the opposition of the wild races, the Spanish Government forbade
its subjects, under the penalty of one hundred blows and two years
of forced labor, "to trade or to have any intercourse with the
heathens in the mountains who pay no tribute to his Catholic Majesty,
for although they would exchange their gold, wax, etc., for other
necessaries, they will never change for the better." Probably this
law has for centuries directly contributed to save the barbarians,
notwithstanding their small numbers, from complete extermination;
for free intercourse between a people existing by agriculture,
and another living principally by the chase, speedily leads to the
destruction of the latter.

[Christian Mountaineers' villages.] The number of the Igorots of the
Isaróg however, been much diminished by deadly battles between the
different ranchos, and by the marauding expeditions which, until
a short time since, were annually undertaken by the commissioners
of taxes, in the interest of the Government monopoly, against
the tobacco fields of the Igorots. Some few have been "pacified"
(converted to Christianity and tribute); in which case they are obliged
to establish themselves in little villages of scattered huts, where
they can be occasionally visited by the priest of the nearest place;
and, in order to render the change easier to them, a smaller tax than
usual is temporarily imposed upon such newly-obtained subjects.

[Tobacco monopoly wars.] I had deferred the ascent of the mountain
until the beginning of the dry season of the year; but I learned in
Naga that my wish was hardly practicable, because the expeditions
against the ranchos of the mountain, which I have already mentioned,
usually occurred about this time. As the wild people could not
understand why they should not cultivate on their own fields a plant