Book-bot.com - read famous books online for free

The Head Hunters of Northern Luzon by Cornélis de Witt Willcox
page 48 of 183 (26%)
ever saw, some clumps being well over twenty feet high. Then we began
to climb till we reached another divide, across the stream at the
foot of which was Payawan, our immediate objective. Payawan consists
of two shacks and a name. Here we were to have had our first meeting
with the clans of the Ifugao, but through some misunderstanding they
took the place of meeting to be at Kiangan, some, miles further on;
so we all rested a while, and some of us took a swim in the little
river we had just crossed, finding the water on first shock almost
cold, but delightful beyond belief. Cootes and I were quite satisfied
with the pool we found near the shack, but Strong and the rest thought
they saw a better one downstream, so they crawled in the water around
a small cliff, reached their pool, and then had to walk a mile and
a half through the _cogon_ and in the sun to return, there being no
getting back upstream. Now, if there is anything else hotter on the
face of the earth than a walk through the _cogon_ in the dry season
with the sun shining vertically down, it has yet to be discovered.

At Payawan we were met by Captain Jeff D. Gallman, P. C,
Lieutenant-Governor of the Sub-province of Ifugao, accompanied by
one of his chieftains, who made a splendid picture in his barbaric
finery. Erect, thin of flank and well-muscled, he had a bold, clear
eye and a fearless look; around his neck he wore a complicated necklace
of gold and other beads; each upper arm was clasped by a boar's tusk,
from which stood out a plume of red horse-hair. His gee-string was
decorated with a belt of white shells, the long free end hanging
down in front, and he had his bolo, like the rest of his people,
in a half-scabbard--that is, kept by two straps on a strip of wood,
shaped like a scabbard. But all these were mere accessories; what
distinguished him was his free graceful carriage, the lightness and
ease of his motions, the frankness and openness of his countenance.
DigitalOcean Referral Badge