monstrate the impotence of the Europeans. This gave the
tribes courage to defend their liberty, whilst the licence indulged
in by the white men at the expense of the mountaineers--and boasted
of to me personally by many Spanish officers--had merely the effect
of raising the veil from their protestations of goodwill towards
the race they sought to subdue. The enterprise ignominiously failed;
the costly undertaking was an inglorious and fruitless one, except
to the General, who--being under royal favour since, at Sagunta,
in 1875, he "pronounced" for King Alfonso--secured for himself the
title of Count of La Union.

The _Igorrotes_ have, since then, been less approachable by Europeans,
whom they naturally regard with every feeling of distrust. Rightly
or wrongly (if it can be a matter of opinion), they fail to see any
manifestation of ultimate advantage to themselves in the arrival of a
troop of armed strangers who demand from them food (even though it be
on payment) and perturbate their most intimate family ties. They do not
appreciate being "civilized" to exchange their usages, independence,
and comfort for even the highest post obtainable by a native in the
provinces, which then was practically that of local head servant
to the district authority, under the name of Municipal Captain. To
roam at large in their mountain home is far more enjoyable to them
than having to wear clothes; to present themselves often, if not to
habitually reside, in villages; to pay taxes, for which they would
get little return--not even the boon of good highroads--and to act
as unsalaried tax-collectors with the chance of fine, punishment, and
ruin if they did not succeed in bringing funds to the Public Treasury.

As to Christianity, it would be as hard a task to convince them of what
Roman Catholicism deems indispensable for the salvation of the soul, as
it would be to convert all England to the teachings of Buddha--although
Buddhism is as logical a religion as Christianity. Just a few of
them, inhabiting the lowlands in the neighbourhood of Vigan and other
christian towns, received baptism and paid an annual tribute of half
a peso from the year 1893 to 1896.

Being in Tuguegarao, the capital of Cagayan Province, about 60
miles up the Rio Grande, I went to visit the prisons, where I saw
many of the worst types of _Igorrotes_. I was told that a priest
who had endeavoured to teach them the precepts of Christianity,
and had explained to them