THE TINGUIAN


INTRODUCTION

It seems desirable, at the outset, to set forth certain general
conclusions regarding the Tinguian and their neighbors. Probably no
pagan tribe of the Philippines has received more frequent notice in
literature, or has been the subject of more theories regarding its
origin, despite the fact that information concerning it has been
exceedingly scanty, and careful observations on the language and
physical types have been totally lacking.

According to various writers, these people are descended from Chinese,
Japanese, or Arabs; are typical Malay; are identical with the Igorot;
are pacific, hospitable, and industrious; are inveterate head-hunters,
inhospitable, lazy, and dirty. The detailed discussion of these
assertions will follow later in the volume, but at this point I wish
to state briefly the racial and cultural situation, as I believe it
to exist in northwestern Luzon.

I am under the impression that at one time this whole region was
inhabited by pygmy blacks, known as Aeta or Negrito, small groups of
whom still retain their identity. With the coming of an alien people
they were pressed back from the coasts to the less hospitable regions
of the interior, where they were, for the most part, exterminated,
but they intermarried with the invaders to such an extent that to-day
there is no tribe or group in northwestern Luzon but shows evidence
of intermixture with them. I believe that the newcomers were drawn