the equivalent of which in English measure is thus, viz:—
| 1 Atapan | = .16875 of a pint. |
| 1 Chupa | = .675 of a pint. |
| 1 Ganta | = 2 quarts, 1⅖ pints. |
| 1 Caban | = 16 gallons, 3 quarts, 1 pint. |
Rice of foreign importation is weighed and quoted by the picul of 133⅓ lbs. avoirdupois, subdivided as follows, viz.:—
16 Taels = 1 Catty; 10 Catties = 1 Chinanta; 10 Chinantas = 1 Picul.
Thirty years ago rice was exported from the Philippines, but now not even sufficient is produced for home consumption, hence this commodity is imported in large quantities from Siam, Lower Burmah, and Cochin China to supply the deficiency. In 1897 nearly 65,000 tons of rice were brought from those countries, and since the American occupation the annual receipts of foreign rice have increased to fivefold. Sual (Pangasinán), on the Gulf of Lingayen, was, thirty-five years ago, a port of importance, whence rice was shipped to China (vide p. [261]). This falling off of rice-production did not, however, imply a loss to the population in Spanish times when imported rice was sold cheaply, because, in many provinces, land formerly used for rice-growing was turned to better account for raising other crops which paid better in a fairly good market.
The natives everywhere continue to employ the primitive method of treating rice-paddy for domestic and local use. The grain is generally husked by them in a large mortar hewn from a block of molave, or other hardwood, in which it is beaten by a pestle. Sometimes two or three men or women with wooden pestles work at the same mortar. This mortar is termed, in Tagálog dialect, Luzon, the name given to the largest island of the group. However, I have seen in the towns of Candava (Pampanga), Pagsanján (La Laguna), near Calamba in the same province, in Naig (Cavite), in Camarines Province, and a few other places, an attempt to improve upon the current system by employing an ingenious wooden mechanical apparatus worked by buffaloes. It consisted of a vertical shaft on which was keyed a bevel-wheel revolving horizontally and geared into a bevel pinion fixed upon a horizontal shaft. In this shaft were adjusted pins, which, at each revolution, caught the corresponding pins in vertical sliding columns. These columns (five or six)—being thereby raised and allowed to fall of their own weight when the raising-pins had passed on—acted as pounders, or pestles, in the mortars placed below them. Subsequently, notable progress was made in Camarines Province by Spaniards, who, in 1888, employed steam power, whilst in Pagsanján (La Laguna) animal motive power was substituted by that of steam. Also, near Calamba, in the same province, water power was eventually employed to advantage. In Negros, near the village of Candaguit, there was one small rice-machinery plant worked by steam power, brought by a Spaniard from Valencia in Spain. Presumably it was not a success, as it remained only a short time in use.
Finally the Manila-Dagúpan Railway gave a great stimulus to the rice-husking and pearling industry, which was taken up by foreigners. There are now important rice steam-power mills established at Calumpit, Gerona, Moncada, Bayambang, and other places along the line from Calumpit towards Dagúpan, which supply large quantities of cleaned rice to Manila and other provinces, where it is invariably more highly appreciated than the imported article. Also, at Nueva Cáceres (Camarines), in 1896, a large steam-power rice mill was being worked by Don Manuel Pardo, who had a steamer specially constructed in Hong-Kong for the transport of his output to the provincial markets.
The average yield of cleaned rice from the paddy is 50 per cent., whilst no special use is found for the remaining 50 per cent. of coarse paddy-bran. The fine bran, almost dust (called in Tagálog Tiki Tiki), serves, however, for several purposes on the farm. The rice grain which is broken in the husking is known as Pináua in Tagálog.
The customary charge for husking and winnowing a caban of paddy is 12½ cents, so that as two cabans of paddy give one caban of rice, the cost of this labour would be 25 cents per caban of rice.
The average amount of rice consumed by a working man per day is estimated at four chupas, or, say, close upon eight cabans per annum, which, on the old reckoning—that is to say in Spanish times, taking an average price of 1 peso per caban of paddy = 2 pesos per caban of rice, plus 25 cents for cleaning = 2.25 pesos per caban of clean rice—amounts to 18 pesos per annum. A nativeʼs further necessities are fish, an occasional piece of buffalo, betel-nut, tobacco, six yards of cotton print-stuff, and payment of taxes, all of which (including rice) amounted to say ₱50 in the year, so that a man earning 20 cents per day during 300 days lived well, provided he had no unforeseen misfortunes. Cock-fighting and gambling of course upset the calculation.