air. We bolted as
much of this as the Igorots could spare, killing its rather high
flavour with cayenne peppers picked beside the trail, and continued
our journey. In descending a steep hill my horse stumbled and while
attempting to recover himself drove a sharp stone into his hoof and
turned a complete somersault, throwing me over his head on to the
rocks. When I got him up he was dead lame, and I walked the rest of
the way to Ambuklao, where we arrived just at sunset.

This once prosperous little Igorot hamlet had been burned by the
Spaniards, for no apparent reason, during their flight from the
province in 1906, and we found only two houses standing. They were
naturally crowded. I was so dead with fatigue that I threw my saddle on
the ground, and using it as a pillow, lay down in a couple of inches
of water and fell sound asleep. Later the Igorots vacated one of the
houses, and placed it at our disposal. I spent the greater part of the
night in a contest with an old Igorot woman, who for the commendable
purpose of keeping us warm tended a smoky pitch-pine fire, and shut
the door, which afforded our only means of ventilation, every time I
dropped asleep. Awakened by the stifling smoke I would open it again,
but as soon as I dozed she would shut it. I finally solved the problem
by lying down with my head sticking out of the door.

The next day was bright and clear. We rested until noon, drying
out our belongings meanwhile, and then continued our journey,
visiting the Igorot settlements on the Agno River and those in
southern Lepanto and finally reaching Cervantes, the capital of that
sub-province. The Igorots of Benguet and Lepanto received us with
the utmost friendliness, and when not in danger of breaking our necks
by falling over the edges of the wretched trails, we greatly enjoyed
our trip.

At Cervantes we were met by a delegation of Bontoc Igorots, who begged
us to visit their country, and we were just preparing to do so when
we received a telegram recalling us to Manila to be present at the
inauguration of Mr. Taft as civil governor. During our absence the
commission had established provincial governments in Rizal, Cavite and
Nueva Ecija. Mr. Taft was inaugurated on July 4, 1901. Thenceforth
he exercised control over the provinces where civil government had
been established, while the military governor continued in charge
of each of the remaining provinces until it was duly organized and
transferred to civil