INDUSTRIAL ACTIVITIES
The burden of toil falls on the woman. The man fells the heavy timber once a year, builds the house, hunts, fishes, traps, and fights. Practically all the rest of the daily labor is the woman's share. The man is the master, and as such he attends to all matters that may arise between his family and that of others.
Besides the occupations mentioned above, the man may engage, usually under the stress of a contract or of a debt, in canoe making, mining, and basket making.
The women weave all the clothes of the family except when imported cloth has been obtained. Most of the Manóbos' clothes, both for men and women, are made of native-woven cloth. The woman does all the sewing. A needle of brass wire in the absence of an imported needle, and a thread of abaká fiber, constitute her sewing outfit.
Almost all the material employed in weaving is abaká fiber. The dyes are vegetable, their fastness depending upon the duration of the boiling. The Manóbo woman, unlike the Mandáya women, and women of most other tribes in Mindanáo, has never developed the art of inweaving ornamental figures. The best she can do is to produce warp and weft stripes.
The making of simple earthen pots is also one of the industries of the woman. Pots are not, however, made in great quantities, the demand being, I think, a little greater than the supply.
Bed mats and rice bags are made out of various materials such as pandanus and buri in the ordinary Philippine style. The work is done principally by the woman and the supply is not equal, as a rule, to the family needs.