Bontoc and do not care to wet their breechcloths; the other man wears
a bladder bag hanging from his girdle as an apron. One of the young
women turning the soil wears a skirt; the other one and the old woman
wear front-and-back aprons of camote vines; the youth with them is
nude. The three transplanters wear skirts, and one of them wears an
open jacket. Besides these there are three children in and about the
sementera; one is a pretty, laughing girl of about 9 years; one is
a shy, faded-haired little girl of 3 or 4 years; and the other is a
fat chunk of a boy about 5 years. All three are perfectly naked. It is
impossible to say what clothing these toilers wore before I went among
them to watch their work, but it is certain they were not more clothed.

Let us watch the typical group of the three women and the youth:
Each has a sharpened wooden turning stick, the kay-kay, a pole about
6 feet long and 2 inches in diameter. The four stand side by side
with their kay-kay stuck in the earth, and, in unison, they take one
step forward and push their tools from them, the earth under which
the tools are thrust falling away and crumbling in the water before
them. While it is falling away the toilers begin to sing, led by the
elder woman. The purport of the most common soil-turning song is this:
"It is hard work to turn the soil, but eating the rice is good." The
song continues while the implements are withdrawn from the earth
and jabbed in again in a new place, while the syllable pronounced
at that instant is also noticeably jabbed into the air. Again they
withdraw their implements and, singing and working in rhythmic unison,
again jab kay-kay and syllable. The implements are now thrust about
8 inches below the surface; the song ceases; each toiler pries her
section of the soil loose and, in a moment, together they push their
tools from them, the mass of soil -- some 2 feet long, 1 foot wide,
and 8 inches deep -- falls away in the water, and the song begins