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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.
THE QUIANGANES OF LUZON.[1] |
By Prof. F. BLUMENTRITT.
THE Quianganes of Luzon, Philippine Islands, live for the most part in small settlements in the mountain districts; but they have larger colonies in the more level regions, where they can cultivate rice. Their homes are all built after the same type, of wood or reeds, with wooden floors, about twelve feet square, resting about a yard above the earth on posts. They cultivate rice wherever the supply of water will permit it, and, as their land is rarely level, they lay it out in terraces, which they call pilapil. If the slope is moderate, they make them of earth; if steep, they strengthen them with walls of stone, the height of which is largely governed by the inclination. Having no plows, they till the soil by main strength with wooden shovels. The watering is very laborious, and sometimes, when in dry seasons the springs fail, their labor is lost. In consideration of the unending vigilance and work exacted by the rice crop, a high value is set upon it.
The men go out to the fields in groups of from six to twenty
- ↑ From the missionary report of the Dominican Père Villaverde.