The Bontoc Igorot

Decoration

Under this head are classed all the forms of permanent adornment of the person.

First must be cited the cutting and stretching of the ear. Whereas the long, pendant earlobe is not the end in itself, nor is the long slit always permanent, yet the mutilation of the ear is permanent and desired. In a great many cases the lobe breaks, and the two, and even three, long strips of lobe hanging down seem to give their owner certain pride. Often the lower end of one of these strips is pierced and supports a ring. The sexes share alike in the preparation for and the wearing of earrings.

The woman has a permanent decoration of the nature of the “switch” of the civilized woman. The loose hair combed from the head with the fingers is saved, and is eventually rolled with the live hair of the head into long, twisted strings, some of which are an inch in diameter and three feet long; some women have more than a dozen of these twisted strings attached to the scalp. This is a common, though not universal, method of decorating the head, and the mass of lard-soaked, twisted hair stands out prominently around the crown, held more or less in place by the various bead hairdresses. (See Pls. CXLI and CXLII.)

Tattoo

The great permanent decoration of the Igorot is the tattoo. As has been stated in Chapter VI on “War and Head-Hunting,” all the members—men, women, and children—of an ato may be tattooed whenever a head is taken by any person of the ato. It is claimed in Bontoc that at no other time is it possible for a person to be tattooed. But Tukukan tattooed some of her women in May, 1903, and this in spite of the fact that no heads had recently been taken there. However, the regulations of one pueblo are not necessarily those of another.

In every pueblo, there are one or more men, called “bu-ma-fa′-tĕk,” who understand the art of tattooing. There are two such in Bontoc—Toki, of Lowingan, and Finumti, of Longfoy—and each has practiced his art on the other. Finumti has his back and legs tattooed in an almost unique way. I have seen only one other at all tattooed on the back, and then the designs were simple. A large double scallop extends from the hip to the knee on the outside of each of Finumti's legs.

The design is drawn on the skin with ink made of soot and water. page 188Then the tattooer pricks the skin through the design. The instrument used for tattooing is called “cha-kay′-yum.” It consists of from four to ten commercial steel needles inserted in a straight line in the end of a wooden handle; “cha-kay′-yum” is also the word for needle. After the pattern is pricked in, the soot is powdered over it and pressed in the openings; the tattooer prefers the soot gathered from the bottom of ollas.

The finished tattoo is a dull, blue black in color, sometimes having a greenish cast. A man in Tulubin has a tattoo across his throat which is distinctly green, while the remainder of his tattoo is the common blue black. The newly tattooed design stands out in whitish ridges, and these frequently fester and produce a mass of itching sores lasting about one month (see Pl. CXLVII).

The Igorot distinguishes three classes of tattoos: The chak-lag′, the breast tattoo of the head taker; pong′-o, the tattoo on the arms of men and women; and fa′-tĕk, under which name all other tattoos of both sexes are classed. Fa′-tĕk is the general word for tattoo, and pong′-o is the name of woman's tattoo.

It is general for boys under 10 years of age to be tattooed. Their first marks are usually a small, half-inch cross on either cheek or a line or small cross on the nose. One boy in Bontoc, just at the age of puberty, has a tattoo encircling the lower jaw and chin, a wavy line across the forehead, a straight line down the nose, and crosses on the cheeks; but he is the youngest person I have seen wearing the jaw tattoo—a mark quite commonly made in Bontoc when the chak-lag′, or head-taker's emblem, is put on.

The chak-lag′ is the most important tattoo of the Igorot, since it marks its wearer as a taker of at least one human head. It therefore stands for a successful issue in the most crucial test of the fitness of a person to contribute to the strength of the group of which he is a unit. It no doubt gives its wearer a certain advantage in combat—a confidence and conceit in his own ability, and, likely, it tends to unnerve a combatant who has not the same emblem and experience. No matter what the exact social importance or advantage may be, it seems that every man in Bontoc who has the right to the emblem shows his appreciation of the privilege, since nine-tenths of the men wear the chak-lag′. It consists of a series of geometric markings running upward from the breast near each nipple and curving out on each shoulder, where it ends on the upper arm. The accompanying plates (CXLIII to CXLIX) give an excellent idea of the nature and appearance of the Igorot tattoo—of course, reproductions in color would add to the effect. The distinctness of the markings in the photographs is about normal.

The basis of the designs is apparently geometric. If the straight-line designs originated in animal forms, they have now become so conventional that I have not discovered their original form. page 189

The Bontoc woman is tattooed only on the arms. This tattoo begins close back of the knuckles on the back of the hands, and, as soon as it reaches the wrist, entirely encircles the arms to above the elbows. Still above this there is frequently a separate design on the outside of the arm; it is often the figure of a man with extended arms and sprawled legs.

The chak-lag′ design on the man's breast is almost invariably supplemented by two or three sets of horizontal lines on the biceps immediately beneath the outer end of the main design. If the tattoo on the arms of the woman were transferred to the arms of the man, there would seldom be an overlapping—each would supplement the other. On the men the lines are longer and the patterns simpler than those of the women, where the lines are more cross-hatched and the design partakes of the nature of patch-work.

It was not discovered that any tattoo has a special meaning, except the head-taker's emblem; and the Igorot consistently maintains that all the others are put on simply at the whim of the wearer. The face markings, those on the arms, the stomach, and elsewhere on the body, are believed to be purely æsthetic. The people compare their tattoo with the figures of an American's shirt or coat, saying they both look pretty. Often a cross-hatched marking is put over goiter, varicose veins, and other permanent swellings or enlargements. Evidently they are believed to have some therapeutic virtue, but no statement could be obtained to substantiate this opinion.

As is shown by Pls. CXLVIII and CXLIX, the tattoo of both Banawi men and women seems to spring from a different form than does the Bontoc tattoo. It appears to be a leaf, or a fern frond, but I know nothing of its origin or meaning. There is much difference in details between the tattoos of culture areas, and even of pueblos. For instance, in Bontoc pueblo there is no tattoo on a man's hand, while in the pueblos near the south side of the area the hands are frequently marked on the backs. In Benguet there is a design popularly said to represent the sun, which is seen commonly on men's hands. Instances of such differences could be greatly multiplied here, but must be left for a more complete study of the Igorot tattoo.