PHILIPPINE HATS. 
113 
and Pulilan is somewhat of a mystery, even here in the Philippines, 
where so many localities adhere to a single main industry. These two 
places may almost he said to be one, as the main towns are connected by 
barrios or outlying settlements, in all of which hats are made.' Yet, 
Quingua, separated from Pulilan by a small river, takes little part in 
this industry ; Bustos, separated from Baliuag by a larger river, but now 
politically united with it, is said to take none at all. It may be worth 
recording that certain aspects of the vegetation at Baliuag, suggest an 
unusually high humidity, a condition distinctly favorable to hat- weaving. 
Both Baliuag and Lueban have a businesslike appearance very unusual 
in these Islands. 
Bamboo hats are made on a very much smaller scale at other places, 
such as Concepcion, in Tarlac, Calasiao in Pangasinan, where they are 
of very minor importance, in towns of Ilocos Norte, and in the Yisayas. 
In none of these, have they any real commercial importance. 
BTJRI HATS. 
These fall into three very distinct classes, with subdivisions, according 
to the part of the leaf used : all are important. 
The buri palm of the Philippines normally grows to a large size, the 
petioles or stalks of the leaves are about 2.5 m in length, the' blade is 
fan-shaped and as long as the petiole, with very numerous midribs. 
Where the young leaves are extensively used, they are removed as they 
appear, in which case the trunk is little or not developed. A tree flowers 
but once, and then dies, at an age of about thirty years, so that it is 
difficult to obtain material upon which to base botanical identifications. 
The Philippine species was formerly supposed to be Corypha umbraculi- 
fera Linn., the talipot palm of southern India, but recent determinations 
by Doctor 0. Beccari make it G. data Roxb., also found in India. It is 
still an open question if all our plants are referable to one species. 
The three parts used are the actual leaf -tissue, the midribs of the 
leaflets, and the fibro- vascular bundles of the petioles. The last is buntal, 
both the others are usually included under the name buri or its equivalents, 
but have additional names hereafter noted. Buri-leaf hats are made in 
great numbers and in many places, but so far as Luzon is concerned, the 
other two classes are considered distinctive of a single region, buntal of 
Lueban in Tayabas, and buri-midrib of Calasiao in Pangasinan. The 
midribs are also used on Panay, especially at Pototan and Dumarao, and 
buntal has recently been imported and woven at Baliuag. So far as 
information has been obtained, no town uses the leaves in all three ways, 
but this is less wasteful than it may seem, as if the fibro- vascular bundles 
were taken from the unopened leaves, which are used for the buri-leaf 
and huri-midrib hats, they would not be sufficiently strong for use as 
buntal. 
101823 4 
