Chapter II: Part 2

Bugan of Baay, a very pretty girl, was married by her parents
against her will to Pingkihan of Baay, a very rich but,
unfortunately, a darkish and very ugly man. The marriage proceeded
as far as the hingot, when it was thought wise by Pingkihan and
the part of justice by the kin of the girl that the girl give
her body before the proceeding went further. Pingkihan made many
futile attempts to attain this purpose, but all in vain. Finally
he despaired. The girl's father, however, told him to come to his
house one night. Pingkihan did so. An uncle of the girl caught her,
and held her. Pingkihan tried in vain to have sexual intercourse
with her. The girl's resistance made the thing impossible. The
marriage ceremonies were carried no further.

It cannot be too strongly emphasized that husband and wife are never united into one family. They are merely allies. The ties that bind each to his own family are much stronger than the ties that bind them together. An Ifugao explained this to me by putting his hands parallel, the forefingers together. The forefingers represent the two spouses; the hands the two families. Should the two families separate, should they withdraw from amity and agreement, the two spouses, the forefingers, of necessity withdraw, because they are attached to different hands.

Each succeeding feast in the consummation of the marriage carries with it an added degree of obligation and of alliance; and an added degree of culpability in cases of failure to comply with the marital obligations and in cases of crimes against the marriage.

14. The binawit relation.--Oftentimes when the spouses are children and live in different villages, as soon as they are of sufficient age to have some feeling for each other--at ten or more years, for instance--one of them goes to the house of the other. Usually the two espoused children live for a time at the house of the parents of the one, and then for a time at the house of the parents of the other. A child living thus at the house of his parents-in-law is called binawit. This matter is purely optional with the children, and is a matter of convenience to them.

The father of the girl has, however, a mean advantage, which he sometimes, though rarely, uses. If, for example, his son-in-law be a good worker, he counsels his daughter not to go to the house of her father-in-law, in order that she may hold her husband in his house to the end that the family profit by his labor. And even though the couple may have arrived at the age of separating from their elders and living in a house to themselves, the father of the girl refuses to give her her rice fields, putting the boy off from season to season with "Wait till next harvest" or "Wait till next spading time." It is true that the boy has in such conduct on the part of his father-in-law sufficient cause to justify him in divorcing the girl; but if he divorces her, he loses all that he has spent for sacrifices and hakba gifts!

15. Property rights acquired by marriage.--Neither spouse acquires any interest in the property that the other possesses at the time of the marriage. Each has, however, the right to veto the sale or transfer of the family property [9] of the other except where legal and sufficient reasons exist for such transfer. These legal and sufficient reasons are the necessity of selling the field: (a) to provide the necessary things for a funeral feast for ascendants or kinfolk; (b) to pay rightful debts; (c) to pay fines or indemnities; (d) to provide things necessary for feasts and sacrifices which are considered essential--a very liberal interpretation being placed upon the word "essential."

Should a man sell a field for a light or trivial cause without the permission of his wife, the validity of the transfer would not be effected by the fact of the non-consent of the wife. But the wife would have recourse for damages from her husband, and might demand: (a) twice the price received for the field as a settlement on their children; (b) a divorce; (c) or both. The right of each spouse to veto the sale of the other's property is equal and the same. This right is based principally or perhaps wholly on the ground that each spouse is the guardian of the interest of the children of the union, born or unborn.

The spouses have a joint right in all property acquired after marriage as the result of their joint labors; that is to say, any property whatever obtained except (a) by the sale of the fields of the one and the repurchase of other fields with the proceeds; (b) as the result of a fine or indemnity assessed by the family of one against some person for injury done a member of that family; (c) ceremonial gifts such as the hakba and habalag; (d) inheritance.

REMARRIAGE OF THE WIDOWED

16. The gibu payment to terminate marriage.--Even death itself does not terminate an Ifugao marriage. It terminates neither the obligation of the widowed to the soul of the dead spouse nor the compact of alliance between the two families involved. This obligation and this compact may be terminated only by the payment known as the gibu.

The word gibu means literally "finish". In its narrowest and probably original sense it may have meant a payment to terminate all the relations and obligations growing out of a marriage. There is another explanation. From the day of the death of a spouse till the third day after the interment (when the binokbok ceremony is performed), the kin of the deceased and the kin of the surviving spouse are on terms of theoretical enmity. They observe with reference to each other all the taboos that are observed toward enemies. This practice may have arisen from a former belief--a belief that is current among many primitive peoples today--that every death is due to sorcery or witchcraft. Whom so naturally blamed as the surviving spouse or his kin? If this be the explanation, then the gibu originated as an indemnity paid for the life of the deceased.

In the present day, the gibu in a broader sense applies to all fines and indemnities paid in connection with the abuse or termination of a marriage.

A remarriage may not properly be effected by the widowed until he has paid the kin of the dead spouse the gibu 'n di nate (gibu of the dead), or the datok, as it is specifically called. Failure on the part of the widowed to make this payment would lead to a seizure of his property or a lance throwing. In the Kiangan area this payment is not nearly so high as in other parts of Ifugao land, and for the reason that in the former area large payments are made to the kin of the woman in the hakba gifts at the beginning of the marriage. In Benaue and other areas of Ifugao the payments are about five times the amounts shown in the subjoined table.

