IX. 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, partic- 

 ularly 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 ; 



1 Cole, The Wild Tribes of Davao District, Mindanao (Field Museum of 

 Natural History, Vol. XII, No. 2, pp. 82-83) ; Hose and McDougall, The 

 Pagan Tribes of Borneo, Vol. I, pp. 194-195 (MacMillan and Co., London, 1912) ; 

 Raffles, History of Java, Vol. 1, pp. 192-193; Marsden, History of Sumatra. 

 3rd edition (London, 1811), p. 181; Ferrais, Burma, p. 105 (Low, Marston and 

 Co., London, 1901) ; Peal (Journ. Anth. Inst, of Great Britain and Ireland, 

 Vol. XXII, p. 250, also Plate XIV, fig. No. 2). 



413 



