Products of Industry
Iron-Working.—Little iron work is now done in the valley of the Abra for the competition of the Ilocano smiths of Santa and Narvacan, in Ilocos Sur, and the cheap products brought to the coast, and as far inland as Bangued, by Chinese traders, have swamped the native industry.
Forges are still found in many villages of eastern Abra, particularly those of the upper Buklok river, but the real center of the industry is in and around Balbalasang, on the eastern side of the mountain range.
We have in northern Luzon a situation similar to that found throughout the archipelago, namely, that the most flourishing smithies are usually those farthest removed from the coast traders. Where communication is easy and trade unrestricted, the native industry has vanished, or is on the wane. To-day the forges of the Bontoc Igorot, of the Tinguian-Kalinga border villages, and of Apayao, are turning out superior weapons, but elsewhere in the northwestern districts the pagan people have either lost the art, or make only very inferior articles.
It is certain that iron-working has long been known, not only in the Philippines, but throughout Malaysia, and it is likewise evident that these regions secured the art from the same source as did the people of Assam, Burma, and eastern Madagascar, for the description of the Tinguian forge and iron-working which follows would, with very little modification, apply equally well to those in use in Southern Mindanao, Borneo, Java, Sumatra, Assam, Burma, and Madagascar.[1]
Long before the arrival of the Spanish in the Philippines, the Chinese had built up such a lively trade in iron bars and caldrons that it was no longer necessary for the natives to smelt their own iron ore; Page 412if indeed they ever did so.[2] This trade metal was widely distributed, and then reworked by the local smiths. Even to-day the people of Balbalasang make the long journey to Bangued, or even to Vigan, to secure Chinese iron, which they carry back to their mountain forges.
There is no positive proof that the Filipinos formerly mined and smelted iron, but there is a strong probability that they did so, prior to the introduction of trade metal. It has already been noted that the Tinguian type of forge and the method of handling and tempering iron is widespread in Malaysia; and, as will be seen later, this process is not that in use among the Chinese, so that it is unlikely that the art was introduced by them. In furnishing iron ready for forging, they were simply supplying in a convenient form an article already in use, and for which there was an urgent demand. In the islands to the south we find that many of the pagan tribes do now, or did until recently, mine and smelt the ore. Beccari[3] tells us that the Kayan of Borneo extract iron ore found in their own country. Hose and McDougall say that thirty years ago nearly all the iron worked by the tribes of the interior of Borneo was from ore found in the river beds. At present most of the pagans obtain the metal from the Chinese and Malay traders, but native ore is still smelted in the far interior.[4] Foreign iron is now used by the Battak of Sumatra, but deserted iron-works are known to exist in their country, while the Menangkabau still possess smelting furnaces.[5] It seems probable that the whole industry had a common source, and was spread or carried as a unit, but when trade relations made the arduous work of mining and smelting unnecessary, it was quickly given up. That native iron might have supplied the needs of many Philippine tribes, including the Tinguian, is certain, for important deposits of magnetite and hematite are found in Abra, in Ilocos Norte, Angat, Bulacan, Albay, and other parts of the Islands.[6] On several occasions, when on the trail, the natives have Page 413called our attention to boulders, apparently of hematite, which they recognized as iron.
The smithies are small structures with grass roofs, but no sides or floors (Plate [LXII]). At one end is a raised bamboo bench in front of which stands the forge. This consists of two upright wooden cylinders, usually logs hollowed out, known as po-opan. In each of these is a piston or plunger (doᴇydoyog) at the lower end of which is a wooden ring packed with corn husks and chicken feathers. When this is pushed downward in the cylinder, it compresses the air and forces it out of the small opening in the base, but when it is drawn up, the packing collapses and allows the plunger to be raised without effort. These pistons are worked so that one is rising, while the other is falling. The cylinders stand in a wooden block out of which bamboo tubes (toloñgon) conduct the air into a tube of fire clay (ībong), and this in turn carries it into the charcoal fire. There are no valves, as in the Chinese bellows, but the bamboo tubes fit loosely, and the fire is not drawn back. Near to the hearth is a stone anvil (dalisdīsan), while a heavy stone hammer, a small iron hammer, and iron pinchers complete the outfit.
