



118 PEOPLES OF THE PHILIPPINES 
coarse in texture and irregular in form. The unevenness 
in such case is much more easily overcome by operating 
with three or more rods treated as a bundle. The 
luxuriant growths of monocotyledonous plants that 
flourish in the home of the Filipino perhaps have en- 
couraged his predilection for the technique of unit | 
foundation coiling. As might be expected, this pre- 
dominance is not confined to the Philippines, but ex- 
tends over adjacent parts of the world. 
Twining, the process by which two or more weft 
strands are simultaneously wound among the warp, 
is one of the most widely spread of all basketry tech- 
niques, particularly in temperate latitudes, but is 
practically unknown in the Philippines. The entire 
collection of the Museum contains only one or two speci- 
mens made in this technique. | 
Matting of both the checker and twilled types is 
widely manufactured, but does not attain either the 
fineness or the great variety of uses as in some other 
parts of Oceania. Many of the mats are woven without 
any pattern. They rarely attain sufficient softness to 
_ make possible their use as clothing. They are also not 
employed for house walls or as currency, as in certain 
Pacific islands. 
Woven Textiles. From mats to cloth is only a step. 
Cloth, in fact, is merely matting made of thread-like 
material handled on a frame or loom. The two principal 
cloth materials of the ancient Filipino were cotton and 
abaca, the fiber of the banana-like plant known in com- 
merce as Manila hemp. The cultivation of both of these 
has already been discussed under agriculture. ‘Today, 
the use of cotton tends to prevail among the Christian 
and Mohammedan nationalities, that of abaca among 
the pagans of Mindanao. The abaca cloth is stiff and 
somewhat coarse but very durable, and lends itself to 

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