They have a curious marriage custom. After a young man has shown his
passion for a girl, and his advances have been well received by the
parents of his intended, he catches her in his arms. She breaks loose,
however, and runs. He follows hard behind. Again he catches her. She
resists, and once more frees herself, running away from the eager
arms of her ardent lover. After this play of struggle and chase have
been kept up a little while, she finally yields, and he leads her
triumphantly back to her home.
The father of the bride now drags the youth up a rude ladder to
the floor of the elevated hut; the mother likewise leads up her
daughter. They are then made to kneel down, when the old man throws
a cocoanut-shell full of water over the pair. He then bumps their
heads together, and they are adjudged man and wife. They spend their
honeymoon in the mountains, where, in undisturbed and shelterless
connubial bliss, they remain five days and nights. Then they return
to the commonplace life of the village.
The Gaddanes.
In the northwestern part of Luzon is a fierce, unsubdued tribe
known as the Gaddanes. They are very dark and strong, and present
a fine appearance, armed with long, sharp spears and with bows and
arrows. They wear their hair down to their shoulders, and, like the
American Indians, take the scalps of their enemies slain in battle;
these the young men present to the fathers of their intended as a
proof of their valor.
This takes place when the fire-tree bursts into bloom; its fiery
blossoms have, to their minds, a certain religious significance. It
is then they collect all trophies of war, and perform the rude rites
of their nature-worship. They subsist on fish, game, and fruit.
The Igorrotes.
A fine race are the Igorrotes, spread over the northern half of
Luzon. They are copper-colored, and also wear their hair long. A
few are bearded. Their shoulders are broad, and their limbs brawny
and powerful. Because of their high cheek-bones, flat noses, and
thick lips, they would not, however, by a European or an American,
be considered good-looking.
They cultivate sugar-cane, rice, and sweet-potatoes, but have never
been able to give up their savage customs for civilization. Their
houses are not unlike the huts of the Esquimaux. Polygamy sometimes
exists, but adultery is almost unknown. Murder is said to be frequent,
and family feuds often take off great numbers.
Their depredations in the interior are often of great annoyance to
the domesticated natives; for they carry off their cattle and their
crops. Many expeditions have, from time to time, been made by the
Spaniards against them; but all have signally failed. The Igorrotes
obstinately refuse to be civilized. Spanish dominion holds for these
liberty-loving people few advantages; Catholicism offers them little
peace; while they maintain that the traditional heaven of the European
would not at all suit them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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