New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-12-10

Ut is a ticklsh business, making friends
with naked mon whose national pas
Il time IS the collecting Of human heads.
The highland tribes of Northern Luzon
butchered "a whole Spanish garrison not FL
teen years ago-a garrison which had been
stationed 10 resist their wholesale raids
upon the lowlands and the trails Of the
Christian natives To-day American Of
fcers some Of them Unarmed civilians
ride the same trails with a few native
constabuary, meet the head hunters in
gatherings Of two and three thousand at
a time. drink and feast with them, hold
tribal counscls and referee tribal wheel
barrow races without a hint Of danger.
Head hunting, too, which lasted stub
bornIy into the American occupation, is
fast disappearing.
Head hunting, as the Isorot looks at it,
is a form Of sport. Ii goes along with
war. TO he sure but it also envens the
most peaceful times 1t was not so long
ago-it was since the American occupa-
ton, I'm fact-that two villages sent and
received challenge and arranged
meeting between TWO teams of equal
numbers. who were TO fight with rules
and referees until one side had gathered
in the others heads There was no Tea-
son on earth why they should fight. The
villagers felt bored and wanted TO get ac-
ton" that was all. That is the light
hearted way OF the men Of Luzon. Their
powerful muscular bodies. that look Ike
bronze statues. arc all so many human
dynamos. unelins with an eager. joyous
lfe current that has 10 be drained off some
low. or there will be a short circuit and an
explosion When the tension Of life gets
too high I'm an Igorot heads begin to fly.
So, to keep down the voltage 10 something
Ike a normal point, the Americans have
ENCOURAGED the more innocent native sports
md dances and imported some Western
field sports as well The system has worked
well.
once a year the Secretary Of tho In
terror Of the Philippine Islands makes
tour through tho nine sub-provinces into
which Northern Luzon is divided. Tbs Is
all native country; nine-tenths or more is
heather. The natives make great feast
day Of the Sccretarys coming, and gather
in crowds at t.e capital Of each district
10 celebrate il with from thirty TO forty
eight hours of eating and drinking. dane
Ing and playing games. The gathering is
council as wep. for every village in the
sub-proyincc sends at least one headman,
and not a few come with the whole fight
fnc force of their clan and the women and
children 20 boot.
II was at these gatherings that the Amer
Scan games first took root Gather two
thousand men, mixing together savage
warriors who never saw one another be-
fore except over lance points, some of
whom were trying 10 take off others heads
the first part of week before last, and
YOU have situation that may justly be
termed delicate.
Wherever there are savage people gath
cred. there is. Of course. dancing. The
Americans gladly seized upon the hint and
encouraged the people TO dance as many
Of them as could be prevailed on to do so.
The more different villages joined in the
better The experiment was immensely
successful. The yearly fiesta has become,
not only peaceful, but a picnic, which
white men and brown both look forward
90 with pleasure. In that simple society
the one days excitement does duty as
county fair. baseball season and legislative
session. The new games do not stop with
the fiesta. for the natives have taken them
home and learned them well. But at the
field day the old and the new sports are