The following is the datok payment of the Kiangan area:

DATOK [10]

For the Wealthy

Pu-u, 1 death blanket P8.00
Haynub, 1 pot 5.00
Haynub, 1 pot 2.00
Natauwinan 1.00
Natauwinan 1.00
Natauwinan 1.00
Natauwinan 1.00
Natuku .50
Natuku .50
Na-oha .25
Amo:
6 irons 1.50
Paduldul (offering to the
soul of the dead), 1 pig 10.00
======
Total P31.75

For the Middle Class

Pu-u, 1 death blanket P4.00
Haynub, 1 pot 2.00
Haynub, 1 pot 2.00
Natauwinan 1.00
Natauwinan 1.00
Natuku .50
Natuku .50
Nunbadi .40
Na-oha .25
Amo:
4 irons 1.00
Paduldul, 1 pig 8.00
======
Total P20.65

For the Very Poor

Pu-u, 1 pot P4.00
Haynub 1.00
Natauwinan 1.00
Natuku .50
Nunbadi .40
Na-oha .25
Amo:
4 irons 1.00
Paduldul, 1 pig 5.00
======
Total P13.15

It is considered an insult to the deceased and his kin for a widowed person to remarry within a year from the death of his spouse. In such an event, a larger gibu is demanded by the kin of the dead spouse. Should the spouses have had no children, double the amount usual is demanded as the datok.

If the widowed remarries without having first formally notified the kin of his dead spouse of his intention, or if he scandalously has sexual intercourse, he commits adultery according to Ifugao law, and must pay the gibu luktap (see sec. 75, 94). As a matter of fact, I do not believe that this law is often enforced. The Ifugaos say that it was nearly always enforced before the establishment of foreign government.

If the widowed be a woman, both she and the man with whom she contracts a second marriage are responsible for the gibu payment. The payment as a matter of practice is always made by the man who marries her; but it is said that, should her second husband for any reason fail to pay, the widow would be held for the payment.

In the event of the birth of a bastard child to a surviving spouse, the gibu must be paid.

The following is an instance of the non-payment of this indemnity, and the sequelae:

Piniliu of Longa married the wife of Butlong, a deceased kinsman
of Timbuluy, also of Longa. Piniliu did not come forward with
the usual datok payment, notwithstanding the fact that it was
repeatedly demanded of him.

Finally Piniliu went to Nueva Viscaya, and there bought a
carabao. Timbuluy gathered his kin and met Piniliu when he was
bringing back the carabao. About two miles before they reached
their home village Timbuluy and his kin seized the animal,
hamstringing and slaughtering it before Piniliu's eyes.

The act of Timbuluy may very safely be said to have been justified
by Ifugao custom, and so to have been legal.

The gibu is smaller if the second spouse taken be a kinsman or kinswoman of the first.

If the living spouse should not have furnished the animal required of him (see sec. 13) and a death blanket for the funeral of the dead spouse, the value of these things is added to the amount of the gibu. [11]

DIVORCE

The following tables show some of the causes for divorce together with the payments, if any, due and to whom they are due.

17. Divorce because of necessity.--This is always achieved by mutual agreement.

Cause Fine Paid to

1. A bad omen of the bile sac of the animal
sacrificed at the mommon, imbango, hingot,
or bubun feasts (see sec. 17) None
2. A bad omen of the bile sac at any of the
three principal rice feasts of either
family during the year following the
performance of the bubun ceremony
(see sec. 7) None

It is considered that only ill fortune could come of a marriage which gave even a single ill omen in any of these cases. It is not permitted to provide another pig and consult the omen again in any of these feasts. But in all subsequent feasts this may be done, and does not lead to divorce. Divorce is unavoidable if the above occurs, and neither party would dream of opposing it.

18. Divorce for mutual benefit.--Childlessness is the cause. Divorce under these circumstances is considered a mutual benefit. It may be achieved by mutual consent or may be demanded by either party without liability for indemnity.

Cause Fine Paid to

1. Continuous dying of offspring None 2. Childlessness for a period of two or three years after marriage None

It is considered that the gods of animal fertility look with permanent disapproval on the union. This is not without some show of reason, since spouses who have lived together for a goodly number of years on separation and remarriage with other persons have each had children. Ifugao experience in this matter would indicate that there is such a matter as biologic incompatibility.

19. Divorce which may be demanded by either party.--Cruelty and incompatibility are the causes. The divorce may be by mutual consent or may be demanded by the injured.

