Governor Hunt of Bontag Province, Philippine Islands, who brought these wild men and women from his Province and to whom they look up to as ruler, father, physician and final tribunal in all their disputes, watched the swaying bodies of the dancers.
"It is good to have it this way, as the best way to keep an Igorrote out of mischief is to keep him busy. They are not a bad sort at all. They are loyal, honest and trustworthy, even if they are good fighters and good haters. They like Americans and trust them, and the best evidence of this that I can cite is the fact that these savages, none of whom had ever been ten miles away from home before, made this long voyage here on my assurance that it would be all right and that no harm would come of it," said the official. Governor Hunt has been governor of Bontag Province since 1901. He has been in the Philippines since 1898, going there as a United States Army contract surgeon. His baby son was born there last June. He is a native of Eastern Illinois and is but 38 years old. He is the ruler of more than 300,000 savage souls. His Province has been remarkably free from disturbances.
The secret of this, he says, lies in "getting your bluff in first," and then treating them kindly and justly, punishing any infraction of the law with a stern hand.
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