Kay-yan’ is a gracefully formed blade not used in hunting, and employed less in war than is si-na-la-wi’-tan.  Though the Igorot has almost nothing in his culture for purely aesthetic purposes, yet he ascribes no purpose for the kay-yan’ —­ he says it looks pretty; but I have seen it carried to war by war parties.

The pueblo of Sapao makes superior-looking steel weapons, though many Igorot claim the steel of the Baliwang spear is better than that from Sapao.  In Quiangan I saw a fang’-kao, or lance-shaped blade made in Sapao, having six faces on each side.  The five lines separating the faces ran from the tang to the point of the blade, and were as regular and perfect as though machine made.  The best class of Sapao blades is readily distinguishable by its regular lines and the smooth and perfect surface finish.

All spearheads are fastened to the wooden shaft by a short haft or tang inserted in the wood.  An iron ferrule or a braided bejuco ferrule is employed to strengthen the shaft where the tang is inserted.  A conical iron ferrule or cap is also placed on the butt of the shaft.  This ferrule is often used, as the spear is always stuck in the earth close at hand when the warrior works any distance from home; and as he passes along the steep mountain trails or carries heavy burdens he commonly uses the spear shaft as a staff.

The spear shafts are made by the owner of the weapon, it not being customary for anyone to produce them for sale.  Some of them are rather attractively decorated with brass and copper studs, and a few have red and yellow bejuco ferrules near the blade.  In some pueblos of the Bontoc area, as at Mayinit, spear shafts are worked down and eventually smoothed and finished by a flexible, bamboo knife-blade machine.  It consists of about a dozen blades 8 or 10 inches in length, fastened together side by side with string.  The blades lie one overlapping the other like the slats of an American window shutter.  Each projecting blade is sharpened to a chisel edge.  The machine is grasped in the hand, as shown in fig. 6, and is slid up and down the shaft with a slight twisting movement obtained by bending the wrist.  The machine becomes a flexible, many-bladed plane.

Baliwang alone makes the genuine Bontoc battle-ax.  It is a strong, serviceable blade of good temper, and is hafted to a short, strong, straight wooden handle which is strengthened by a ferrule of iron or braided bejuco.  The ax has a slender point opposed to the bit or cutting edge of the blade.  This point is often thrust in the earth and the upturned blade used as a stationary knife, on which the Igorot cuts meats and other substances by drawing them lengthwise along the sharp edge.  The bit of the ax is at a small angle with the front and back edges of the blade, and is nearly a straight line.  The axes are kept keen and sharp by whetstones collected and preserved solely for the purpose.  Besao, near Sagada, quarries and barters a good grade of whetstone.