222 CHRISTIE. 



Pangasinan. During the last few weeks a lot of about 50 is 

 said to have been bought for transportation by sea to the Prov- 

 ince of Zambales. 



These husking mortars have the obvious advantage over 

 wooden ones of greater durability. Moreover, nearly every user 

 of them who had also used wooden mortars, and from whom 

 I have made inquiries, declared that the work was more 

 quickly accomplished with the San Esteban mortars. Some 

 users went so far as to say that one-half the time was thus 

 saved. This is probably an exaggerated way of expressing a 

 real saving of time. Rice husking forms so large a part of the 

 daily routine of a multitude of Filipino households that a mor- 

 tar that will save time in this operation is of real importance 

 to the community. The husking is done in stone mortars in 

 the same way as in the wooden ones, by pounding with a heavy 

 wooden pestle. 



San Esteban rice mortars differ considerably in size and 

 somewhat in style. They are roughly grouped by the makers 

 into three classes, those weighing about 90 kilograms and under, 

 those weighing about 115 kilograms, and those weighing 135 

 kilograms and over. Mortars weighing about 90 kilograms are 

 the most popular; those weighing 110 to 115 are not uncommon; 

 the largest ones are not extensively used. A mortar which I 

 measured, which was typical except that it was larger than 

 most, weighed 137 kilograms, and was of the following dimen- 

 sions : 



Dimension. Cm. 



Diameter at top, outside measurement, 53 



Diameter at top, inside measurement, 45 



Diameter at base 38 



Height 53 



Depth 25 



The main difference of style in mortars is that in some 

 the opening contracts gradually without a break to the bottom, 

 while in others, the opening, after contracting uniformly to a 

 point about halfway to the bottom, abruptly ceases to contract 

 for several centimeters, until the bottom is almost reached. The 

 lower half of the opening, therefore, forms a sort of pocket or 

 deep bowl, with sides perpendicular for some distance. Quite 

 a number of San Esteban mortars which I have seen in use 

 were of the former type, while of nearly 70 new mortars, every 

 one was of the latter style. The kind of mortar, therefore, in 