Cause Fine Paid to

1. Neglect of one spouse by the other in time Hudhud
of sickness; the failure to "cherish" (see below) The injured
2. Ill treatment of one of the spouses by the In some
near kin of the other; insulting language cases
by a father- or mother-in-law hudhud Divorcer
3. Unwillingness of either party to have
sexual intercourse with the other, and
continued resistance to it, when there is
the ability to perform the sexual act Hudhud Divorcer
4. The lessening of the fields of one of the
spouses which it was agreed in the
contract of marriage would be his,
without the consent of the kin of the
other spouse Hudhud Divorcer
5. Permanent inability to perform the
sexual act None
6. Insanity None
7. Failure on the part of one spouse or his Hudhud Divorcer
family in any of the obligations (not always
heretofore mentioned (see sec. 13) paid)
8. Commission of crime by one spouse against
a member of the other spouse's family Hudhud Divorcer
9. Refusal of one family to furnish the pigs
necessary to complete the ceremonials; in
case the spouses are related, the refusal
or continued neglect of one family to
produce a pig for the ponga (see sec. 11) None
10. The selling of a rice field for Hudhud Divorcer
insufficient reasons by one spouse without (also see
the consent of the other (see sec. 14) sec. 21)
11. Continued refusal of the father of either
of the spouses to deliver the fields
called for in the contract when the couple
has reached a reasonable age (see sec. 10) Hudhud Divorcer
12. Continued laziness or shiftless conduct on
the part of one of the spouses Usually none
13. The incurring of many debts or other
obligations; the squandering of family
resources Hudhud Divorcer
14. Unreasonable or insane jealousy None

20. Cases where divorce may be demanded by one party or the other.

Cause Fine Paid to

1. Desertion of lawful spouse and Gibu of Injured
cohabitation with another; divorce already hokwit party
a fait accompli (see sec.
94)
2. Incompatibility; continuous quarreling Hudhud The
divorced
3. A change of affection or a desire not to
proceed with or complete the marriage; if
there be children, all the property or
nearly all must be settled on them Hudhud The
divorced
4. Adultery Gibu of The
luktap injured
(see sec.
94)

21. The hudhud, or payment for mental anguish.--This is the fine or indemnity assessed in cases of divorce at the instance of one of the parties, when uncomplicated by improper sexual relations, on the ground of mental anguish, hakit di nemnem, literally, "hurt of the mind." In general it may be said to be assessed against that spouse who has made necessary the dissolution of the marriage, whether or not he be the one who takes the initiative in effecting the divorce. Should the divorce be effected on account of sexual crime of one of the spouses, the greater the injury the more severely the crime is punished. The hudhud is a small fine, but its payment is said effectually to banish the mental anguish. The dignity and self-importance of the Malay are of unusual proportions in comparison with his other feelings and emotions. In Kiangan district there are three grades of the hudhud: one for the kadangyang or wealthy; one for the tumuk or middle class; and one for nawatat or poor. The following are the usual amounts of the indemnity:

THE HUDHUD INDEMNITY

For the Wealthy

1 death blanket P8.00
=====
Total P8.00

For the Middle Class

1 iron pot P2.00
Natauwinan 1.00
Natuku .60
Nunbadi .40
Na-oha .25
=====
Total P4.85

For the Very Poor

Natauwinan P1.00
=====
Total P1.00

In case of a change of mind leading to an unwillingness to proceed with the marriage, the following additional data are pertinent: Should the girl refuse to proceed with the marriage after the performance of the mommon ceremonial and before the performance of the imbango ceremonial, she pays simply the hudhud; should she refuse after the imbango, she pays the hudhud, and, unless her kin have given the boy's kin the mangdad di imbango, she pays back the pig given her family by the boy's family for the imbango ceremonial. The same is true, mutatis mutandis, should she refuse to proceed after the hingot ceremony. The boy may refuse to proceed with the marriage after the mommon and before the imbango without liability to damages; should he refuse after the imbango, he must pay the hudhud.

22. Divorce ceremonies.--It is only when divorce is by mutual agreement that divorce is attended by any ceremonies. The ceremonies consist of a honga, or general welfare feast, not greatly different in spirit from the ceremonials by which the couple were married. In other cases, the couple have separated prior to the formal divorce or have such ill feeling toward each other that concerted action is impossible.

23. Property settlements in case of divorce.--(1) When there are no children: Each spouse takes the property that he brought to the marriage, together with any property received since by inheritance, or solely by virtue of his relationship to his own family.

The remaining property, that is, family property such as rice fields, gold ornaments, gansas, etc., and personal property such as food stores, house furnishings, implements, domestic animals, and also liabilities that rightfully bear equally on both spouses are apportioned by two umpires, monhangdad, one chosen by each spouse. These persons make an equitable division, taking as their fee any odd articles of personal property. Thus if there be three bolos, they take one; if there be a chicken "left over," they take it. They may not carry this appropriation to themselves too far, however.

(2) When there are children of the union: The woman has the right to the children, and nearly always exercises it. In some cases, when the mother has no rice fields and the father does have rice fields, and when the children are large enough not to need a mother's care, by special agreement the father takes one or more of the children.

Whoever takes the children takes possession of the property that belongs to them. Usually the woman takes all the children and manages the husband's family property that has been allotted them.

All the property of both the spouses must be assigned to their children at the time of the divorce (except the personal property). The one who takes a child takes also the property of that child and tills it. He may not dispose of it except for the purpose of meeting legitimate obligations against it. Should the child die, its brothers and sisters inherit the property.

DEPENDENTS IN RELATION TO FAMILY LAW

24. Adopted children.--An adopted child is termed inagamid, that is, "taken to one's self"; or it may be termed na-imbalbalayen, "made one's child." The word inagamid is also used to denote a slave taken into a household.