The fire is lighted, and the operator sitting on the bench alternately raises and lowers the plungers in the cylinders until the fire burns brightly; then the smith puts metal into the coals and allows it to remain until it reaches a white heat. It is then removed and placed on the anvil, where his helper beats it out with the large hammer. This is a stone weighing twenty or more pounds, fitted inside the handles so that it can be used with both hands. As a rule, it is swung between the legs, and is allowed to strike the metal as it descends, but some of the men raise it above the shoulder and strike a much more powerful blow. If two pieces of metal are to be welded together, as is often the case when broken caldrons are used, they are laid, one overlapping the other, and are held together with damp fire-clay. In this condition they are placed in the fire and heated, and are then beaten together. It often takes several firings to bring about a perfect weld.
After the initial shaping, the smith completes the work with the small hammer, and the blade is ready for tempering. A bamboo tube of water is placed near by, and the blade is again inserted in the fire and brought to a white heat. Then the smith withdraws it and watches it intently until the white tone begins to turn to a greenish-yellow, when he plunges it into the water. The tempered blade is now smoothed down with sandstone, and is whetted to a keen edge. Head-axes, Page 414spear-heads, adzes, a few knives, and the metal ends for the spear-shafts are the principal products of the forge.
The blades are by no means of equal temper or perfection, but the smiths of the Tinguian-Kalinga border villages seldom turn out poor weapons, and as a result, their spears and head-axes have a wide distribution over northwestern Luzon.
In view of the wide distribution of this type of forge and method of iron-working; of its persistence in isolated communities, while it has vanished from the coast, or has been superseded by the Chinese methods of work; as well as of other details here described, the writer is of the opinion that the art has not been introduced into the Philippines through trade, but is a possession which many or all of the tribes brought with them from their ancient home, probably somewhere in southeastern Asia. The effects of trade, in historic times, are evident throughout the Christianized regions, in Chinese and European forges and in foreign types of utensils. Likewise the influence of the Mohammedanized tribes is very marked in the Sulu archipelago, the western coasts of Mindanao, and even among many of the pagan tribes of that island, but the isolated forges throughout Malaysia and the methods described by early explorers in this field, are practically identical with those just reviewed.
Spinning and Weaving.—That cotton (kapas) was being raised and the fibre spun into cloth at the time of the Spanish occupation of the Islands, is amply proved by many references in the early chronicles. Also there was a considerable trade in cotton, silk, and the like, carried on by the Chinese and the Brunei Moro.[7]
The weaving industry seems to have reached its height in the Ilocos provinces, where the processes of ginning, carding, spinning, and weaving were, for the most part, identical with those found in Borneo, Java, the Malay Peninsula, Burma, and a large part of India.[8] The same methods and utensils are used among the Tinguian, but side by side with the more complicated devices, such as the ginning machine and spinning wheel, are found more simple contrivances; so it would Page 415appear that we are here dealing with older and more primitive methods of work than are found on the coast.[9]
Every step in the manufacture of cloth is looked after by the women, who raise a limited amount of cotton in the upland fields, pick and dry the crop, and prepare it for weaving. The bolls are placed on racks, and are sun-dried, after which the husks are removed by hand.
Ginning is accomplished by two methods. The simplest, and doubtless the older, is to place the cotton on a smooth wooden block and to roll over it a wooden cylinder which tapers slightly toward each end ([Fig. 16], No. 1). The palm of the hand, at the base of the fingers, is placed on the roller and the weight of the body applied, as the cylinder is moved slowly forward, forcing the seeds from the floss.[10] The more common instrument (lilīdsan) acts on the principle of a clothes wringer (Plate [LXIII]). Two horizontal cylinders of wood are geared together at one end, and are mounted in a wooden frame in such a manner that they are quite close together, yet not in contact. A handle is attached to the lower roller at the end opposite the gears, and as it is turned, it rotates the cylinders in opposite directions. A piece of cotton is pressed between the rollers, which seize the fibres and carry them through, while the seeds are forced back and fall to the ground.
The cleaned cotton is never bowed or otherwise separated with a vibrating string, as is the case in Java, India, and China, but the same result is obtained by placing it on a piece of carabao hide and beating it with two rattan sticks until it becomes soft and fluffy (Plate [LXIV]).
After the carding, the cotton is spun by placing it in a hollow cylinder of palm bark attached to a bamboo stick (tibtibᴇan). A bit of thread is twisted from the cotton at the bottom of the cylinder, and is attached to a spindle, which is rubbed rapidly against the naked thigh, and is then allowed to turn in shallow basket, or on a piece of hide. As it spins it twists out new thread and the arm of the operator rises higher and higher, until at last the spindle stops. The position of the extended arm is then altered, and the spindle again set in motion in order to wind up the new thread on the shaft. While the spinning is progressing, the free hand of the operator is passed rapidly up and down the thread, keeping the tension uniform and rubbing out any inequalities (Plate [LXV]). Page 416