[Laborers’ work and wages.] Three hired-men usually get twenty-five pounds per day.  One worker cuts up the stalks, strips off the leaves, and attends to the supply; the second, frequently a boy, spreads out the strips; and the third draws them under the knife.  A single plant has been known to yield as much as two pounds of fiber; but the most favorable average rarely affords more than one pound, and plants grown in indifferent soil scarcely a sixth of that quantity.  The plantations are worked either by the owner or by day-laborers, who, when the market prices are very low, take half share of the crop harvested by them.  In these cases an industrious workman may obtain as much as one picul in a week.  During my stay exceptionally low prices ruled—­sixteen and one-half reals per picul undelivered.  The workman could, therefore, in six days earn half the amount, viz., eight and a quarter reals at a rate of one and three-eighths reals per day.  The day’s pay at that time was half a real, and board a quarter of a real, making together three-quarters of a real.

[Profit.]

By daily pay.  Half share.

The workman therefore earned daily                   0.75 r. or     1.375 r. 
Wages amounted to per picul                         12. 6 r. or     8. 25 r. 
Profit of the planters after deduction of the wages  3. 9 r. or     8. 25 r.

[Lupis and bandala.] The edges of the petioles, which contain much finer fiber than the middle parts, are separately divided into strips an inch wide, and with strong pressure are drawn several times under the knife.  This substance, which is called lupis, is in high request, being employed in the native weaving; while is chiefly used for ships’ rigging. [224]

[Grades of Lupis.] Lupis, according to the fineness of the fiber, is sorted into four classes—­first, Binani; second, Totogna; third, Sogotan; and fourth, Cadaclan.  A bundle of these is then taken up in the left hand, and, while with the right the first three sorts are inserted between the fingers, the fourth is held between the thumb and forefinger.  This last description is no longer used in fine weaving, and is therefore sold with bandala.  After the fine sorts have been pounded in a rice-mortar, in order to render the fiber soft and pliable, they are severally knotted into one another, and converted into web.

[Lupis fabrics.] Generally the first sort is worked as woof with the second as warp, and the third as warp with the second as woof.  The fabrics so woven are nearly as fine as pina fabrics (Nipis de Pina), and almost equal the best quality of cambric; and, notwithstanding the many little nodules occasioned by the tangling of the fiber, which may be discerned on close inspection, are clearer and stouter, and possess a warmer yellowish tint. [225] As to these last three qualities—­purity, flexibility, and color—­they stand in relation to cambric somewhat as cardboard to tissue-paper.