Other Local Specialties

The Buguias people of today do not recall other significant local products, but the American administrator David Barrows, who visited Buguias twice (in 1902 and 19o8), was so impressed with their crafting of smoking pipes, wooden spoons, and effigy figures that he devoted a three-page journal entry to them (1908:91–93). Evidently, several Buguias artisans made four different kinds of pipes from three different materials (copper, wood, and clay). Pipe making must have disappeared soon after his visit; in the later American period Buguias traders were purchasing old pipes from the Kalanguya. Barrow's attention to wooden spoons indicates a subsequent decline in workmanship; the later examples of this art are simple utilitarian objects. The carving of representations of deities and spirits disappeared completely; evidently, as trade opportunities grew, the Buguias people abandoned several of their customary arts. A number of smaller neighboring villages, however, retained notable craft specialties, including basketry and woodplatter carving.