The traditional industry of Indochina is based on family handicrafts using local raw materials and the primitive spinning wheels, treadle looms, and potters' wheels which have been common for centuries. It produces all commodities used in native life. Food processing, such as rice milling, preparation of rice flour, pastries, starches, sugar, molasses, and vegetable oils, ranks first in importance, while the spinning and weaving of cloth come next. The ancient textile industry also includes the making of laces, embroideries, fish nets, hammocks, rope, and twine. With the introduction of modern textile factories in Tonkin the hand looms are gradually disappearing, particularly near the larger cities. The weaving of bamboo, latania leaves, and selected vines into baskets, mats, hats, raincoats, and kitchen implements also is widely distributed; in the Tonkin delta alone, some 42,000 artisans are engaged in this work. A well-developed wood industry for the making of furniture, farm implements, and other articles of use has thrived for centuries. A few artisans and blacksmiths produce copper, brass, and especially iron household articles. Masons, stonecutters, and brick makers, producing material for home construction, are found throughout the country. These are the principal traditional handicrafts, but there are many others for the making of specialty articles, such as paper, religious figures, and jewelry. In 1938 it was estimated that 1,350,000 people were engaged in handicraft industries. This was 7 per cent of the total population of Tonkin and Annam and 4 per cent in the other provinces.