Adoptions are rather rare; for the reason, I suspect, that it is only the propertied class who make them, and that persons of this class, being well nurtured, usually have children of their own. Usually the child adopted is the son or daughter of a brother or sister, and so is really, according to the Ifugao mode of reckoning kinship, the son or daughter of the adopter. Which family the child shall be adopted from [12] is a question that is hard for a man and his wife to agree upon, the wife naturally wishing to adopt from her family and the husband from his. Sometimes two children are adopted, one from each family. More often the adopted child is married to one of the family of the unrelated parent. The two parents by adoption then give or will give their children by adoption a large part or nearly all of their properties. They may not give the adopted children all. They must give something to those who would have been their heirs had they not made the adoption.

25. Servants.--The general term for servants is baal. As a rule no pay is given a servant other than his board and clothing. It is the obligation of the master, however, to furnish animals for sacrifice when the servant falls sick. It is, further, considered good form for the master to furnish animals for sacrifice in case of sickness of the servant's father or mother; but I do not believe it to be an obligation. A servant that has been a long time with his master is called nikkop. It is an obligation resting on the master to furnish the animals and other necessities for a marriage feast for such a servant. As a rule there is no definite time set for the termination of a contract between master and servant, and such contracts are terminable at any time at the will of either party.

Sometimes an unmarried adult goes to the house of a rich man and asks to be taken as a member of the family on such a basis; but as a rule servants are children when first taken. Oftentimes a high degree of affection is felt for a faithful member of the family of this class, and if a child he is treated as a son or daughter. Sometimes a rice field is assigned to him, and he inherits as though he were the youngest son or daughter.

26. Slaves.--Before the American occupation, except in those few parts of the habitat that were prosperous and in which the obtaining of the daily ration was not a serious problem, the selling by parents who found themselves poverty stricken of one of their children was not at all uncommon. The price that a child brought his parents varied from five pigs to five carabaos. There was no difference in value between a male and a female child. A slave was most valuable at the age of eighteen or twenty. Some men were slave dealers, and carried great numbers of children to Nueva Vizcaya and Isabela. In those parts a slave was worth from five to twenty carabaos.

Among the Ifugao a slave was absolutely the property of his owner. The latter had power of life and death over him. Even if the master killed the slave it was not considered that the slave's family would be justified in avenging the death. But a slave's children, even though they be the children by another slave parent, were free. Frequently one of them was assigned to take the place of the father and another of the mother, and these two then became free. In the lowlands, however, the children of slaves were slaves, which accounts partly for the higher prices paid for slaves in those parts. It would be interesting to know whether the lowland (Christian) Filipino held children of slaves as slaves before his civilization and christianization by the Spaniard, or whether his practice then was that of his Ifugao brethren.

The purchase of a slave was celebrated by a very pretentious series of religious ceremonials. Oftentimes, with the Ifugao, a slave was set free, at or before the death of his master, and was given a rice field. Unless set free he was inherited by the master's heirs as any other property. Sometimes a slave child was adopted by a childless couple as their own son or daughter.

The following "Pocahontas" story is told of a slave who lived at his master's house in Anao. The master treated him ill, and the slave, a young man, ran away. He went to the enemy village of Alimit. The men of that town were going to kill him, hearing his Anao accent, and believing him to be one of their hereditary enemies. But a handsome girl, the daughter of a rich man, protected him with her own body and begged for his life. She afterward married him and bought his freedom. There was no actual necessity for her buying his freedom, since the last thing in the world the Anao master could have accomplished would have been the recovery of his property. She bought his freedom, however, in order that the children of herself and her husband might never be called the "offspring of a slave."

Mention should be made, also, of those who voluntarily entered into slavery as a means of paying a debt. The word "voluntarily" in this connection needs explanation, however. A man was usually frightened into entering into servitude by the probability that if he did not he would be killed.

In parts of Ifugao, the killing of women or children in feuds was a disgraceful thing, and rarely, if ever, practiced. Instead they were made prisoners and sold for debt. Sometimes, too, women or children were carried off and held for debt. This form of collection of debts was legal, or at least semi-legal. In case the debt was paid, the captive was returned; otherwise, he was sold as a slave.

ILLEGITIMATE CHILDREN

27. Definition of illegitimacy; its frequency.--A bastard is one whose father refuses to take the mother as his legal wife for any period of time, however short. The marriage of the parents after the birth of the bastard, consequently, legitimizes the child.

Bastardy is not very frequent. It is extremely frequent, however, for a girl to become pregnant before her marriage. But in such cases her lover usually marries her. It is usually in cases of doubtful parentage and in cases in which one of the parents is of vastly different status as to wealth that a marriage does not follow pregnancy. But there are also a few cases of bastardy surrounded by other circumstances.

28. Obligations of father to bastard child.--The father of a bastard must give his child a rice field if he has a field unassigned. He must also give the mother an oban, or blanket, with which to carry the child after the Ifugao fashion on her back. The value of this gift is principally in its constituting a formal recognition of the child.

The mother's rights are enforced by her kin. To a certain extent the same is true of the bastard's rights. A man is never forced to marry a woman against his will--an Ifugao woman would be ashamed to ask such a thing. Such a marriage, too, would not be congenial. The mere making of a bastard a legitimate child is not of sufficient importance to justify such a marriage. Besides, the Ifugaos have a saying, kumadangyang di inlaglaga: "The bastard becomes a rich man."

