hardships. Under his orders all those who refused baptism were to be expelled from the organized communities, an edict which meant virtual banishment from their old homes and confiscation of their property. Further, no Tinguian in native dress was to be allowed to enter the towns. “Conversions” increased with amazing rapidity, but when it was learned that many of the new converts still practiced their old customs, the governor had the apostates seized and imprisoned. The hostile attitude of Penñarubia encouraged adventurers from the coast in the seizure of lands and the exploitation of the pagans, and thus a deep resentment was added to the dislike the Tinguian already held for “the Christians.” Yet, despite the many causes for hostility, steady trade relations have been maintained between the two groups, and the influence of the Ilocano has been increasingly strong. A little more than a half century ago head-hunting was still common even in the valley of Abra, where it is now practically unknown. As a matter of dire necessity the mountain people made raids of reprisal against the hostile Igorot villages on the eastern side of the great mountain range, and it is still the proud boast of many a man in the vicinity of Manabo that he took part in the raid which netted that village a score of heads from the towns of Balatok and Lubuagan. But, as will be seen later, head-hunting was by no means limited to forays against other tribes; local feuds, funeral observances, and the desire for renown, all encouraged the warriors to seek heads even from nearby settlements. Those incentives have not been entirely removed, and an occasional head is still taken in the mountain districts, but the influence of the Ilocano, backed by Spanish and American authority, is rapidly making this sport a thing of the past.