Ato

Bontoc is composed of seventeen political divisions, called
"a'-to." The geographic area of A-fu' contains four a'-to, namely,
Fa-tay'-yan, Po-lup-o', Am-ka'-wa, and Bu-yay'-yeng; Mag-e'-o contains
three, namely, Fi'-lig, Mag-e'-o, and Cha-kong'; Dao'-wi has six,
namely, Lo-wing'-an, Pud-pud-chog', Si-pa'-at, Si-gi-chan', So-mo-wan',
and Long-foy'; Um-feg' has four, Po-ki'-san, Lu-wa'-kan, Ung-kan',
and Cho'-ko. Each a'-to is a separate political division. It has
its public buildings; has a separate governing council which makes
peace, challenges to war, and accepts or rejects war challenges,
and it formally releases and adopts men who change residence from
one a'-to to another.

Border a'-to Fa-tay'-yan seems to be developing an offspring -- a
new a'-to; a part of it, the southwestern border part, is now known
as "Tang-e-ao'." It is disclaimed as a separate a'-to, yet it has a
distinctive name, and possesses some of the marks of an independent
a'-to. In due time it will doubtless become such.

In Sagada, Agawa, Takong, and near-by pueblos the a'-to is said to
be known as dap'-ay; and in Balili and Alap both names are known.

The pueblo must be studied entirely through the a'-to. It is only
an aggregate of which the various a'-to are the units, and all the
pueblo life there is is due to the similarity of interests of the
several a'-to.

Bontoc does not know when her pueblo was built -- she was always