to strike the metal as it
descends, but some of the men raise it above the shoulder and strike
a much more powerful blow. If two pieces of metal are to be welded
together, as is often the case when broken caldrons are used, they
are laid, one overlapping the other, and are held together with damp
fire-clay. In this condition they are placed in the fire and heated,
and are then beaten together. It often takes several firings to bring
about a perfect weld.

After the initial shaping, the smith completes the work with the small
hammer, and the blade is ready for tempering. A bamboo tube of water
is placed near by, and the blade is again inserted in the fire and
brought to a white heat. Then the smith withdraws it and watches it
intently until the white tone begins to turn to a greenish-yellow, when
he plunges it into the water. The tempered blade is now smoothed down
with sandstone, and is whetted to a keen edge. Head-axes, spear-heads,
adzes, a few knives, and the metal ends for the spear-shafts are the
principal products of the forge.

The blades are by no means of equal temper or perfection, but the
smiths of the Tinguian-Kalinga border villages seldom turn out poor
weapons, and as a result, their spears and head-axes have a wide
distribution over northwestern Luzon.

In view of the wide distribution of this type of forge and method of
iron-working; of its persistence in isolated communities, while it
has vanished from the coast, or has been superseded by the Chinese
methods of work; as well as of other details here described, the
writer is of the opinion that the art has not been introduced into
the Philippines through trade, but is a possession which many or all
of the tribes brought with them from their ancient home, probably
somewhere in southeastern Asia. The effects of trade, in historic
times, are evident throughout the Christianized regions, in Chinese
and European forges and in foreign types of utensils. Likewise the
influence of the Mohammedanized tribes is very marked in the Sulu
archipelago, the western coasts of Mindanao, and even among many of
the pagan tribes of that island, but the isolated forges throughout
Malaysia and the methods described by early explorers in this field,
are practically identical with those just reviewed.

_Spinning and Weaving_.--That cotton (_kapas_) was being raised and
the fibre spun into cloth at the time of the Spanish occupation
of the Islands, is amply proved by many re