The World About Us

Heirs of the Head-Hunters (3x23)

: 07, 1969

Fenced in behind high mountains, largely bypassed by history, the hill tribes of the Philippines have had a unique opportunity to evolve at their own pace: thus they still pursue the blood-feuds of their head-hunting ancestors, but now also have an organised police force; still carry out pagan sacrifices, though many now regard themselves as Christians. It was into this society that Professor Christoph von Furer-Haimendorf, anthropologist and explorer, took his cameras to record the beauty of their mountain rice fields and the savagery of their pagan buffalo sacrifices -sacrifices which some viewers may find almost too brutal but which are perfectly natural to the descendants of head-hunters.