The Calingas are a branch of the Igorrotes, found along the Cagayán River around Ilagán. They are not only head-hunters, but cannibals. A friend of mine, an American colonel, was up there some time during the war, and explained to me the difficulty he had in convincing a Calinga chief that a manʼs head is his personal property, and that to steal it is a crime.
The Igorrote-Chinese are supposed to be the descendants of the Chinese who fled to the hills on the departure of the corsair Li-ma-hong from Pangasinán Province in 1754 (vide p. [50]). Their intermarriage with the Igorrote tribe has generated a caste of people quite unique in their character. Their habits are much the same as those of the pure Igorrotes, but with their fierce nature is blended the cunning and astuteness of the Mongol; and although their intelligence may be often misapplied, yet it is superior to that of the pure Igorrote. In the Province of Pangasinán there are numbers of natives of Chinese descent included in the domesticated population, and their origin is evidently due to the circumstances mentioned.
The Tingulanes inhabit principally the district of El Abra (N.W. coast, Luzon Is.). They were nominally under the control of the Spanish Government, who appointed their headmen petty governors of villages or ranches on the system adopted in the subdued districts. According to Father Ferrando (63 years ago), the form of oath taken in his presence by the newly-elected headman on receiving the staff of office was the following, viz.:—“May a pernicious wind touch me; may a flash of lightning kill me, and may the alligator catch me asleep if I fail to fulfil my duty.” The headman presented himself almost when he chose to the nearest Spanish Governor, who gave him his orders, which were only fulfilled according to the traditional custom of the tribe. Thus, the headman, on his return to the ranche, delegated his powers to the council of elders, and according to their decision he acted as the executive only. Whenever it was possible, they applied their own lex non scripta in preference to acting upon the Spanish Code.
According to their law, the crime of adultery is punished by a fine of 30 pesos value and divorce, but if the adultery has been mutual, the divorce is pronounced absolute, without the payment of a fine.
When a man is brought to justice on an accusation which he denies, a handful of straw is burnt in his presence. He is made to hold up an earthenware pot and say as follows:—“May my belly be converted into a pot like this, if I have committed the deed attributed to me.” If the transformation does not take place at once, he is declared to be innocent.
The Tinguianes are pagans, but have no temples. Their gods are hidden in the mountain cavities. Like many other religionists, they believe in the efficacy of prayer for the supply of their material wants. Hence if there be too great an abundance of rain, or too little of it, or an epidemic disease raging, or any calamity affecting the community in general, the Anitos (images representing the gods or saints) are carried round and exhorted, whilst Nature continues her uninterrupted course. The minister of Anito is also appealed to when a child is to be named. The infant is carried into the woods, and the pagan priest pronounces the name, whilst he raises a bowie-knife over the newborn creatureʼs head. On lowering the knife, he strikes at a tree. If the tree emits sap, the first name uttered stands good; if not, the ceremony is repeated, and each time the name is changed until the oozing sap denotes the will of the deity.
The Tinguianes are monogamists, and generally are forced by the parents to marry before the age of puberty, but the bridegroom, or his father or elder, has to purchase the bride at a price mutually agreed upon by the relations. These people live in cabins on posts or trees 60 to 70 feet from the ground, and defend themselves from the attacks of their traditional enemies, the Guinaanes, by heaving stones upon them. Nevertheless, in the more secure vicinities of the christian villages, these people build their huts similar to those of the domesticated natives. From the doors and window-openings skulls of buffaloes and horses are hung as talismans.
Physically they are of fine form, and the nose is aquiline. They wear the hair in a tuft on the crown, like the Japanese, but their features are similar to the ordinary lowland native. They are fond of music and personal ornaments. They tattoo themselves and black their teeth; and for these, and many other reasons, it is conjectured that they descend from the Japanese shipwrecked crews who, being without means at hand with which to return to their country, took to the mountains inland from the west coast of Luzon. I spent several months with this tribe, but I have never seen a Tinguian with a bow and arrow; they carry the lance as the common weapon, and for hunting and spearing fish.
Their conversion to Christianity has proved to be an impossible task. A Royal Decree of Ferdinand VI.. dated in Aranjuez, June 18, 1758, sets forth that the infidels called Tinguianes, Igorrotes, and by other names who should accept Christian baptism, should be exempt all their lives from the payment of tribute and forced labour. Their offspring, however, born to them after receiving baptism, would lose these privileges as well as the independence enjoyed by their forefathers. This penalty to future generations for becoming Christians was afterwards extended to all the undomesticated races.
Many of these tribes did a little barter traffic with the Chinese, but—with the hope that necessity would bring them down to the christian villages to procure commodities, and thus become socialized—the Government prohibited this trade in 1886.