re of insignificant importance. Cigars were the only _manufactured_
export staple, whilst perfumes, a little cordage, and occasionally
a parcel of straw or finely-split bamboo hats were shipped.

In the Provinces of Bulacan and Pampanga, split-cane and Nito
(_lygodium_) hats, straw mats, and cigar-cases are made. Some of
the finest worked cigar-cases require so much time for making that
they cost up to P20 each. Hats can only be obtained in quantities by
shippers through native middlemen.

In Yloilo Province a rough cloth called _Sinamay_ is woven [129]
from selected hemp fibre. Also in this province and that of Antique
(Panay Is.), _Pina_ muslin of pure pine-leaf fibre and _Husi_ of mixed
pine-leaf and hemp filament are made. Ilocos Province has a reputation
in these Islands for its woollen and dyed cotton fabrics. Taal
(Batangas) also produces a special make of cotton stuffs. Pasig,
on the river of that name, and Sulipan (Pampanga), are locally known
for their rough pottery, and Capiz and Romblon for their sugar-bags.

Paete, at the extreme east of the Laguna de Bay, is the centre for
white-wood furniture and wood-carving. In Mariquina, near Manila,
wooden clogs and native leather shoes are made. Santa Cruz (Manila)
is the gold and silver-workers' quarter. The native women in nearly
all the civilized provinces produce some very handsome specimens of
embroidery on European patterns. Mats to sleep upon (_petates_) straw
bags (_bayones_), baskets (_tampipes_), alcohol, bamboo furniture,
buffalo-hide leather, wax candles, soap, etc., have their centres of
manufacture on a small scale. The first Philippine brewery was opened
October 4, 1890, in San Miguel (Manila) by Don Enrique Barretto,
to whom was granted a monopoly by the Spanish Government for twenty
years. It is now chiefly owned by a Philippine half-caste, Don Pedro
P. Rojas (resident in Paris), who formed it into a company which has
become a very flourishing concern. Philippine capital alone supports
these manufactures. The traffic and consumption being entirely local,
the consequent increase of wealth to the Colony is the economized
difference between them and imported articles. These industries bring
no fresh capital to the Colony, by way of profits, but they contribute
to check its egress by the returns of agriculture changing hands to
the local manufacturer instead of to the foreign merchant.

Want of cheap means of land-transport has, so far, been the chief