he mountain district old feuds are still maintained, and
sometimes lead to a killing, and here too the ancient funerary rites
are still carried out in their entirety on rare occasions. However,
this peaceful condition is not of long standing. In every village the
older men tell with pride of their youthful exploits, of the raids
they indulged in, the heads they captured; and they are still held
in high esteem as men "who fought in the villages of their enemies."

During the time of our stay in Abra, the villages of the Buklok
valley were on bad terms with the people of the neighboring Ikmin
valley, and were openly hostile to the Igorot on the eastern side of
the mountain range. Manabo and Abang were likewise hostile to their
Igorot neighbors, and the latter village was surrounded with a double
bamboo stockade, to guard against a surprise attack. Manabo at this
time anticipated trouble with the warriors of Balatok and Besao, as a
result of their having killed six men from those towns. The victims
had ostensibly come down to the Abra river to fish, but, judging by
previous experience, the Tinguian believed them to be in search of
heads, and acted accordingly. This feud is of old standing and appears
to have grown out of a dispute over the hunting grounds on Mt. Posoey,
the great peak which rises only a few miles from Manabo. There have
been many clashes between the rival hunters, the most serious of
which occurred in 1889, when the Tinguian had twenty-nine of their
number killed, and lost twenty-five heads to the Igorot of Besao.

The people of Agsimo and Balantai suffered defeat in a raid carried on
against Dagara in 1907, and at the time of our visit a number of the
warriors still bore open wounds received in that fight. In the same
year at least three unsuccessful attacks, probably by lone warriors,
were made against individuals of Lagangilang, Likuan, and Lakub.

Accounts of earlier travelers offer undoubted proof that head-hunting
was rampant a generation ago; while the folk-tales feature the taking
of heads as one of the most important events in Tinguian life.

The first incentive for head-taking is in connection with funeral
rites. According to ancient custom it was necessary, following
the death of an adult, for the men of the village to go out on a
headhunt, and until they had done so, the relatives of the deceased
were barred from wearing good clothing, from taking part in any
pastimes or festivals, and their