The Bontoc Igorot Part 11

Considerable engineering sense has been shown and no small amount of labor expended in the construction of this last irrigating scheme. The pine logs are a foot or more in diameter, and have a waterway dug in them about 10 or 12 inches deep and wide. These trees were felled and the troughs dug with the wasay, a short-handled tool with an iron blade only an inch or an inch and a half wide, and convertible alike into ax and adz.

There seems to be a fall of about 22 feet between A at the upper dam and B at the discharge from the troughs.[24] This fall in a distance of about 3,000 feet seems needlessly great; however, the primitive engineer has shown excellent judgment in the matter. First, by putting the dam (upper dam) where it is, only half the stream had to be built across. Second, there is a rapids immediately below the dam, and, had the Igorot built his dam below the rapids, a dam of the same height would have raised the water to a much lower level; this would have necessitated a ca.n.a.l probably 10 or 12 feet deep instead of three. Third, the height of the water at the upper dam has enabled him to lay the log section of the waterway above the high-water mark of the river, thus, probably, insuring more or less permanence. Had the dam been built much lower down the stream the troughs would have been near the surface of the river and been torn away annually by the freshets, or the people would be obliged each year to tear down and reconstruct that part of the ca.n.a.l. As it now is it is probable that only the short dam will need to be rebuilt each year.

All dams and irrigating ca.n.a.ls are built directly by or at the expense of the persons benefited by the water. Water is never rented to persons with s.e.m.e.nteras along an artificial waterway. If a person refuses to bear his share of the labor of construction and maintenance his s.e.m.e.nteras must lie idle for lack of water.

All s.e.m.e.ntera owners along a waterway, whether it is natural or artificial, meet and agree in regard to the division of the water. If there is an abundance, all open and close their sluice gates when they please. When there is not sufficient water for this, a division is made -- usually each person takes all the water during a certain period of time. This scheme is supposed to be the best, since the flow should be sufficient fully to flood the entire plat -- a 100-gallon flow in two hours is considered much better than an equal flow in two days.

During the irrigating season, if there is lack of water, it becomes necessary for each s.e.m.e.ntera owner to guard his water rights against other persons on the same creek or ca.n.a.l. If a man sleeps in his house during the period in which his s.e.m.e.nteras are supposed to receive water, it is pretty certain that his supply will be stolen, and, since he was not on guard, he has no redress. But should sleep chance to overtake him in his tiresome watch at the s.e.m.e.nteras, and should some one turn off and steal his water, the thief will get clubbed if caught, and will forfeit his own share of water when his next period arrives.

The third method of irrigation -- lifting the water by direct human power -- is not much employed by the Igorot. In the vicinity of Bontoc pueblo there are a few s.e.m.e.nteras which were never in a position to be irrigated by running water. They are called "pay-yo' a kao-u'-chan,"

and, when planted with rice in the dry season, need to be constantly tended by toilers who bring water to them in pots from the river, creeks, or ca.n.a.ls. On the Samoki side of the valley during a week or so of the driest weather in May, 1903, there were four "well sweeps,"

each with a 5-gallon kerosene-oil can attached, operating nearly all day, pouring water from a ca.n.a.l into s.e.m.e.nteras through 60 or 80 feet of small, wooden troughs.

Turning the soil

Since rice, called "pa-ku'." is the chief agricultural product of the Igorot it will be considered in the following sections first, after which data of other vegetable products will be given.

Turning the soil for the annual crop of irrigated rice begins in the middle of December and continues nearly two months. The labor of turning and fertilizing the soil and transplanting the young rice is all in progress at the same time -- generally, too, in the same s.e.m.e.ntera. Since each is a distinct process, however, I shall consider each separately. Before the soil is turned in a s.e.m.e.ntera it has given up its annual crop of camotes, and the water has been turned on to soften the earth. From two to twenty adults gather in a s.e.m.e.ntera, depending on the size of the plat, of which there are relatively few containing more than 10,000 square feet. They commonly range from 30 square feet to 1,500 or 2,000. The following description is one of several made in detail while watching the rice industry of the Bontoc Igorot.

