The Tinguian are a pagan Philippine people who inhabit chiefly the mountain province of Abra in northwestern Luzon.  From this center their settlements radiate in all directions.  To the north and west, they extend into Ilocos Sur and Norte as far as Kabittaoran.  Manabo, on the south, is their last settlement; but Barit, Amtuagan, Gayaman, and Luluno are Tinguian mixed with Igorot from Agawa and Sagada.  Villaviciosa is an Igorot settlement from Sagada, but Bulilising, still farther south, is predominantly Tinguian.  Sigay in Amburayan is said to be made up of emigrants from Abra, while a few rancherias in Lepanto are likewise much influenced.  The non-Christian population of Ilocos Sur, south of Vigan, is commonly called Tinguian, but only seven villages are properly so classed; [3] four others are inhabited by a mixed population, while the balance are Igorot colonies from Titipan, Sagada, and Fidilisan.  Along the Cordillera Central, from the head-waters of the Saltan (Malokbot) river as far south as Balatok, is found a population of mixed Tinguian, Kalinga, and Igorot blood.  Kalinga predominates north of Balbalasang and along the Gobang river, while the Igorot is dominant in Guina-an, Lubuagan, and Balatok.  Tinguian intermarriage has not extended far beyond Balbalasang, but their culture and dress have affected the whole region. [4] From this belt there have been extensive migrations into Abra, the newcomers for the most part marrying with the Tinguian, but in the Ikmin river valley emigrants from Balatok formed the towns of Danok, Amti, and Doa-angan, which have remained quite isolated up to the present time.  Agsimao and other towns of the Tineg group, in the extreme northern end of Abra, are made up chiefly of Apayao mixed with Kalinga, while all the villages on the headwaters of the Binongan have received emigrants from the Kagayan side.  The population of the towns properly classed as Tinguian is approximately twenty thousand individuals. [5]

From the foregoing it is seen that, with the exception of a few villages of mixed descent, all their territory lies on the western side of the Cordillera Central, [6] the great mountain range which runs from north to south through northern Luzon.

As one emerges from the jungle, which covers the eastern slopes of these mountains, and looks down over the province of Abra, he sees an exceedingly broken land (Plates I and ii), the subordinate ranges succeeding one another like the waves of the sea.  The first impression is one of barrenness.  The forest vanishes, and in its place are long grassy slopes, broken here and there by scattered pines and lower down by dense growths of the graceful, feathery bamboo.  But this lack of trees is more fancied than real, for as one proceeds down any of the valleys he meets with side canyons, where the tropical jungle still holds sway, while many a mountain side is covered with a dense undergrowth of shrubs, plants, and vines.  It seems probable that the forest once covered the western slopes of the mountains, but accident and intention on the part of man has cleared broad sections.  As soon as the shade is removed, the land is invaded by a coarse grass (the cogon), and this is burned over each year in order to provide feed for the stock and to make good hunting grounds.  The young trees are killed off and reforesting prevented.