The Washington herald., 1913-06-29
FOURTH OF JULY WITH HEADQUARTERS

a pantomime, showing how he fought
his enemy. killed him, and took his head.
Meanwhile his feet never for a moment
fail to keep time to the music. In two
minutes we learn things about the
handling of shield. lance and head-ax, of
which We never dreamed"
Head-hunting, II should be realized. was
until recently the principal field sport
of these wild people. Most commonly
the human prey was stalked from
ambush, and the head of a woman or
child was considered not less desirable
than that of a man. Endless feuds
marked the relations of tribe with tribe,
and from time to time bodies of picked
warriors from hostile villages would
meet by prearrangement and fight to a
finish.
This state of affairs has been brought
to an end chiefly by the simple expedi-
ent Of building roads and trails through
the Mountain Province, and thus giving
the tribes an opportunity to become ac-
quainted with each other. Having be-
come acquainted, they are friends. and
no longer want to take each other
heads. The few who persisted in the
practice have been punished, and the
wild men. having learned that the Ameri-
cans will not tolerate murder, are will
ing enough to abandon it. They fairly
worship the Americans because the lat
ter. unlike the Spaniards and Tagalog
Filipinos, are kind to them.
Many American Sports.
Accordingly. on such a holiday as the
Fourth of July. the tribes assemble from
far and near at places appointed for
the festivities, and general good-feeling
reigns. Not only baseball. but other
kinds of American sports engage their
competitive efforts. They climb the
creased pole-a tall bamboo held in DO
sition by guy-ropes of rattan. From a
stick thrust into the top of the bamboo
hangs a bag of copper coins, and the
first man to reach it gets the money.
But it is a feat practically impossible
until most of the grease has been
rubbed of through oft-repeated attempts
Eye-witnesses declare that 1t is a won-
derful thing to see a muscular youth
these natives are magnifcently developed
physically-take a start from a distance
and run up the bamboo pole, perhaps
arriving within a few feet of the coveted
bag before he begins, amid the laughter
of the assembled throng, to slip slowly
down again.
Another amusement learned from the
Americans is burrowing for coins with
the lace IN dish OF hour. And yet an
other game is hunting blindfolded for
cans of salmon scattered over the ground.
Boys war parties" attack each other
with reed stems for lances. The boys
are fairly expert spearmen years before
they have real steel-bladed spears Of
their own. A game that makes much
entertainment consists in rolling a
grapefruit over the ground and throw
ing reed spears at 1t as IT passes by.
The warriors engage in contests at
throwing real spears-a form of martial
exercise In which they are wonderfully
expert They also have a spanking
game" In which two muscular young
men viii engage. One squats on a bench
in such an attitude as to expose him.
self to the spank. grasping his thigh to
tighten the muscles. The other, swing
ing on the toes OF his left foot, admins
tiers the blow with all the force he can
summon. 1t cracks like q revolver shot.
If thereupon blood shows beneath the
skin. the contestant who has been.
spanked is not entitled to any return
whack. On the other hand. If there II