ferences in the early
chronicles. Also there was a considerable trade in cotton, silk,
and the like, carried on by the Chinese and the Brunei Moro. [233]

The weaving industry seems to have reached its height in the Ilocos
provinces, where the processes of ginning, carding, spinning, and
weaving were, for the most part, identical with those found in Borneo,
Java, the Malay Peninsula, Burma, and a large part of India. [234]
The same methods and utensils are used among the Tinguian, but side by
side with the more complicated devices, such as the ginning machine
and spinning wheel, are found more simple contrivances; so it would
appear that we are here dealing with older and more primitive methods
of work than are found on the coast. [235]

Every step in the manufacture of cloth is looked after by the women,
who raise a limited amount of cotton in the upland fields, pick and dry
the crop, and prepare it for weaving. The bolls are placed on racks,
and are sun-dried, after which the husks are removed by hand.

Ginning is accomplished by two methods. The simplest, and doubtless the
older, is to place the cotton on a smooth wooden block and to roll over
it a wooden cylinder which tapers slightly toward each end (Fig. 16,
No. 1). The palm of the hand, at the base of the fingers, is placed on
the roller and the weight of the body applied, as the cylinder is moved
slowly forward, forcing the seeds from the floss. [236] The more common
instrument (_lilidsan_) acts on the principle of a clothes wringer
(Plate LXIII). Two horizontal cylinders of wood are geared together at
one end, and are mounted in a wooden frame in such a manner that they
are quite close together, yet not in contact. A handle is attached to
the lower roller at the end opposite the gears, and as it is turned,
it rotates the cylinders in opposite directions. A piece of cotton
is pressed between the rollers, which seize the fibres and carry them
through, while the seeds are forced back and fall to the ground.

The cleaned cotton is never bowed or otherwise separated with a
vibrating string, as is the case in Java, India, and China, but the
same result is obtained by placing it on a piece of carabao hide and
beating it with two rattan sticks until it becomes soft and fluffy
(Plate LXIV).

After the carding, the cotton is spun by placing it in a hollow
cylinder of palm bark attached to a bamboo stick (_tibtibean_). A bit
of thread is twisted from the cotton at th