Except in the matter of division of estates, the bastard has the same rights as legitimate children. His father's kin back him in legal procedures and avenge his wrongs as if he were legitimate. The father and his kin assist him in his marriage feast and in other feasts that may be necessary.

29. Determination of parentage.--The ordeal is employed when two or more men are accused of being the father of a bastard. The woman's word is not sufficient to settle the parentage. The one she accuses may lay the matter at the door of another. The ordeals used are the duel with runo stalks, or eggs, and the hot water test. The woman, holding the babe in her arms, sits half way between the two controversants.

The Ifugao has the remnant of a peculiar belief that a child may be begotten by two fathers. They say, for example, that if A and B, two men, are having sexual intercourse with a woman, Z, and that if it is settled by fate that A and B each shall beget a child of the male sex, Z will conceive and the child may be the son of both of them. But if A is fated to beget a female child, and B to beget a male child, the semen of the one undoes that of the other, and the woman does not conceive. This belief is not taken seriously as a rule; but I have heard it advanced in a case of illegitimate birth. [13]

Accordingly, should each of the two men be struck by the eggs thrown in the duel to decide the parentage of the child, or should both be scalded by hot water, the Ifugao, formerly at least, held that the child belonged to each of them.

RECIPROCAL OBLIGATIONS OF PARENTS AND THEIR CHILDREN

30. Duties of parents to children.--The Ifugao family exists principally for the child members of it. The parents are supposed to love, and do love their children more than the children love them. The parents are under the obligation to provide food and clothing for their children, and to impart to them the tribal knowledge that is necessary to a respectable and well regulated Ifugao life. The child may be forced to assist, according to his ability, in the matter of household tasks, work in the fields, and the like.

Corporal punishment may be, but very rarely is, administered. It is the mothers, strange to say, rather than the fathers, who use this form of punishment. I never saw or heard of a father whipping his child. Such a thing as a right of life and death over a child is as unthought of, as it would be abhorrent, to the Ifugao if mentioned.

The Ifugao child, even at the age of ten or twelve, begins to look upon his parents' property as his own, or at least that portion of it that will fall to his share. A little later, he becomes independent--he does not obey his parents unless he wants to do so. He is fully as likely to command them as to obey them. And the parent is under the obligation early to allow the children to displace him from his possession. He must turn over all his property to them as soon as they are able to marry or care for themselves. Should there be but a single field, he assigns it to his eldest. From the time that the fields are turned over, the father's offices are those of priest and counselor; the mother's offices are those of priestess (sometimes) and of household drudge (always).

31. Obligations of children to parents.--The obligations of children to their parents are:

(a) To provide animals and other things requisite to religious feasts that are thought necessary to keep them in good health and to restore them when sick. This obligation is by far the most burdensome one, usually.

(b) To provide food and clothing for them, and to care for them when sick or helpless.

(c) To provide requisites for a funeral feast in accord with the station of the deceased.

In case the child has not yet obtained possession of his allotment, these obligations do not rest upon the child, but are a charge upon the property allotted him. If the child has obtained possession of his share in the family estate, the obligation rests upon the child himself.

The law of primogeniture holds with respect to these obligations. Civil obligations rest more heavily upon the older children and as nearly as possible in proportion to the amounts of property received from the parents. Children who receive no family property contribute very little.

One might ask how compliance with these obligations is enforced. Compliance with them is really not enforced. They are the most sacred of all duties. Not to meet them would bring upon one's self such universal reproach as to render life unbearable.

THE PROPERTY LAW

THE KINDS OF PROPERTY

32. The Ifugao's classification of properties.--The Ifugao clearly distinguishes between two classes of property. His language, and indeed his thought, is very poor in abstractions, however, and he bases his classification upon the difference in the method of transferring property by sale. The one class he calls ma-ibuy, "that for whose transfer by sale an ibuy ceremony is necessary"; and the other, adi ma-ibuy, "that for whose transfer by sale an ibuy ceremony is not necessary." Classifying them upon their essential differences in status in Ifugao law and culture, I term the former family property and the latter personal property.

FAMILY PROPERTY

33. The Ifugao attitude toward family property.--Family properties consist of rice lands, forest lands, and heirlooms. The Ifugao attitude is that lands and articles of value that have been handed down from generation to generation cannot be the property of any individual. Present holders possess only a transient and fleeting possession, or better, occupation, insignificant in duration in comparison with the decades and perhaps centuries that have usually elapsed since the field or heirloom came into the possession of the family. Their possession is more of the nature of a trust than an absolute ownership--a holding in trust for future generations.

It is a misfortune when family property that has long been in the possession of a family must be sold out of it. But if it be sold to a member of another branch of the same family, the misfortune is accounted less in proportion to the nearness of the kinship. However, the rights of the living and of the ancestors departed, are greater than the rights of the unborn. Consequently, a field may properly be sold and so depart from the family, if it be in order to provide animals to accompany the spirit of a deceased ancestor to the spirit world, or in order to provide animals for sacrifices to secure the recovery from dangerous sickness of some member of the family. Inherited property, however, is not to be disposed of without exhausting every effort to keep it within the family. Nor must it ever be disposed of for light or trivial reasons. Except when sold to satisfy the needs of the departed or living (in these cases, a forced sale) family properties when sold bring exorbitant prices. Fields or other properties which have been recently acquired or constructed, sell at considerably lower prices, even though their intrinsic value be the same.

