GEOGRAPHY(page 4)
The Ibaloi settled in the mountains and the high mountain valleys of southwestern Nueva Vizcaya. They built houses near their fields and were therefore scattered throughout the area. Settlements consisted of only about twenty or so houses. Each house was built on posts and had a pyramidal roof similar to the Ifugao. There was only one room, with few furnishings and little ornamentation, but room in the rafters for storing rice. Rice was the most important Ibaloi crop; it was grown in the valleys or sometimes in rice terraces with walls of rock and mud. Sweet potatoes, taro, and cassava were also important sources of food as were beans and maize. Dogs, pigs, horses, cattle, and carabao were butchered for special occasions. Other dietary supplements were frogs, minnows, snails, locusts, and fruit. Ibaloi were herders as well as farmers. Wealthy Ibaloi raised horses, pigs, and carabao in large numbers. They would sell or trade the livestock to lowlanders for goods such as cloth, salt, tobacco, iron weapons and implements, pottery, dogs, and pigs. Gold dust and coffee were also traded with the people from the lowlands. Gold was either mined or panned from the rivers; traditionally they mined just enough for what they needed and did not store much excess. Marriage was forbidden for first cousins but did happen when wealthy families arranged the marriage so they could consolidate their holdings. Both families contributed to the engagement and marriage ceremonies. Property was received from both sides of the family, and kinship was also traced on both sides. Settlements were ruled by councils of the old wise men and the wealthy and powerful men who settled all internal conflicts. Headhunting existed but it began to die out just after the coming of the Spanish. Ibaloi culture did not have the strong sense of revenge that Ifugao culture had. They also came into closer contact with the Spanish. Among the most ferocious groups of people in Nueva Vizcaya were the Ilongot. They populated the mountains in the province's southeastern sector. They were swidden farmers and did not adopt the wet-rice farming as other groups did. These people resisted all outside influences, from the Spanish to the Americans. They played a major role in keeping the Spanish in the lowlands and to the western part of the province because of their fierceness. During the American occupation the census takers said that three-fourths of the people of Nueva Vizcaya were "unsubjugated and wild," referring to the Ilongot.The Ilongot lived in small settlements with the houses within calling distance of one another. Settlements ranged from "4 to 9 households, 5 to 15 nuclear families, and 40 to 70 people. Houses were raised off the ground 6-15 feet and had a pyramidal roof. In the house there was a raised area in the middle so that fires could be built.� As swidden farmers, the Ilongot used a field for up to ten years and then moved on. They planted rice, root crops, vegetables, manioc, and maize. When a field was abandoned for agriculture, it was planted with sweet potatoes, bananas, or sugarcane. Their diet was supplemented by hunting, gathering, and fishing. They hunted deer, wild pigs, and birds. The Ilongot traded dried meat, captured deer, pigs, and chickens to the lowlanders for liquor, cloth, salt, and knives. A division of labor based on sex existed in this culture. Responsibilities of the men were hunting, fishing and clearing timber. Women worked the area cleared by the men. Kinship was determined bilaterally but the closest association was the be:rtan. "In one sense, a be:rtan is not a clan,� corporate body, or discrete group of any kind, but rather an affirmation of allegiance given in a particular context or situation. In another sense, the Ilongot are at present divided into 13 mutually exclusive, relatively endogamous, local dialect groups, bearing be:rtan names. The be:rtan in this sense of the local group comprised of several settlements is the maximal unit for revenge raids in response to past beheadings. Marriage was mutually agreed on, and marriage to second cousins was preferred. There was a bride price that had to be paid. Once married the couple would move in to the wife's settlement; they could move back to the husband's settlement after the bride price had been paid. Within the settlement all males were considered equal with the one with the best oratorical skills being the most respected. Headhunting was prominent in Ilongot society; all men should take a head, and they needed to have taken a head before they were married.
Two other ethnic groups played a significant role in the history of Nueva Vizcaya, the Isinai and Ilokano. The Isinai were indigenous to the province and the Ilokano migrated into Nueva Vizcaya in large numbers. Because they were some of the first people converted to Christianity in Nueva Vizcaya, little is known about the pre-Christian Isinai culture. They inhabited the early towns of Aritao, Dupax, and Bambang. Migrating from the Ilocos region of northwestern Luzon, the Ilokanos, on the other hand, followed the coast east to the Cagayan Valley and then moved south, eventually moving into Nueva Vizcaya. These peoples both fall into the category of Christian Filipinos since they were influenced by the Spanish early in their colonization. Christian Filipinos adapted much more quickly to the influence of the Spanish and the Americans. They adopted the Roman Catholic religion and entered into the national and international economies. Due to the integration of cultures and a national image, their cultural background is obscured. These people were some of the first to accept a national as opposed to local identity. A diversity of ethnic groups and the rugged terrain that makes up the area that is now the Province of Nueva Vizcaya have helped to keep it a rather isolated province, despite the fact that it is near the central plain and the political center of the Philippines. Expansion into the province was limited by the terrain which discouraged the construction of adequate roads. Roads that were eventually built were subject to the intense weather of the area and were extremely difficult to maintain. The people of the area were fierce and independent; most were at one time or another headhunters. These factors contributed to the slow development of the province and the slow assimilation of its peoples into a national weltanshauung. This relative isolation has shaped the province through its history up until the present.
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