Just as Magellan had used the Cebuanos to wage war on the Mactanese, the Spaniards used the Bontoc to subdue neighboring tribes. In his account, Jenks did not include whatever spoils the Spaniards received in these battles, but he did list the tribute permitted for the Bontoc to take, and the unit used was heads. Sometimes the warriors returned with just a few, but in one battle of the 1890s against the rebellious Sagada, led by a ruthless Comandante Saldero, the tribute was listed as one hundred heads. When the Filipino nationalist revolutionaries, the insurrectos, showed up in the months after the Sagada massacre, the Bontoc were eager to switch sides. Some Spanish heads were scored. Comandante Saldero escaped to the north, where he boarded a ship in Vigan and sailed for Spain, away from the islands that held such a singular danger.

When Schneidewind showed up in 1911, Timicheg had not been a prelapsarian savage. He had already served as mercenary for the Spaniards and encountered several Americans. Although he could not have pictured the particulars of Coney Island, he was a man who had struck a bargain with a recognized foe. He must have been suspicious, concerned, but in the end felt that he was doing what was best for himself and his tribe. Timicheg would learn the ways of men who had the power to demand taxes, who had weapons that made one’s ax—no matter where the blade landed—seem futile.

The reading for this book was fascinating, yet I still felt no desire to write. I had received an email from Ann asking how it was progressing, even though I had been in the Philippines only a few weeks and the trip was largely conceived around research. My editor had caught wind of another book in progress by a more established writer, Kent J. Baxter. The subject of Baxter’s book was world’s fairs and would likely address the topic of human zoos. Ann was concerned that my book might not get much coverage if published in the shadow of this other. She had recommended that I get the book done as soon as could be managed, which seemed wise but also impossible.