Note 17 — Chapter III

Four very noted tribes, three of them very extensive and populous, the fourth of more restricted territory and containing fewer souls—in which last the enemy [of souls], strongly fortified, has resisted for long ages—have been the aim to which the zeal and fervor of the evangelical ministers have been directed. The said tribes dwell among mountain ranges that are very extensive, lofty, and rugged—which, stretching from the province of Pampanga and bordering that of Pangasinan, run throughout Ilocos, through a space, with bends and turns, of about a hundred leguas.17 The first of these tribes is called Igolot, and, corrupting the letters, they are wont to call it Igorrot; their territory occupies about thirty leguas, from the confines of Pampanga to those of the province of Ilocos. Contiguous to this tribe is another which is called Tinggian, not less numerous; and it extends for a distance of about forty leguas along the same mountains, even trenching upon the province of Ilocos. Then comes another, called Apayao,18 extending about thirty leguas, which consists of many thousands of souls; and at one side dwell another tribe, called Adang, which has fewer people, but, for the very reason that they find themselves less powerful, they have their dwellings in places almost inaccessible—maintaining (as do the three others) their own different dialect. Of the said four tribes, the first and third are to a great degree cruel and barbarous; but the second and third, although sufficiently obstinate, are more tractable. It is said that the Igolot tribe are a caste of those Chinese who had come over with the pirate Limahon to conquer those islands; and, being conquered, he escaped with those whom he could gather, those who could taking refuge in these mountains, in which they have multiplied exceedingly. Besides the reasons which favor this opinion, it is apparently confirmed by their appearance; for, although they go about naked, and are subjected to every inclemency of the weather, they nevertheless greatly resemble the Chinese in the light color and gracefulness of their bodies, especially in the eyes, in which there is a close likeness between them. Their fierceness and cruelty is unequaled; their only desire is to take captives, in order to have slaves for their service, and, when they have enough of these, to kill whomever they encounter. For this reason, without a strong escort one cannot pass, except with great danger, through the upper part of those mountains; and even the villages are so infested with them that as a precaution they always keep some men armed to resist these marauders—at night stationing a sentinel with his drum, who is changed during the daytime—throughout that mountain range. And because in every place our natives (especially if they are away from the village) are so harassed by the Igolots, therefore when they go to sow their grain or gather their crops they erect high sentry-posts, from which they can see if the enemy are coming; and those who work keep the sickle in one hand and a weapon in the other—as we are told of the Israelites when in the time of Esdras they were building the walls of Jerusalem …. And even when they do this, they are not safe from the fury of these savages. Such was the ferocity of this tribe, in which they continued until the past year of 1755, and in such manner did they try the patience of all those villages.