﻿120 The Philippine Journal of Science 1914 



State currency) a day, but in fact the work is taken up and 

 dropped according to the family convenience or needs and 

 according to the state of the weather. As all cooking pots 

 are burned out of doors, without shelter of any kind, the work 

 is interrupted by rainy weather. 



Just as the manufacture of pottery is strictly a household 

 industry, so the distribution is usually a family affair. It is 

 true that some one occasionally buys a cargo of pottery from 

 the manufacturers in San Nicolas and takes it up or down 

 the coast in a sailboat. But speaking broadly, each family 

 that makes pottery sells it to the ultimate consumer. This 

 part of the work is also in the main the women's affair. 

 There are several towns within a few kilometers of San Nicolas. 

 Nearly every morning, if the weather is favorable, San Nicolas 

 women may be seen starting for the markets of these towns, 

 carrying on their heads large trays loaded with earthenware, 

 which ordinarily consists of cooking pots. The pots are kept 

 from falling off by a network of cords. The price at which 

 the women retail the pots at the markets varies from 1 to 5 

 centavos according to size. It often takes a whole day to dispose 

 of 50 centavos' worth of pots. 



When the desired market is at a considerable distance from 

 San Nicolas, the men of the family often take charge of the 

 distribution. They do not use ox carts much for freighting 

 earthenware because of the danger of breakage, but sling the 

 vessels on the end of the carrying pole (piiigga) borne on one 

 shoulder. If the load is too heavy for one man, it is slung 

 from the middle of the pole and two men take each one end 

 of the pole on a shoulder. At harvest time, which is, of course, 

 the best season for sales, San Nicolas men may frequently 

 be seen carrying their wares even in remote barrios of the 

 province. Sales at this time of the year frequently take the 

 form of barter, the purchaser of earthenware paying in unhusked 

 rice. At this time of the year, also, a considerable number 

 of people from all parts of the province go to San Nicolas to 

 trade their rice for pottery. 



It is impossible to state accurately the value of the annual 

 production of San Nicolas pottery. Taking into account the 

 fact that this town practically supplies the whole Province of 

 Ilocos Norte, and even sends some wares to Cagayan, I think 

 that it amounts to a business of not less than 10,000 pesos 

 a year, and probably reaches from 40 to 50 per cent higher. 



