394 The Tinguian 



and is pulled inward against the steel blade. 1 Many workers grasp 

 the stalk near the head with the left hand, while the cutting blade is 

 used with the right. 



Both men and women may engage in cutting the rice, but as the 

 latter are much the more dexterous workers, this task is generally 

 assigned to them (Plate LIV). The grain is cut so as to leave stalks 

 about ten inches in length ; these are laid in the free hand until a bunch 

 of considerable size has accumulated, when they are bound together 

 with strips of bark. 2 At the end of the day these bundles are 

 carried to the drying yards, where they remain until the whole crop 

 is harvested. A drying yard is a plot of ground surrounded by a bam- 

 boo fence of such a height that it is impossible for fowls and the like 

 to gain entrance. When all the bundles are thoroughly dried, they are 

 placed in the granary, and from that time on the handling of the 

 rice is given over to the women. 



The granaries, or store-houses, of the Tinguian and Ilocano are 

 identical (Plate LV), but, barring the Apayao, are different from any 

 of the surrounding groups, except when their influence may have 

 spread this peculiar type to a limited degree. It is worthy of note, 

 however, that the granaries of some Sumatran groups are of similar 

 design and construction. Such a store-house is raised high above the 

 ground on four hard-wood poles; the framework is of bamboo, and 

 the sides flare sharply from the floor to the grass roof. Within the 

 framework is a closely woven matting of flattened bamboo, which is 

 nearly water-tight ; but to secure still further protection from moisture, 

 and also to allow for free circulation of air, a rack is built in such a 

 way that the rice is kept several inches from the outside walls. Just 

 below the floor, each post supports a close-fitting pottery jar — without 

 top or bottom — or a broad disk of wood, which effectually prevents 

 the entrance of rodents. 



To thrash the grain, the woman places a bundle on a piece of 

 carabao hide, and, as she rolls it beneath her feet, she pounds it with a 

 long wooden pestle (hala) until all the kernels are beaten loose from 

 the straw. 3 It is then placed in a wooden mortar (luson) of hourglass 



1 The neighboring Igorot do not use a cutter, but break the stalks with the 

 fingers; however, the same instrument is used by the Apayao, in parts of 

 Mindanao, in Java and Sumatra. See Marsden, History of Sumatra, p. 73 ; 

 Raffles, History of Java, pp. 125-6, also Plate 8; Mayer, Een Blik in het 

 Javaansche Volksleven, Vol. II, p. 452, (Leiden, 1897) ; Van der Lith, Neder- 

 landsch Oost Indie, Vol. II, p. 353, (Leiden, 1894). 



2 Rice in the bundle is known as palay or pagzy. 



3 The Igorot woman pulls the grain from the straw with her hands. 