Nothing that I know of in the Ifugao make-up, is so characteristically oriental as is this subordination of individual to family rights.

34. Rice lands.--A "field" consists of all the contiguous paddies in one place that are the property of one man. In sales and in transfers arising out of family relationship, and in balal (pawning), a field is never divided. If there be two heirs and only one field to be inherited, the elder of the heirs takes the entire field. The reason for this and for the rights of primogeniture (see sec. 53) in inheritance and assignment of property, is to be found in the fact that the Ifugao social consciousness considers it better--and it is better--that a family have at least one powerful member round whom the kin may rally and to whom they may look for aid, than that the family property be split into insignificant parcels that would affect but little the property of all. Aside from this consideration there is also the practical difficulty of dividing a field. In the process of dividing, the family unity--which is the dearest and most necessary thing in Ifugao society--would probably be destroyed by quarrels and squabbles. Even if an equitable division could be arranged, a great deal of the field would be taken up in dikes and division lines. It is a rare thing to find an Ifugao rice field as large as one acre in extent.

There is no formal recognition of the eldest as the head of the family. But together with the lion's share of the property, the first-born inherits certain well defined and rather stringent obligations. In this we seem to have the savor of a system of patriarchy.

35. Forest lands.--Such lands, valuable principally because of the woods upon them, are often the common property of a group of kinsmen and their families. They are sometimes partitioned. They are nearly sure to be partitioned if wood be scarce, or if part of the land be suitable for rice fields.

36. Heirlooms.--Heirlooms consist of such articles as gold neck-ornaments (intrinsic value of the gold being about 10 pesos to 20 pesos; current price among the Ifugaos, 60 pesos to 120 pesos); gongs (value 8 pesos to 250 pesos); rice-wine jars (value 60 pesos to 400 pesos); pango, or strings of amber colored glass beads (value 80 pesos to 160 pesos); and bungol, long strings of agates and bloodstones which are very rarely sold (value about 250 pesos). These articles are used fully as much by the owner's kin as by the owner himself; for they wear the beads and ornaments, play the gongs in feasts, and brew rice wines in the jars.

37. Sale of family property.--The selling of rice fields, forest lands, gold neck-ornaments, rice-wine jars, and the like is a matter of practical concern to the entire family. Selling them, except in cases of necessity and after consultation with the kin, would lead to ill feeling toward the seller on the part of his kin, and a refusal to assist and back him. Since there is no form of political government in Ifugao culture, and since every man must, with the help of his kin, "get his own justice," this would be no small punishment. How serious a punishment it would be, the reader will, perhaps, realize when he reads the chapter on procedure.

The sale of family property is registered by ceremonies in which the near kin of both buyer and seller take part. In comparison with the solemnity of these transfers, our real estate transfers are commonplace. In comparison with their complexity, our transfers are simplicity itself.

PERSONAL PROPERTY

38. Definition.--Such articles as knives, spears, dishes, baskets, pots, houses, camote fields, fruit-bearing trees, blankets, animals and articles of minor value, are on the same legal basis as personal property among ourselves. Three items in this list demand special attention: houses, valuable trees, and sweet potato fields.

39. Houses.--Dwellings are movable property in Ifugao. A man, with the aid of his kinsmen can, and frequently does, take a house to pieces, move it to a different site and set it up again before sunset. The plot on which a house stands has no value. The value of a house is usually about ten pesos, the range of prices being from six to sixty pesos.

40. Valuable trees.--Cocoanut trees, coffee trees, and areca palms are sold without any sale or transfer of the land on which they stand. The value of a cocoanut tree in full bearing is five pesos; of a coffee tree, one to two pesos; of an areca palm one-half peso. As a rule, the land on which these trees stand has no value. A practice presenting parallel features that leads one to believe that the same manner of selling trees must have prevailed among the Pangasinanes, one of the Christian tribes, is that, in the sale of the cocoanut groves in central Pangasinan, the trees are sold at so much apiece; but in order to get possession of the trees, it is necessary to buy the land at so much a hectare, since the land has a value.

Camote or sweet potato fields are discussed in section 45.

No ceremonials are involved in the transfer of personal property; nor are witnesses necessary, as a general thing.

PERPETUAL TENURE

Tenure is either perpetual or transient.

41. Rice and forest lands.--Rice-land and forest-land tenures are perpetual.

In case an owner abandons a rice field for any period of time, however long, and another man takes up the field without interference or contrary order of the true owner, clears it of underbrush, builds up the broken dikes, levels once more the terraces, tills and plants it, the latter has the right to use the field for the same number of years that it was abandoned. At the end of this time, the field reverts to the true owner. Should the owner desire possession of his field before the expiration of the time, for which, in accordance with this rule, the field should remain in the possession of him who redeemed it from the wild mountain side, he must repurchase possession.