The s.e.m.e.ntera is about 20 by 50 feet, or about 1,000 square feet, and lies in the midst of the large valley area between Bontoc and Samoki. It is on the Samoki side of the river, but is the property of a Bontoc family. There are two groups of soil turners in the s.e.m.e.ntera -- three men in one, and two unmarried women, an older married woman, and a youth in the other. At one end of the plat two, and part of the time three, women are transplanting rice. Four men are bringing fertilizer for the soil. Strange to say, each of the men in the group of three is "clothed" -- one wears his breechcloth as a breechcloth, and the other two wear theirs simply as ap.r.o.ns, hanging loose in front. Three of the men bringing fertilizer are entirely nude except for their girdles, since they ford the river with their loads between the s.e.m.e.ntera and Bontoc and do not care to wet their breechcloths; the other man wears a bladder bag hanging from his girdle as an ap.r.o.n. One of the young women turning the soil wears a skirt; the other one and the old woman wear front-and-back ap.r.o.ns of camote vines; the youth with them is nude. The three transplanters wear skirts, and one of them wears an open jacket. Besides these there are three children in and about the s.e.m.e.ntera; one is a pretty, laughing girl of about 9 years; one is a shy, faded-haired little girl of 3 or 4 years; and the other is a fat chunk of a boy about 5 years. All three are perfectly naked. It is impossible to say what clothing these toilers wore before I went among them to watch their work, but it is certain they were not more clothed.

Let us watch the typical group of the three women and the youth: Each has a sharpened wooden turning stick, the kay-kay, a pole about 6 feet long and 2 inches in diameter. The four stand side by side with their kay-kay stuck in the earth, and, in unison, they take one step forward and push their tools from them, the earth under which the tools are thrust falling away and crumbling in the water before them. While it is falling away the toilers begin to sing, led by the elder woman. The purport of the most common soil-turning song is this: "It is hard work to turn the soil, but eating the rice is good." The song continues while the implements are withdrawn from the earth and jabbed in again in a new place, while the syllable p.r.o.nounced at that instant is also noticeably jabbed into the air. Again they withdraw their implements and, singing and working in rhythmic unison, again jab kay-kay and syllable. The implements are now thrust about 8 inches below the surface; the song ceases; each toiler pries her section of the soil loose and, in a moment, together they push their tools from them, the ma.s.s of soil -- some 2 feet long, 1 foot wide, and 8 inches deep -- falls away in the water, and the song begins again. As the earth is turned a camote, pa.s.sed by in the camote harvest, is discovered; the old woman picks it up and lays it on the dry ground beside her. The little girl shyly comes for it and stores it in a basket on the terrace wall with a few dozen others found during the morning.

After a section of earth 10 or 15 feet square has been turned the rhythmic labor and song ceases. Each person now grasps her kay-kay with one hand at the middle and the other near the sharpened end and with it rapidly crumbles and spreads about the new-turned soil. Now they trample the bed thoroughly, throwing out any stones or pebbles discovered by their feet, and frequently using the kay-kay further to break up some small clod of earth. Finally a large section of the s.e.m.e.ntera is prepared, and the toilers form in line abreast and slowly tread back and forth over the plat, making the bed soft and smooth beneath the water for the transplanting.

It is a delightful picture in the soil-turning season to see the acres of terraces covered by groups of toilers, relieving their labors with almost constant song.

I saw only one variation from the above methods in the Bontoc area. In some of the large s.e.m.e.nteras in the flat river bottom near Bontoc pueblo a herd of seventeen carabaos was skillfully milled round and round in the water, after the soil was turned, stirring and mixing the bed into a uniform ooze. The animals were managed by a man who drove them and turned them at will, using only his voice and a long switch. It is impossible to get carabaos to many irrigated s.e.m.e.nteras because of the high terrace walls, but this herd is used annually in the Bontoc river bottom.

