Note 3 — Products of Industry

There is no positive proof that the Filipinos formerly mined and smelted iron, but there is a strong probability that they did so, prior to the introduction of trade metal. It has already been noted that the Tinguian type of forge and the method of handling and tempering iron is widespread in Malaysia; and, as will be seen later, this process is not that in use among the Chinese, so that it is unlikely that the art was introduced by them. In furnishing iron ready for forging, they were simply supplying in a convenient form an article already in use, and for which there was an urgent demand. In the islands to the south we find that many of the pagan tribes do now, or did until recently, mine and smelt the ore. Beccari3 tells us that the Kayan of Borneo extract iron ore found in their own country. Hose and McDougall say that thirty years ago nearly all the iron worked by the tribes of the interior of Borneo was from ore found in the river beds. At present most of the pagans obtain the metal from the Chinese and Malay traders, but native ore is still smelted in the far interior.4 Foreign iron is now used by the Battak of Sumatra, but deserted iron-works are known to exist in their country, while the Menangkabau still possess smelting furnaces.5 It seems probable that the whole industry had a common source, and was spread or carried as a unit, but when trade relations made the arduous work of mining and smelting unnecessary, it was quickly given up. That native iron might have supplied the needs of many Philippine tribes, including the Tinguian, is certain, for important deposits of magnetite and hematite are found in Abra, in Ilocos Norte, Angat, Bulacan, Albay, and other parts of the Islands.6 On several occasions, when on the trail, the natives have Page 413called our attention to boulders, apparently of hematite, which they recognized as iron.