The great fluctuation of the streams makes fishing an uncertain occupation; yet at least a dozen varieties of fish are known, and enough are taken to add materially to the food supply. Deer and pig are fairly abundant, and a considerable number is killed each year; wild carabao roam the mountain sides and uninhabited valleys, but they are dangerous animals, and can seldom be taken with the primitive weapons of the natives. Wild chickens are plentiful, and many are snared, together with smaller birds. In fact, there is sufficient game and fish to support a considerable population, if the people would turn seriously to their capture, so that the oft repeated statement that the mountaineers of Abra were forced to agriculture is not entirely accurate. It seems much more probable that, at the time of their entrance into the interior valleys, the Tinguian were already acquainted with terraced hillside fields, and that they developed them as needed. The soil is fairly fertile, the rainfall abundant during the growing season, and the climate warm enough to insure good crops. The thermometer ranges between 80° and 85° during the day, but there is generally a land or sea breeze, so that actual discomfort from the heat is unusual. The nights are somewhat cooler, but a drop of a few degrees is felt so keenly that a person may be uncomfortarble at 70°. Fogs and cold rains are not uncommon during the wet season, while one or more typhoons can be expected each year. Earthquakes are likewise of occasional occurrence, but the construction of the houses is such that storms and earthquakes do much less damage than along the coast. There is no doubt that the natural ruggedness of the country and the long rainy season have had a strong influence on the people, but this has been chiefly in isolating them in small groups. The high mountains separating the narrow valleys, the lack of water transportation, the difficulty of maintaining trails, have all tended to keep the people in small communities, while the practice of head-hunting has likewise raised a barrier to free communication. Thus, the settlements within a limited area have become self-sustaining groups; a condition which has existed long enough to allow for the development of five dialects. The traditions of the Tinguian furnish us with no stories of an earlier home than Luzon, but there are many accounts of migrations from the coast back into the mountains, after the arrival of the Spaniards and the Christianization of the Ilocano. The fact that there is an historical background for these tales is amply proven by fragments of pottery and the like, which the writer has recovered from the reported sites of ancient settlements. The part played by this people in Philippine history is small indeed, and most of the references to them have been of an incidental nature.