After each rice harvest the soil of the irrigated s.e.m.e.ntera is turned for planting camotes, but this time it is turned dry. More effort is needed to thrust the kay-kay deep enough into the dry soil, and it is thrust three or four times before the earth may be turned. Only one-half the surface of a s.e.m.e.ntera is turned for camotes. Raised beds are made about 2 feet wide and 8 to 12 inches high. The s.p.a.ces between these beds become paths along which the cultivator and harvester walks. The soil is turned from the s.p.a.ces used as paths over the s.p.a.ces which become beds, but the earth under the bed is not turned or loosened.

Bontoc beds are almost invariably constructed like parallel-sided, square-cornered saw teeth standing at right angles to the blade of the saw, which is also a camote bed, and are well shown in Pl. LXII. In Tulubin this saw-tooth bed also occurs, but the continuous spiral bed and the broken, parallel, straight beds are equally as common; they are shown in figs. 2 and 3.

Fig 2. -- Parallel camote beds.

Fig 3. -- Spiral camote beds.

The mountain-side s.e.m.e.ntera for camotes, maize, millet, and beans is prepared simply by being scratched or picked an inch or two deep with the woman's camote stick, the su-wan'. If the plat is new the gra.s.s is burned before the scratching occurs, but if it is cultivated annually the surface seldom has any care save the shallow work of the su-wan'; in fact, the surface stones are seldom removed.

In the season of 1903, the first rains came April 5, and the first mountain s.e.m.e.ntera was scratched over for millet April 10, after five successive daily rains.

Fertilizing

Much care is taken in fertilizing the irrigated s.e.m.e.nteras. The hog of a few pueblos in the Bontoc area, as in Bontoc and Samoki, is kept confined all its life in a walled, stone-paved sty dug in the earth (see Pl. LXXVII). Into this inclosure dry gra.s.ses and dead vines are continually placed to absorb and become rotted by the liquids. As the soil of the s.e.m.e.ntera is turned for the new rice crop these pigsties are cleaned out and the rich manure spread on the beds.

The manure is sometimes carried by women though generally by men, and the carriers in a string pa.s.s all day between the s.e.m.e.nteras and the pueblo, each bearing his transportation basket on his shoulder containing about 100 pounds of as good fertilizer as agricultural man ever thought to employ.

The manure is gathered from the sties with the two hands and is dumped in the s.e.m.e.ntera in 10-pound piles about 5 feet apart after the soil has been turned and trod soft and even.

It is said that in some sections of Igorot land dry vegetable matter is burned so that ash may be had for fertilizing purposes.

I have seen women working long, dry gra.s.s under the soil in camote s.e.m.e.nteras at the time the crop was being gathered (Pl. LXIV), but I believe fertilizers are seldom employed, except where rice is grown. Mountain-side s.e.m.e.nteras are frequently abandoned after a few years' service, as they are supposed to be exhausted, whereas fertilization would restore them.

Seed planting

Pad-cho-kan' is the name of the s.e.m.e.ntera used as a rice seed bed. One or more small groups of s.e.m.e.nteras in every pueblo is so protected from the cold rains and winds of November and December and is so exposed to the warm sun that it answers well the purposes of a primitive hotbed; consequently it becomes such, and anyone who asks permission of the owner may plant his seed there (see Pl. LXV).

The seed is planted in the beds after they have been thoroughly worked and softened, the soil usually being turned three times. The planting in Bontoc occurs the first part of November. November 15, 1902, the rice had burst its kernel and was above water in the Bontoc beds. The seed is not sh.e.l.led before planting, but the full fruit heads, sin-lu'-wi, are laid, without covering, on the soft ooze, under 3 or 4 inches of water. They are laid in rows a few inches apart, and are so close together that by the time the young plants are 3 inches above the surface of the water the bed is a solid ma.s.s of green.

Bontoc pueblo has six varieties of rice. Neighboring pueblos have others; and it is probable that fifty, perhaps a hundred, varieties are grown by the different irrigating peoples of northern Luzon. In Bontoc, ti'-pa is a white beardless variety. Ga'-sang is white, and cha-yet'-it is claimed to be the same grain, except it is dark colored; it is the rice from which the fermented beverage, tapui, is made. Pu-i-a-pu'-i and tu'-peng are also white; tu'-peng is sowed in unirrigated mountain s.e.m.e.nteras in the rainy season. Gu-mik'-i is a dark grain.

