SOME FILIPINO FOODS. 391 
parts of the Islands the food product balut is manufactured 
from ducks’ and hens’ eggs. The half-hatched eggs are con- 
sidered a delicacy and retail in and around Pateros for from 
4 to 6 centavos each, and at this time the wholesale price is 
30 pesos per thousand. 
The industry is highly developed in the Provinces of Rizal 
and Laguna, where only ducks’ eggs are employed. On the 
Islands of Negros and Panay some balut is made from ducks’ 
and hens’ eggs, and in other places, no doubt, the manufacture 
is carried on to a limited extent. The center of trade is the 
town of Pateros on the Pasig River in the Province of Rizal. 
The town has derived its name from the industry, patero 
(Spanish) meaning a person who takes care of ducks. Here 
the magnitude of the business depends almost entirely on the 
supply of ducks’ eggs. In addition to the eggs originating in 
the immediate locality, large numbers are shipped from a 
distance, and after being made into balut are reshipped to an 
extensive surrounding territory. Exact figures concerning the 
extent of the industry are not readily obtainable, but some idea 
of its magnitude is shown from the fact that one building in 
Pateros, the largest engaged in the business, has a capacity of 
80,000 eggs hatching at one time. 
The reasons for the employment of ducks’ eggs almost to the 
exclusion of hens’ eggs are purely economic. Fresh ducks’ eggs 
are very cheap and of little value, but when made into balut are 
highly prized by the natives, while fresh hens’ eggs are compara- 
tively scarce and command a high price. The expense of keeping 
ducks, according to the native method, is very low, and requires 
only a house and a corral. (Plate II, fig. 1.) Under these 
conditions the ducks will find their own food and are practically 
no expense. On the other hand, hens require more care and 
feeding. 
The process of manufacture is very simple and, after the eggs 
are laid, quite independent of the ducks, which in this locality 
usually will not hatch the eggs. -The heat necessary for the 
incubation is obtained by warming the rice, in which the eggs 
are packed, for a few seconds in a kettel over a fire each time 
the eggs are tended. The eggs are packed in bamboo cylinders, 
50 centimeters in. diameter by 80 centimeters in length, which 
rest upon a layer of rice husks about 10 centimeters deep upon 
the earthen floor of the building. Alternate layers of warm 
unhusked rice, called palay (Spanish), and eggs fill the cylinder. 
There are usually 8 layers of about 125 eggs each, thus making 
