A very necessary article of house furnishing is the fire-making device.  In many instances, the housewife will go to a neighboring dwelling and borrow a light rather than go to the trouble of building a fire, but if that is not convenient, a light may be secured by one or two methods.  The first is by flint and steel, a method which is probably of comparatively recent introduction.  The second and older is one which the Tinguian shares with all the neighboring tribes.  Two notches are cut through a section of bamboo, and tree cotton is placed below them.  A second section of bamboo is cut to a sharp edge, and this is rubbed rapidly back and forth in the notches until the friction produces a spark, which when caught on tinder can be blown into a flame. [175] At the door of the house will be found a foot wiper (Fig. 5, No. 12) made of rice-straw drawn through an opening cut in a stick, or it may consist of coconut husks fastened together to make a crude mat, while near by is the broom made of rice-straw or grass.  Rice-mortars, pestles, and similar objects are found beneath the dwellings.

The Village Spring.—­Each village is situated near to a spring or on the banks of a stream.  In the latter case deep holes are dug in the sands, and the water that seeps in is used for household purposes.  In the morning, a number of women and girls gather at the springs, carrying with them the plates and dishes used in the meals, also garments which need to be laundered.  The pots and dishes are thoroughly scoured with sand and water, applied with a bundle of rice-straw or grass.  The garments to be washed are laid in the water, generally in a little pool near to the main spring or beside the stream.  Ashes from rice-straw are then mixed with water and, after being strained through a bunch of grass, are applied to the cloth in place of soap.  After being thoroughly soaked, the cloth is laid on a clean stone, and is beaten with a stick or wooden paddle.  The garment is again rinsed, and later is hung up on the fence near the dwelling to dry.

Before returning to her home, the woman fills her pots with water, and then takes her bath in a pool below the main spring (Plate XLII).  All garments are removed except the girdle and clout, and then water, dipped up in a coconut shell, is poured on to the face, shoulders, and body.  In some cases sand is applied to the body, and is rubbed in with the hand or a stone; rinsing water is applied and the garments are put back on without drying the body.  Every one, men, women, and children, takes a daily bath, and visitors will always stop to bathe at the spring or river before entering a village.  Promiscuous bathing is common, and is accepted as a matter of course, but there is no indication of embarrassment or self-consciousness.  When she returns to the village, the woman will often be seen carrying one or two jars of water on her head, her washing under her arm, while a child sets astride her hip or lies against her back (Plate XLIII).