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Jenks, Albert Ernest, 1869-1953

"The Bontoc Igorot"


As soon as a pig is weaned he is kept in a separate pen, and one family
may have in its charge three or four pens. The sows are kept mainly
for breeding, and there are many several years old. The richest man in
Bontoc owns about thirty hogs, and these are farmed out for feeding and
breeding -- a common practice. When one is killed it is divided equally
between the owner and the feeder. When a litter of pigs is produced
the bunch is divided equally, the sow remaining the property of the
owner and counting as one in the division. Throughout the Island of
Luzon it is the practice to leave most male animals uncastrated. But
in Bontoc the boar not intended for breeding is castrated.
Hogs are raised for ceremonial consumption. They are commonly bought
and sold within the pueblo, and are not infrequently sold outside. A
pig weighing 10 pounds is worth about 3 pesos, and a hog weighing 60
or 70 pounds is valued at about 12 pesos.

Chicken
The Bontoc domestic chickens were originally the wild fowl, found in
all places in the Archipelago, although some of them have acquired
varied colorings and markings, largely, probably, from black and
white Spanish fowl, which are still found among them.


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