WOOD -WORKING INDUSTRY. 233 



the earlier stages while another man — or woman — does the 

 carving. In case assistants have to be hired, the compensa- 

 tion varies according to the kind of work done. A man who 

 merely prepares the material and puts the box together receives 

 about 40 centavos a day; a competent carver can command 75 

 centavos or even more. 



The quality of the work leaves some things to be desired. The 

 locks are ugly, dark, iron articles of Chinese manufacture, the 

 hinges are unduly prominent, and the nails used are imperfectly 

 concealed or not concealed at all. 



The boxes usually made are small, varying in length from 

 15 to 30 centimeters, with a depth and width of about half as 

 much. Large carved boxes, from 90 centimeters to 140 centi- 

 meters in length, are made to some extent usually to order. The 

 two woods in common use for box making are lanete (Wrightia 

 sp.) and narra (Pterocai'jyus sp.). The former is soft and 

 nearly white; the latter is harder and always darker, although 

 in the matter of color not all narra is alike. The designs are 

 sometimes taken from Spanish or American catalogues of sim- 

 ilar articles ; sometimes they are furnished by a Filipino drafts- 

 man, who may or may not be himself a woodworker. 



The material for making boxes is bought in the most ex- 

 pensive way. This statement applies also to all the wood manu- 

 factures of San Vicente. Each worker in the business does 

 his buying independently of the others. He buys from time to 

 time the small amount of wood which he can use wherever he 

 can find it. Sometimes he gets it from a Vigan shop; some- 

 times he wanders about the country till he finds a suitable tree 

 of the kind wanted, and buys it of the owner. In either case 

 he brings to San Vicente only his own wood, when, in some cases, 

 he could without any larger expenditure of time or money trans- 

 port to his town enough for several woodworkers at the same 

 time. In other words, there is none of the economy that comes 

 from combination. 



The disposal of the product is done in the same individual- 

 istic way. When the head of a family workshop has a dozen 

 or two small boxes on hand he or one of his family usually goes 

 on the road to peddle them. Vigan is the principal market at 

 present. 



Professional brokers in San Vicente manufactures of wood 

 do not as yet exist, but there is reason to think that they are 

 being developed. I know several men who at times buy boxes 

 and other things by the dozen, advancing all or part of the price. 



