heat is unusual. The nights are somewhat cooler, but a drop of a few
degrees is felt so keenly that a person may be uncomfortarble at 70°.

Fogs and cold rains are not uncommon during the wet season, while one
or more typhoons can be expected each year. Earthquakes are likewise
of occasional occurrence, but the construction of the houses is such
that storms and earthquakes do much less damage than along the coast.

There is no doubt that the natural ruggedness of the country and the
long rainy season have had a strong influence on the people, but this
has been chiefly in isolating them in small groups. The high mountains
separating the narrow valleys, the lack of water transportation, the
difficulty of maintaining trails, have all tended to keep the people
in small communities, while the practice of head-hunting has likewise
raised a barrier to free communication. Thus, the settlements within
a limited area have become self-sustaining groups; a condition which
has existed long enough to allow for the development of five dialects.

The traditions of the Tinguian furnish us with no stories of an earlier
home than Luzon, but there are many accounts of migrations from the
coast back into the mountains, after the arrival of the Spaniards
and the Christianization of the Ilocano. The fact that there is an
historical background for these tales is amply proven by fragments
of pottery and the like, which the writer has recovered from the
reported sites of ancient settlements.

The part played by this people in Philippine history is small indeed,
and most of the references to them have been of an incidental nature.

Apparently, they first came in contact with the Spanish in 1572 when