The Inhabitants of the Philippines

by Frederic H. Sawyer

Anitos of the Igorrotes.

Coffin of an Igorrote Noble, with his Coronets and other Ornaments.

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Amongst the Igorrotes of Lepanto, and those farthest removed from Spanish influence, when a man of position dies, a notification is sent to all his blood-relations, even though they reside at a great distance, and the corpse is not buried until they have all arrived and have each taken the dead man’s hand in theirs, inquiring of him tenderly why he has abandoned his family. All this time a great feast is going on outside the house, vast quantities of rice and meat are provided and consumed, and an unlimited allowance of beer drunk by the guests. The expense is often out of all proportion to the means of the family and perhaps involves them in debt for years.

In the Igorrote territory under Spanish influence this extravagance and delay of burial is discouraged. Some of the Igorrotes dry their dead over a fire in a similar way to the Tinguianes. The dead are buried in a sitting posture, after the manner of the Peruvian Indians, but enclosed in coffins, which are placed in any small cave or cleft in the rocks, enlarged by hand if necessary. The Igorrotes believe in a Supreme Being, the creator and preserver; he is called Apo in Benguet, and Lu-ma-oig in Lepanto. The wife of Apo is called Bangan, the daughter Bugan and the son Ubban. There are two inferior gods, Cabigat and Suyan, these deities hold intercourse with mankind through the Anitos or ancestral spirits, some good, some evil, who reward or chastise mankind in this life. They represent these spirits by roughly-carved idols of wood. Some of these idols are male and others female. Occasionally the carving is of an obscene nature, and similar to some clay images I have seen taken from tombs in Peru. They practise family prayer, and the object of it is to solicit the favour of the Anitos. Sometimes the will of the Anitos is declared through an old priestess called an Asitera, who receives a fee for her pains. The ancestral spirits are more worshipped than the gods. Poultry, swine, and dogs, may not be slaughtered except in a sacrificial manner. There is a priest in every village called the Manbunung who first consecrates the animal to the Anitos, and then kills it and returns it to the owner, reserving, however, the best piece for himself. In company with his first-born son he takes the lead at prayer-meetings, or on special occasions, such as illness, marriage, the commencing some important work, or averting some evil omen. This man makes some pretence at healing the sick, but rather with charms and incantations than by administering medicine. There is a sacred tree near each village, which is regarded as the seat of the Anitos. In the shade of this is a sacrificial stone. Sometimes near a house may been seen a small bench for the Anitos to repose on, and a dish of rice or other food for their refreshment. The Igorrotes believe that there are two places where the souls of the dead travel to. One is an agreeable residence provided with everything necessary to happiness, and is for the spirits of those who have died a natural death. But if they have been evil-doers, such as robbers or murderers, and have escaped due punishment on earth, they are punished here by the other souls before being allowed to enjoy the advantages of the place. But the souls of brave warriors killed in battle, and of women who have died in child-birth, arrive at a much more desirable place, a real heaven, and reside amongst the gods.

Weapons of the Highlanders of Luzon.

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The Igorrotes of Cabugalan in Lepanto regard eels as the embodiment of their ancestors; they will not catch them or do them any harm, but feed them when opportunity offers. The Asiteras assist at feasts and make invocations and propose toasts which are drunk by the men present. The private or family feasts are called Bumaguil, being held in the giver’s house or courtyard, but public entertainments or feasts of the whole village are called Regnas, and are held in or in front of the Balta-oa or Town Hall. They are preceded and followed by songs and dances. The songs are inharmonious and monotonous. The dances vary with the localities. In one dance bowing to the beer-mugs is a feature. As amongst other Malay races, ordeals are in fashion to decide disputes. One consists in a priest or chief scratching the scalps of the disputants with a small iron fork. Whoever loses most blood during this operation has lost his case. The Igorrotes work hard at their agriculture, and their rice-farming is excellent. They plough the valleys with the aid of buffaloes and terrace the hillsides, which they cultivate by hand. They burn down the pine-forests to clear the hills. They irrigate where possible, carrying the canals over any ravine by means of rude aqueducts. They grow considerable quantities of tobacco,[1] which is, however, of inferior quality. This they sell to the civilised natives, and it is exported. I suppose it goes to Hamburg to make German Havana cigars, just as conger eels go to Paris to make fillets of soles. They cultivate sweet potatoes, also the ordinary potatoes, which grow well, and although small, are much prized in Manila, and meet with a ready sale. The Igorrotes of Lepanto eagerly seek new seeds to plant. It is strange that an agricultural people like this should have little or no idea of breeding cattle, but instead of doing so, they purchase from the Ilocanos and others cattle, horses, and pigs for consumption, paying good prices for them. They even buy dogs to eat. I have been assured by Mr. Ernest Heald, formerly British Vice-Consul at Sual, that he has often seen Igorrotes returning to the hills from Dagupan, leading strings of dogs, which they had purchased for food at prices varying from twenty-five to fifty cents, and that the dogs seemed to have an instinctive idea what they were being taken away for. The cooking of the Igorrotes is abominable, especially their way of cooking meat. It would not obtain the approval of Brillat Savarin. They seem to have no objection to eating it putrid, and their robust constitutions apparently prevent their suffering from ptomaine poisoning. The most remarkable characteristic of the Igorrotes is their skill as smiths, miners, and metallurgists. Their forges are not usually in their villages, but are hidden away in the forest; they use piston-blowers instead of bellows, and charcoal as fuel. Their lance-heads, swords, and other weapons are well shaped and of excellent quality. They worked the copper ores of Mancayen in Lepanto very successfully. From official documents it appears that from 1840 to 1855 they sold on an average each year about nineteen tons of copper, either in ingots or manufactured. Then a Spanish Company took up the work and ignominiously failed. Gold mining and washing was formerly a monopoly of the nobles, and the washing is so still to some extent. For centuries, and long before the Spanish conquest, the Igorrotes have brought down gold to trade with the coast natives. Such particulars as are known to me about Igorrote mining, smelting, and gold-washing, will be found under the headings Gold, Copper, Iron, in [Chapter XVI].