in the tales of the mythical period; yet they lack the epics of that
people, and the typical trickster tales are but poorly represented.

The vocabulary shows comparatively little of Indian influence; yet,
at the time of the conquest, the Ilocano was one of the coast groups
making use of a native script which was doubtless of Hindu origin.

The many instances of Indian influence do not justify the
supposition that the Tinguian were ever directly in contact with
that people. The Malay islands to the south were pretty thoroughly
under Hindu domination by the second century of the Christian era,
and it is probable that they were influenced through trade at a
considerably earlier date. Judging from our data, it would seem that
the Ilocano-Tinguian group had left its southern home at a time after
this influence was beginning to make itself felt, but before it was
of a sufficiently intimate nature to stamp itself indelibly on the
lore, the ceremonial and economic life of this people, as it did in
Java and some parts of Sumatra. It is possible that these points of
similarity may be due to trade, but if so, the contact was at a period
antedating the fourteenth century, for in historic times the sea trade
of the southern islands has been in the hands of the Mohammedanized
Malay. Their influence is very marked in the southern Philippines,
but is not evident in northwestern Luzon.

Concerning the time of their arrival in Luzon, and the course
pursued by them, we have no definite proof; but it is evident that
the Tinguian did not begin to press inland until comparatively recent
times. Historical references and local traditions indicate that most
of this movement has taken place since the arrival of the Spaniards,
while the distribution of the great ceremonies gives a further
suggestion that the dominant element in the Tinguian population has
been settled in Abra for no great period. The probable explanation for
this distribution is that the interior valleys were sparsely settled
with a population more akin to the Igorot than to the Tinguian,
prior to the inland movement of the latter people; that the Tinguian
were already possessed of the highly developed ceremonial life,
before they entered Abra, and that this has been spread slowly,
through intermarriage and migration, to the people on the outskirts
of their territory.

These ceremonies are still practised by some families now residing
in Christianized settlements in Abra a