He is a very likable man, and there is little about his primitiveness that is repulsive.  He is of a kindly disposition, is not servile, and is generally trustworthy.  He has a strong sense of humor.  He is decidedly friendly to the American, whose superiority he recognizes and whose methods he desires to learn.  The boys in school are quick and bright, and their teacher pronounces them superior to Indian and Mexican children he has taught in Mexico, Texas, and New Mexico.[1]

Briefly, I believe in the future development of the Bontoc Igorot for the following reasons:  He has an exceptionally fine physique for his stature and has no vices to destroy his body.  He has courage which no one who knows him seems ever to think of questioning; he is industrious, has a bright mind, and is willing to learn.  His institutions —­ governmental, religious, and social —­ are not radically opposed to those of modern civilization —­ as, for instance, are many institutions of the Mohammedanized people of Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago —­ but are such, it seems to me, as will quite readily yield to or associate themselves with modern institutions.

I recall with great pleasure the months spent in Bontoc pueblo, and I have a most sincere interest in and respect for the Bontoc Igorot as a man.

Introduction

The readers of this monograph are familiar with the geographic location of the Philippine Archipelago.  However, to have the facts clearly in mind, it will be stated that the group lies entirely within the north torrid zone, extending from 4[degree] 40’ northward to 21[degree] 3’ and from 116[degree] 40’ to 126[degree] 34’ east longitude.  It is thus about 1,000 miles from north to south and 550 miles from east to west.  The Pacific Ocean washes its eastern shores, the Sea of Celebes its southern, and the China Sea its western and northern shores.  It is about 630 kilometers, or 400 miles, from the China coast, and lies due east from French Indo-China.  The Batanes group of islands, stretching north of Luzon, has members nearer Formosa than Luzon.  On the southwest Borneo is sighted from Philippine territory.

Briefly, it may be said the Archipelago belongs to Asia —­ geologically, zoologically, and botanically —­ rather than to Oceania, and that, apparently, the entire Archipelago has shared a common origin and existence.  There is evidence that it was connected with the mainland by solid earth in the early or Middle Tertiary.  For a long geologic time the land was low and swampy.  At the end of the Eocene a great upheaval occurred; there were foldings and crumplings, igneous rock was thrust into the distorted mass, and the islands were considerably elevated above the sea.  During the latter part of the Tertiary period the lands seem to have subsided and to have been separated from the mainland.