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
American and Filipino road foremen were at first used for trail
construction, but the Igorots, Ifugaos and Kalingas, all of whom
are very intelligent people, soon learned to serve as foremen. I had
Ifugaos who ran about clad in clouts only, but were nevertheless quite
capable of carrying a road or trail across the face of a precipice,
doing all of the powder work.
The wild men soon learn to take great pride in their trails, and
usually keep them in an excellent state of repair. It is a remarkable
fact that on the thousand miles of road and trail which have been
constructed since the American occupation in the Mountain Province
and Nueva Vizcaya no one has as yet been murdered. In the wildest
regions there has been an understanding from the outset that people
travelling over government roads were to be let alone!
The establishment of government, and of a decent state of public
order, have gone hand in hand with the opening up of lines of
communication. Wherever practicable it is highly desirable to police
the wild man's country with wild men, and this has proved far easier
than was anticipated. The Bontoc Igorots make good, and the Ifugaos
most excellent, constabulary soldiers. They are faithful, efficient,
absolutely loyal and implicitly obedient. The Ifugaos are born
riflemen, and their carbine practice is little short of marvellous when
one considers their very limited experience. Natural fighters as they
are, the people of these two tribes make the best of soldiers. They are
absolutely fearless, and fight much as do the Ghurkas of India. Benguet
Igorots and Kalingas are now being enlisted as constabulary soldiers,
and from the very outset the people of many of the non-Christian tribes
of the islands have been used as policemen in their own territory.
The annual inspection trip which the secretary of the interior is
required by law to make to every province organized under the special
provincial government act has become very important in the control
and advancement of the non-Christian tribes.
It is now customary to hold fiestas, or as they are locally designated,
cañaos, at central points, to which are invited great numbers of
the wild people from the neighbouring country. At the outset these
gatherings served to bring together men who had hardly seen each other
except over the tops of their shields when lances were flying. They
were all friendly with me, but they were by no means friendly with
each other, and trouble threatened on various occasions. Within the
space of thirty seconds I have seen a couple of thousand men draw
their war knives and snatch up their lances, and have feared that a
record killing was about to occur, but in the end the excited warriors
always quieted down.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account