It is not incumbent on a man to secure permission of the owner of an abandoned field before working it; it is incumbent on the owner to prevent others from working his field against his will.

In the event a rice field is made on privately owned forest lands from which the timber has long been cut, the owner of the land, when he has proved title, demands payment for the land. But he may not take advantage of the labor that the other has spent on the land in making rice fields, to demand an exorbitant payment. To take such a course would invite danger to himself.

Forest lands that have been divested of their wood may be planted in camotes (sweet potatoes) by any person without asking the consent of the owner. If the owner does not want his land so planted or intends to use it himself, it is his business to inform any who may have started to work the land. But if he is tardy in making this prohibition, he must pay for the labor expended, or must allow the continuance of the work, and the harvesting of one crop of camotes from the land. I am not certain that this is the case in all parts of Ifugao.

42. "Homesteading."--That land which is not rice fields or forest land and which is not owned by some individual by reason of its having been one or the other formerly, becomes the property of whomsoever makes it into rice fields. The tenure so acquired is perpetual.

43. Paghok, or landmarks.--Whenever a rice-field terrace is walled, the terrace wall is an unfailing and unimpeachable landmark. But in many districts, the terraces are not walled. In such cases, the division lines between fields are marked by large chunks of wood or by large stones, buried three or four feet deep along the division line. A boulder is of course a most excellent landmark.

Weather and the elements are continually wearing back an unwalled terrace. The amount each year is very small. But when in the course of years the displacement is sufficient to justify it, the owner may take that part of the field in the terrace below that belongs to him.

The moving of a landmark is said never to occur, since it would take two or three men to lift the heavy stones, and would require a long time. Moreover it could not be done without leaving plain and indisputable evidence of the crime.

44. Right of way through property owned by others.--In order to get rid of insect pests, clay is sometimes conveyed to a field to form a layer over it about two inches thick. The clay is shovelled into a stream of water above, and carried as silt to the field and there allowed to settle. Sometimes leaf mold and other fertilizers are conveyed to a field in this manner.

It makes no difference how many fields there may be above that on which it is desired to deposit the sediment, the owner of the last has a right to cut a ditch through the upper fields as a conduit for the stream of water. He must, however, repair all the upper terraces so as to leave them as they were before.

TRANSIENT TENURE

45. Tenure of sweet potato fields.--Sweet potato, or camote, fields are clearings on the mountain sides about the village. They are nearly always steep slopes, and quickly lose their fertility. For that reason, they are abandoned after a period that varies in different districts of Ifugao according as camotes are a more or less important factor in the subsistence of the people. Thus in Banaue, where camotes form a very large part of the subsistence of the people, the fields are cultivated for five or even six years, if located near the village; if more distant, they are abandoned after about two years. In Kiangan, where camotes do not play such an important part in subsistence, the fields are in any case abandoned after one or two years. The reason for abandoning the fields is that the soil wears out soon, so that the camotes grow small, and the yield does not repay the labor spent in cultivation. But in case a large area about the village be cultivated, rather than face the necessity of going far from the village to make clearings, the old fields are tended to a point at which the yield becomes almost nil. After abandoning a field, the owner still has a claim on it, but only until such time as the field grows up in weeds, in which case the labor spent by him in making the clearing may be fairly presumed to have been undone. After abandonment, the field regains its fertility slowly. The first person who begins clearing the field again becomes its possessor for a new term of years. It is exceedingly rare that quarrels arise over camote fields. Camote fields are sometimes sold, but it is not the land that is sold, but the crop with temporary possession of the land.

TRANSFERS OF PROPERTY FOR A CONSIDERATION

There are two kinds of transfer of family property for "consideration": the balal (pawn), and outright sale.

46. The balal.--In case a man finds himself under the necessity of raising a considerable sum of money--usually in order to provide funds for a funeral feast or a sacrifice--he frequently borrows the sum, giving a rice field into the hands of his creditor as a security and as a means of paying the interest on debt. The creditor holds, plants, and harvests the field until the debt be repaid. The field is to all purposes his, except that he cannot sell it. He can, however, transfer it as a balal into the hands of another. But he must transfer it for the same or a less amount of money; that is, if he has loaned fifty pesos on the field, he must not borrow more than that sum, unless, of course, he be able to secure the owner's consent. This is a very wise provision of Ifugao law that insures the prompt return of the field to the owner as soon as he be able to get together the amount needed to redeem the field. An example will make this clear. A borrows fifty pesos of B, giving his field as a balal into B's charge; B gives it as a balal to C for the same or a less amount, who gives it as a balal to D and so on. When A is able to repay the debt, he goes to B and delivers him the sum plus the fee of the agent through whom the deal was effected. With this amount, including the fee, B goes to C, C goes to D, and so on. Were B to have borrowed without A's consent more than fifty pesos, say seventy pesos, and were he not financially able to obtain the difference (twenty pesos) between his debt to C and the debt that A had just paid him, there would be an excellent beginning for a quarrel that might end in lance throwing.

