PHILIPPINE POTTERY. 



145 



There are but a few kilns in the Philippines. The usual type is a long 

 semicylindrieal structure built on a grade of about 10 per cent, having 

 a chimney at the upper end and a door and hearth at the lower (fig. 1). 

 There are also openings for firing along the sides of the kiln. They are 

 constructed of volcanic tuff and common brick laid up and plastered 

 over with mud. The fuel used is wood. A high temperature can not 

 be obtained in these kilns and the semivitrified products from some 

 of them are due to the low fusing point of the clays used. There is 

 considerable shrinkage in burning, and when the clay fuses the sand 

 used to prevent cracking comes to the surface, making the ware rough 

 and pebbly. 



Attempts to make, porcelain. — There are many deposits of white or 

 light-colored fearths or clays in the Philippines, which are sold in the 



Fig. 1. — Sketch of Philippine Pottery Kiln. 



markets in the form of balls or cylinders, and used in preparing a kind 

 of cold-water paint or whitewash for painting houses. These clays are 

 commonly, but improperly, called "yeso ; " which is the Spanish word for 

 gypsum. They usually contain a low percentage of silica, but some 

 of them approach true kaolin in chemical composition. 



In 1903 M. Tagawa, a Japanese for many years engaged in business in Manila 

 and now proprietor of a store on Plaza Moraga, built a small kiln at Bocaue with 

 the idea that the white clay found there could be used in making porcelain. It 

 was soon discovered that the clay was not very plastic and burned to a light 

 weight, friable biscuit. The kiln was operated for a short time, the output being 

 bowls, flowerpots, etc., with metallic oxide glazes on biscuits burned from Bocaue 

 clay and common alluvial clay. 



A more serious effort to manufacture porcelain was made by Don Enrique Zobel, 

 who built a kiln and installed some machinery near the Roxas hacienda on the bank 

 of the Pasig River, west of San Pedro Macati and a short distance beyond the city 

 limits of Manila. He became interested in the project through the representations 



