the
hotbed of Bontoc culture. Barlig, the other pueblo not on the common
drainage system (both Barlig and Lias are on the Sibbu River), lies
between Lias and the other pueblos of the Bontoc culture area, and so
naturally has been drawn in line and held in line with the culture
of the geographic area in which it is located -- its institutions
are those of its environment.

The Bontoc man

Introduction

The Bontoc Igorot has been in Bontoc longer than the endurance of
tradition, for he says he never lived elsewhere, that he never drove
any people out before him, and that he was never driven; and has
always called himself the "I-pu-kao'" or "I-fu-gao'" -- the "people."

This word for people survives not only throughout the Province
of Bontoc but also far toward the northern end of Luzon, where it
appears as "Apayao" or "Yaos." Bontoc designates the people of the
Quiangan region as "I-fu-gao'," though a part of them at least have
a different name for themselves.

The Bontoc Igorot have their center in the pueblo of Bontoc,
pronounced "Ban-tak'," a Spanish corruption of the Igorot name
"Fun-tak'," a common native word for mountain, the original name
of the pueblo. To the northwest their culture extends to that of
the historic Tinguian, a long-haired folk physiographically cut off
by a watershed. To the east of the Cordillera Central the Tinguian
call themselves "It-neg'." To the northeast the Bontoc culture area
embraces the pueblo of Basao, stopping short of Tinglayan. The eastern
limit of Bontoc culture is fixed by the pueblos of Lias and Barlig,
and is thus about coextensive with the province. Southward the area
includes all to the top of the watershed of Polis Mountain, which
turns southward the numerous streams feeding the Rio Magat. The
pueblos south of this watershed -- Lubong, Gisang, Banawi, etc. --
belong to the short-haired people of Quiangan culture. To the west
Bontoc culture extends to the watershed of the Cordillera Central,
which turns westward the various affluents of the Rio del Abra. On
the southwest this cuts off the short-haired Lepanto Igorot, whose
culture seems to be more allied to that of Benguet than Bontoc.

The men of the Bontoc area know none of the peoples by whom they
are surrounded by the names history gives or the peoples designate
themselves, with the exception of the Lepanto Igorot, the It-neg',
and the Ilokano of the west coast. They do not know the "Tinguian"
of Abra on their