The proof is not absolute, but, in view of the foregoing, the writer is inclined to the belief that the Igorot and the Tinguian brought their rice culture with them from the south, and that the latter received it from a source common to them and to the people of Java and Sumatra.

Many writers who have discussed the rice culture of the East Indies are inclined to credit its introduction to Indian colonists, [204] but Campbell [205] holds to the belief that it was practised centuries before the Christian era and prior to the Hindu invasion of Java.  There seems to be no dissent, however, among these writers to the belief that its introduction antedated the arrival of the European in the Orient by several centuries.  The fact that dry land farming, carried on with planting sticks and the like, is still found among the Igorot and Tinguian, and for that matter all over the Philippines, cannot be advanced as an argument that the irrigated fields are of recent date, for upland fields and primitive tools are still used in Java and Sumatra, where, as we have just seen, the wet field culture is an old possession.

Magical Rites and Ceremonies Connected with the Rice.—­The importance of rice to this people is nowhere better evidenced than in the numerous and, in some cases, elaborate rites with which its cultivation and care is attended.  Some of these observances appear to be purely magical, while others are associated with the consulting of omens, acts of sacrifice, propitiation, and finally of thanksgiving.  All are interwoven with tribal law and custom to such an extent that neglect, on the part of the individual, amounts to a crime against the community, and hence is punished with public indignation and ostracism.

When a new field is to be prepared, or a granary erected, strict watch must be kept for omens, for should the inhabitants of the spirit world be unfavorable to the project, they will indicate their feelings by sending snakes, large lizards, deer, wild hogs, or certain birds to visit the workers.  Should any of these appear, as the task is begun, the place is generally abandoned at once, but if doubt still exists, or it is deemed abvisable to try to persuade the spirits to reconsider, a small pig will be sacrificed.  Its blood, mixed with rice, is scattered about on the ground as an offering, while the medium recites a proper diam. [206] After a suitable time has elapsed for the spirits to partake, the liver of the animal is removed, and is carefully examined (cf. p. 307).  If the omens are now favorable, the work may be resumed, but should they still be unpropitious, it is folly to proceed, for disaster is certain to follow.

The next anxiety is to secure a lusty growth of plants in the seed beds, and to accomplish this, sticks known as salogegey, are stuck in each plot.  The surface of such a stick has been pared so that shavings stand out on it in opposite directions, for such a decoration “is pleasing to the spirits;” while a piece of charcoal, placed in the notched end, compels the new leaves to turn the dark green of sturdy plants.  The first seeds to be planted must always be sowed by the wife of the owner, “so that they will be fertile and yield a good crop.”