Miscellaneous industries.
That the Filipinos first seen by the Spaniards were not wandering savages, as commonly assumed by later day writers, is shown by the manner in which they built their houses—which very much resembled those of today[33],—and fixed their settlements.[34] It is from such and other similar facts that Rizal,[35] and other writers,[36] claimed for the early Filipinos a higher degree of culture than they were given credit for.
Among the other industries at the time of discovery and conquest were: the manufacture of gun-powder; hunting for edible birds’ nests, and exporting them to China; preparing hides, especially of deer, for export to Japan.[37] “As they possess many civet cats, although smaller than those of Guinea, they make use of the civet and trade it.[38] They also carved the statues of their anitos.”[39]