, or pestles, in the mortars placed below
them. Subsequently, notable progress was made in Camarines Province
by Spaniards, who, in 1888, employed steam power, whilst in Pagsanjan
(La Laguna) animal motive power was substituted by that of steam. Also,
near Calamba, in the same province, water power was eventually employed
to advantage. In Negros, near the village of Candaguit, there was
one small rice-machinery plant worked by steam power, brought by a
Spaniard from Valencia in Spain. Presumably it was not a success,
as it remained only a short time in use.

Finally the Manila-Dagupan Railway gave a great stimulus to
the rice-husking and pearling industry, which was taken up by
foreigners. There are now important rice steam-power mills established
at Calumpit, Gerona, Moncada, Bayambang, and other places along the
line from Calumpit towards Dagupan, which supply large quantities of
cleaned rice to Manila and other provinces, where it is invariably
more highly appreciated than the imported article. Also, at Nueva
Caceres (Camarines), in 1896, a large steam-power rice mill was being
worked by Don Manuel Pardo, who had a steamer specially constructed
in Hong-Kong for the transport of his output to the provincial markets.

The average yield of cleaned rice from the paddy is 50 per cent.,
whilst no special use is found for the remaining 50 per cent. of coarse
paddy-bran. The fine bran, almost dust (called in Tagalog _Tiki Tiki_),
serves, however, for several purposes on the farm. The rice grain
which is broken in the husking is known as _Pinaua_ in Tagalog.

The customary charge for husking and winnowing a caban of paddy is
12 1/2 cents, so that as two cabans of paddy give one caban of rice,
the cost of this labour would be 25 cents per caban of rice.

The average amount of rice consumed by a working man per day is
estimated at four chupas, or, say, close upon eight cabans per annum,
which, on the old reckoning--that is to say in Spanish times, taking
an average price of 1 peso per caban of paddy = 2 pesos per caban
of rice, plus 25 cents for cleaning = 2.25 pesos per caban of clean
rice--amounts to 18 pesos per annum. A native's further necessities
are fish, an occasional piece of buffalo, betel-nut, tobacco, six
yards of cotton print-stuff, and payment of taxes, all of which
(including rice) amounted to say P50 in the year, so that a man
earning 20 cents per day during 300 days lived well, provided he had
no unforeseen