20/09/2023
Did you know that Isabela is truly a place abundant with blessings? Isabela was literally the land of milk and honey back when the Sierra Madre Mountain Ranges were still virgin forests, and the Cagayan River was still unspoiled. (Might be one of the reasons the Ilocanos migrated from the Ilocos region to the Cagayan Valley is that they wouldn't go hungry here due to the abundance of fish in the Cagayan River, as well as deer and wild pigs. :) )
Below is an excerpt from the diary of American traveler William Jones, dating back to April 1908, during his stay in Dumabato, which was part of the old Echague back then. Part of Maddela, Quirino now.
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WILLIAM JONES
stop at my place. At present there is a man
and his son, two Yogads, who belong down
the river, who are visiting me. The father
returns to-morrow, and will take this. . . .
I have been very fortunate so far in being able
to send out word. It will be a little more
difficult as I proceed up the river and get
deeper in the mountains. I am having an
easy time as things usually go. I have plenty
to eat, and live in a pleasant shack, and have
the Ilongots friendly towards me. My food
is eggs, chicken, wild hog, venison, bananas,
sweet potatoes and — what else do you think.''
Can you guess.'* Can you shut your eyes be-
fore going further down the page.? Well, it is
wild honey, which my friends bring me in
bamboo tubes. It is clear honey, and most
pleasant to my tongue and palate. ... I
fetched along two boxes of hard-tack, each box
weighing twenty-five pounds; and nothing is
better than eating several hard-tacks crushed,
with the crumbs swimming in honey! Of
course, I always have rice, but it gets a little
monotonous. ... I forgot to mention fish,
which is so abundant in the river. Sometimes
I have a wild dove or pigeon. I never saw
such big ones; about the size of a crow, some
are. . . .
Page[150]
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Rideout, Henry Milner, “William Jones, Indian, Cowboy, American Scholar, and Anthropologist in the Field", Frederick A. Stokes Company, New York, 1912.
****Dr. William Jones is anthropologist who went to Dumabato in the lands of Ilongots, Isabela Province, Luzon, Philippines in April 1908.
While employed as an assistant curator at the Field Museum in 1908, he went to the Philippines to do fieldwork. He was killed on March 29, 1909, at Dumabato on the east side of Luzon in an altercation with some of the Ilongot among whom he was engaged in fieldwork.
Photo: Cagayan River at Mangartungot, Jones, Isabela Taken in 1910. (Mangartungot was the former name of our Barangay today Brgy San Vicente Jones, Isabela which is then part of Echague. From Edwin Bulan Cauan). Described in the book as last
outpost of civilization.
PHOTOGRAPHER: Bruner, E. Murray
Copyright E. Murray Bruner Family