Real estate of this kind continues in the hands of the creditor until the debt be paid. Transfers of the same piece of land may go on indefinitely. The transfers are witnessed each time by the agent who obtains the loan for the person in whose charge the field is. This agent receives as his fee about five to twelve per cent of the value of the loan obtained. He is the only witness necessary. His fee is paid him in the first place by the creditor. But the fee is added to the amount loaned, and must be returned by the debtor when the debt is paid. As soon as the agent has received his fee, it is his duty to inform his oldest son, in case he be of sufficient age, otherwise his wife or a brother, of the terms of the transaction. This is a precautionary measure against his death and the consequent leaving of the transaction without a witness.

Each creditor is liable to his debtor for the return of the field upon the payment of the sum due, the case being precisely parallel to the liability of the indorsers of a check or a note, one to another.

Suppose, however, that the field be planted in rice. In such an event, the owner must leave the creditor in possession of the field until the crop shall have been harvested. In case the field be newly planted, it is sometimes returned to the owner on the agreement that he care for the growing crop, harvest it, and give the creditor half. If the field be spaded, but not planted, the owner may pay his creditor for the cost of the labor expended in spading the field, together with a bonus as interest.

The amount loaned on a field never equals the value of the field. Usually it is about half the value. It makes no difference how long a field remain in the status known as balal, the field, subject to the conditions of the preceding paragraph, must be returned to the owner or his heirs whenever the amount loaned be returned. Sometimes a field remains a balal for two or three generations.

47. Sales of family property.--The Ifugao has a very peculiar system of buying and selling in connection with family property, by which, paradoxical as it may sound, a man has to pay for an article almost twice its price. In order to complete the purchase of a rice field, there are "extras" almost without number, to be paid, each extra bearing as its metaphorical name, the name of some act of rice-field cultivation or of a feature of the trade itself. So far as has yet been ascertained, there is no myth or story to explain how this peculiar idiosyncracy originated.

The price is divided into ten parts, each part being represented by a runo stick or a notch cut in a stick, or by knots in a string. In the Banaue district, these sticks are kept for generations as records of the sale. The first two sticks are called budut, and represent the payment down. They are the heaviest payments, not necessarily made on the day of the transfer, but at a set time. The eight others represent some standard in the Ifugao's system of barter, and are called gatang, or price. They are paid at some indefinite time in the future. Possession of the field is given after the first payment. In order to make the sticks conform to the standards of barter, it is sometimes necessary to represent one payment by two sticks.

Fee of witnesses and agent. This fee is called lukbu, or lagbu (in Benaue dialect). The principal witnesses are preferably the distant kin of the seller, and the agent or agents who effected the sale. The names of the different sticks, knots, or notches are translated literally in the tables diagraming the transactions in purchasing fields.

These fees are paid and the presents made to the kin of the seller at a feast called ibuy. This feast is performed whenever the purchase price of the field has been paid. The kin of buyer and seller meet in the purchaser's house.

A. Transactions in the Purchase of a Field in the Kiangan Area

I. Payments on the property

Paid down at time purchase is consummated, or soon after:

Name of transaction and Article Value
meaning transferred

Budut, or tandong 1 pig P20.00
Budut, or tandong 1 pig 15.00

Additional instalments (gatang) paid irregularly:

Gatang 1 death blanket 8.00
Nunokóp (two at a time) 1 death blanket 8.00
Nunokóp (two at a time) 1 pig 20.00
Gatang 1 pig 8.00
Gatang 1 pig 8.00
======
Total P87.00

II. Fees (lukbu) of the principal witnesses

Name of transaction and Article Value
meaning transferred

Bobod (the tying) 1 pig P10.00
Page (rice) 1 small pig 6.00
Lanad (commission of the
go-between) 5.00
Pugug (finished) 4.00
Gogod (cut) 3.00
Kinta (left over) 1.00
======
Total P29.00

III. Advance interest paid to the seller

Baloblad P6.50

(If the seller is a kinsman, he may not take this amount. If taken,
the seller and the purchaser may not eat together for five days, since
they are on a basis of "theoretical enmity." This "theoretical enmity"
exists in several other instances in Ifugao life. See section 15 and
appendix 2.)

IV. Gifts to the seller's kin

Piduan di gogod (repetition
of the cut) Natauwin P1.00
Piduan di kinta (repetition
of the surplus) [14] Natauwin 1.00
Hablal (flooding of field) Na-oha .25
Hagaphap (chopping of grass
from terrace wall) Na-oha .25
Ohok (sticks for beans to
climb up) Na-oha .25
Umuhun (burning off grass) Na-oha .25
Aiyag (dinner call) Na-oha .25
Banting (flint and steel) Na-oha .25
Pakimáan (chewing betels
together) Na-oha .25
Alauwin (woman's rice-field
jug) Na-oha .25
Kalakal (edible water beetle
living in rice-field) Na-oha .25
Tobong (spit on which kalakal
are strung) Na-oha .25
Inipit di otak (holding bolo
between toes to cut meat with) Na-oha .25
Banga (cooking pot) Na-oha .25
Hukup (lid for the same) Na-oha .25
Duyu (dish) Na-oha .25
Tayap di gatang (wings of
the sale) Natauwin 1.00
Tayap di mongatang (wings of
the seller) Natauwin 1.00
Kindut (carried under the arm) Natauwin 1.00
Inhida (eaten chicken) Natauwin 1.00
=====
Total P9.50
=======
Grand total P132.00