The Philippines: Past and Present (Volume 2 of 2) — John Shaqi
The Philippines: Past and Present (Volume 2 of 2)Worcester, Dean C. (Dean Conant)
History
The Philippines: Past and Present (Volume 2 of 2)
Worcester, Dean C. (Dean Conant)
Philippines; Philippines -- History -- 1898-1946
We sent all of our Tingian companions ahead to give notice of our
friendly intentions before reaching the first village in Apayao,
but its inhabitants nevertheless ran away. Thoroughly exhausted, we
decided to spend a night there. In the course of the afternoon our
men were able to bring in some of their fellow tribesmen who lived
in the vicinity, and we made friends with them.
From this point a half day's march brought us to the head-waters of the
Abulúg River at a point where it was navigable for bamboo rafts. We
delayed at a little village until we could construct rafts enough to
float our large party, and then started downstream, knowing that we
should meet plenty of people, for the Tingians of Apayao are fond of
placing their villages on river banks.
Our trip was a wild and adventurous one. Fortunately I had purchased
some twenty dollars' worth of beads and with these I made at least
twenty-five hundred presents! The friendship of the women at the first
town which we met was thus secured, and thereafter the "grapevine
telegraph" worked ahead of us and we found waiting delegations of
women and girls on the river bank at almost every village. So long
as they were about, it was reasonably certain that the men would not
make any hostile demonstration.
The trip proved a great success in every way. Many of the numerous
settlements which we visited were at war with each other. One had
just been attacked, and a number of its people had lost their heads,
literally. We were constantly warned that the residents of the next
town down the river were "bad people" and that "five hundred" of them
were waiting in the river bed to attack us, but only once were we in
any real danger of being molested, and even then diplomacy prevailed.
We were careful to respect local customs. One town was reported to be
cañao, which is equivalent to "taboo," because of the death of the
wife of the headman, and we religiously kept away from it. Another
was cañao because of a virulent epidemic of smallpox, and we were
more than willing to keep away from that one!
We bumped down rapids and shot over several low falls. Again and again
our rafts were torn to pieces and we were precipitated into the rushing
stream. At one time a constabulary soldier was under water for some
ten minutes, and we thought him dead when he was first fished out,
but finally succeeded in resuscitating him.
We had been told that the trip would take eight days and had made
our plans accordingly. It took fifteen. Food ran short. Shoes and
clothing gave out. Some of our soldiers were dressed in clouts before
we reached civilization, and crawfishes on which our men could pounce
along the edges of the river were out of luck!
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