The Philippine Journal of Science, 



D. General Biology, Ethnology and Anthropology. 



Vol. VII, No. 4, 1912. 



NOTES ON THE WOOD -WORKING INDUSTRY OF SAN 

 VICENTE, ILOKOS SUR. 



By Emerson Brewer Christie. 

 (From the Division of Ethnology, Bureau of Science, Manila, P. I.) 



The town of San Vicente, Ilokos Sur, had, according to the 

 census of 1903, about 6,000 inhabitants. Its lands are restricted 

 in amount and poor in quality. Well-informed persons say that 

 it is obliged to import the greater part of its rice supply from 

 other towns. A good many of the people of the town are said 

 to have emigrated ; the rest are able to gain a livelihood only 

 because of the existence of three industries; namely, weaving, 

 salt making, and woodworking. I propose in these notes to 

 deal with the last-named industry. 



Woodworking at San Vicente is sufficiently advanced to have 

 split up into the following specialties : carpenter work, the 

 making of carved boxes, the manufacture of combs, the making 

 of images, and furniture making. 



CARPENTERING. 



The carpenters who follow their trade as their exclusive means 

 of livelihood number about 30 adult men. The minimum wage 

 of a carpenter is 50 centavos ^ a day ; skilful men are able to 

 command 75 centavos and master carpenters {maestros) earn 

 from 1 peso to 1.50 pesos per day. San Vicente itself offers 

 practically no field to these men. Like a large proportion of 

 the towns of Ilokos Sur it presents the external appearance of 

 a stagnant or even decaying town ; no building operations worth 

 mentioning are going on. The carpenters, therefore, go to other 

 towns to find work; frequently they are sent for. Vigan is 

 within a very few kilometers, also Bantai, Santa Catalina, and 

 Kawayan. Vigan is the largest of these towns and is the pro- 



^ One peso (100 centavos) Philippine currency equals 50 cents United 

 States currency. 



231 



