Note 12 — Economic Life

To thrash the grain, the woman places a bundle on a piece of carabao hide, and, as she rolls it beneath her feet, she pounds it with a long wooden pestle (hala) until all the kernels are beaten loose from the straw.12 It is then placed in a wooden mortar (luson) of hourglass Page 393form or with straight sides, where it is again beaten until the outside husks are loosened, and the grain is somewhat broken (Plate LVI). Winnowing is accomplished by tossing the contents of the mortar in shallow traps (īgau), so that the chaff is blown away, while the grain falls back into the winnower (Plate LVII).