The men of the Bontoc area know none of the peoples by whom they are surrounded by the names history gives or the peoples designate themselves, with the exception of the Lepanto Igorot, the It-neg’, and the Ilokano of the west coast.  They do not know the “Tinguian” of Abra on their north and northwest by that name; they call them “It-neg’.”  Farther north are the people called by the Spaniards “Nabayuganes,” “Aripas,” and “Ipugaos;” to the northeast and east are the “Caylingas,” “Comunanges,” “Bayabonanes,” “Dayags,” and “Gaddannes” —­ but Bontoc knows none of these names.  Bontoc culture and Kalinga culture lie close together on the east, and the people of Bontoc pueblo name all their eastern neighbors It-neg’ —­ the same term they apply to the Tinguian to the west and northwest, because, they say, they all wear great quantities of brass on the arms and legs.  To the south of Bontoc are the Quiangan Igorot, the Banawi division of which, at least, names itself May’-yo-yet, but whom Bontoc calls “I-fu-gao’.”  They designate the people of Benguet the “Igorot of Benguet,” but these peoples designate themselves “Ib-a-loi’” in the northern part, and “Kan-ka-nay’” in the southern part, neither of which names Bontoc knows.

She has still another set of names for the people surrounding her —­ people whom she vaguely knows are there but of whom or of whose lands she has no first-hand knowledge.  The people to the north are “Am-yan’-an,” and the northern country is “La’-god.”  The “Day’-ya” are the eastern people, while “Bar’-lig” is the name of the eastern and southeastern land.  “Ab-a-ga’-tan” are the people of the south, and “Fi’-lig ab-a-ga’-tan,” is the south land.  The people of the west are “Loa’-od,” and “Fi’-lig lao’-od,” or “Lo’-ko” (the Provinces of Ilokos Norte and Ilokos Sur) is the country lying to the west and southwest.

Some of the old men of Bontoc say that in the past the Igorot people once extended to the seacoast in the Provinces of Ilokos Norte and Ilokos Sur.  This, of course, is a tradition of the prehistoric time before the Ilokano invaded northern Luzon; but, as has been stated, the Bontoc people claim never to have been driven by that invasion, neither have they any knowledge of such a movement.  It is not improbable, however, that traditions of the invasion may linger with the people nearer the coast and farther north.

Historical sketch

It is regretted that the once voluminous historical records and data which the Spaniards prepared and kept at Bontoc were burned —­ tons of paper, they say —­ probably late in 1898 or early in 1899 by Captain Angels, an insurrecto.  However, from scanty printed historical data, but mostly from information gathered in Bontoc from Igorot and resident Ilokano, the following brief sketch is presented, with the hope that it will show the nature of the outside influences which have been about Bontoc for the past half century prior to American occupation.  It is believed that the data are sufficiently truthful for this purpose, but no claim is made for historical accuracy.