Their aggressions on the coast settlers have been frequent for centuries past. From time to time they came down from their mountain retreat to steal cattle and effects belonging to the domesticated population. The first regular attempt to chastise them for these inroads, and afterwards gain their submission, was in the time of Governor Pedro de Arandia (1754–59), when a plan was concerted to attack them simultaneously from all sides with 1,080 men. Their ranches and crops were laid waste, and many Igorrotes were taken prisoners, but the ultimate idea of securing their allegiance was abandoned as an impossibility.
In 1881 General Primo de Rivera, at the head of a large armed force, invaded their district with the view of reducing them to obedience, but the apparent result of the expedition was more detrimental than advantageous to the project of bringing this tribe under Spanish dominion and of opening up their country to trade and enlightened intercourse. Whilst the expeditionary forces were not sufficiently large or in a condition to carry on a war à outrance successfully, to be immediately followed up by a military system of government, on the other hand, the feeble efforts displayed to conquer them served only to demonstrate the impotence of the Europeans. This gave the tribes courage to defend their liberty, whilst the licence indulged in by the white men at the expense of the mountaineers—and boasted of to me personally by many Spanish officers—had merely the effect of raising the veil from their protestations of goodwill towards the race they sought to subdue. The enterprise ignominiously failed; the costly undertaking was an inglorious and fruitless one, except to the General, who—being under royal favour since, at Sagunta, in 1875, he “pronounced” for King Alfonso—secured for himself the title of Count of La Union.
The Igorrotes have, since then, been less approachable by Europeans, whom they naturally regard with every feeling of distrust. Rightly or wrongly (if it can be a matter of opinion), they fail to see any manifestation of ultimate advantage to themselves in the arrival of a troop of armed strangers who demand from them food (even though it be on payment) and perturbate their most intimate family ties. They do not appreciate being “civilized” to exchange their usages, independence, and comfort for even the highest post obtainable by a native in the provinces, which then was practically that of local head servant to the district authority, under the name of Municipal Captain. To roam at large in their mountain home is far more enjoyable to them than having to wear clothes; to present themselves often, if not to habitually reside, in villages; to pay taxes, for which they would get little return—not even the boon of good highroads—and to act as unsalaried tax-collectors with the chance of fine, punishment, and ruin if they did not succeed in bringing funds to the Public Treasury.
An Igorrote Type (Luzon).
As to Christianity, it would be as hard a task to convince them of what Roman Catholicism deems indispensable for the salvation of the soul, as it would be to convert all England to the teachings of Buddha—although Buddhism is as logical a religion as Christianity. Just a few of them, inhabiting the lowlands in the neighbourhood of Vigan and other christian towns, received baptism and paid an annual tribute of half a peso from the year 1893 to 1896.
Being in Tuguegarao, the capital of Cagayán Province, about 60 miles up the Rio Grande, I went to visit the prisons, where I saw many of the worst types of Igorrotes. I was told that a priest who had endeavoured to teach them the precepts of Christianity, and had explained to them the marvellous life of Saint Augustine, was dismayed to hear an Igorrote exclaim that no coloured man ever became a white manʼs saint. Nothing could convince him that an exception to the rule might be possible. Could experience have revealed to him the established fact—the remarkable anomaly—that the grossest forms of immorality were only to be found in the trail of the highest order of white manʼs civilization?
The Igorrotes have worked the copper mines of their region for generations past, in their own primitive way, with astonishing results. They not only annually barter several tons of copper ingots, but they possess the art of manufacturing pots, cauldrons, tobacco-pipes, and other utensils made of that metal. They also understand the extraction of gold, which they obtain in very small quantities by crushing the quartz between heavy stones.
Specimens of the different tribes and races of these Islands were on view at the Philippine Exhibition held in Madrid in 1887. Some of them consented to receive Christian baptism before returning home, but it was publicly stated that the Igorrotes were among those who positively refused to abandon their own belief.
A selection of this tribe was included in the Filipinos on show at the San Louis Exhibition (U.S.A.) in 1904, and attracted particular attention. Some of them liked the United States so much that they tried hard to break away from their keepers in order to remain there.