Camotes, or to-ki', are planted once in a long period in the s.e.m.e.nteras surrounding the buildings in the pueblo. There is nothing to kill them, the ground has no other use, so they are practically perpetual.

The average size of all the eight varieties of Bontoc camotes is about 2 by 4 inches in diameter. Six of the varieties are white and two are red. The white ones are the following: Li-no'-ko, pa-to'-ki, ki'-nub fa-fay'-i, pi-i-nit', ki-weng', and tang-tang-lab'. The red ones are si'-sig and pit-ti'-kan.

To ill.u.s.trate the many varieties which may exist in a small area I give the names of five other camotes grown in the pueblo of Balili, which is only about four hours from Bontoc. The Balili white camotes are bi-tak'-no, a-go-bang'-bang, and la-ung'-an and the red are gis-gis'-i and ta-mo'-lo.

Millet, called "sa'-fug," is sowed on the surface of the earth. The sowing is "broadcast," but in a limited way, as the fields are usually only a few rods square. The seed is generally sowed by women, who carry a small basket or dish of it in one hand and scatter the seed from between the thumb, forefinger, and middle finger of the free hand.

There are said to be four varieties of millet in Bontoc. Mo-di' and poy-ned' are light-colored seeds; pi-ting'-an is a darker seed -- the Igorot says "black;" and si-nang'-a is the fourth. I have never seen it but I am told it is white.

Maize, or pi'-ki, and beans, practically the only other seeds planted, are planted annually in "hills." The rows of "hills" are quite irregular. Maize, as is also millet, is planted immediately after the first abundant rains, occurring early in April.

The Bontoc man has three varieties of beans. One is called ka'-lap; the kernel is small, being only one-fifth of an inch long. Usually it is pale green in color, though a few are black; both have an exterior white germ. I'-tab is about one-third of an inch long. It is both gray and black in color, and has a long exterior white germ. The third variety is black with an exterior white germ. It is called ba-la'-tong, and is about one-fourth of an inch in length.

Transplanting

Transplanting is always the work of women, since they are recognized as quicker and more dexterous in most work with the hands than are the men.

The women pull up the young rice plants in the seed beds and tie them in bunches about 4 inches in diameter. They transport them by basket to the newly prepared s.e.m.e.ntera and dump them in the water so they will remain fresh.

As has been said, the manure fertilizer is placed about the s.e.m.e.ntera in piles. The women thoroughly spread this fertilizer with their hands and feet when they transplant (see Pl. LIX). When the soil is ready the transplanter grasps a handful of the plants, twists off 3 or 4 inches of the blades, leaving the plant about 6 inches long, and, while holding the plants in one hand, with the other she rapidly thrusts them one by one into the soft bed. They are placed in fairly regular rows, and are about 5 inches apart. The planter leans enthusiastically over her work, usually resting one elbow on her knee -- the left elbow, since most of the women are right-handed -- and she sets from forty to sixty plants per minute.

When the s.e.m.e.nteras are planted they present a clean and beautiful appearance -- even the tips of the rice blades twisted off are invariably crowded into the muddy bed to a.s.sist in fattening the crop.

As many as a dozen women often work together in one s.e.m.e.ntera to hasten the planting. There are usually two or three little girls with their mothers, who while away the hours playing work. They stuff up the c.h.i.n.ks of the stone walls with dirt and vegetable matter; they carry together the few camotes discovered in this last handling of the old camote bed; and they quite successfully and industriously play at transplanting rice, though such small girls are not obliged to work in the field.

Camotes are also transplanted. The women cut or pick off the "runners"

from the perpetual vines in the s.e.m.e.nteras near the dwellings. These they transplant in the unirrigated mountain s.e.m.e.nteras after the crops of millet and maize have been gathered.