PHILIPPINE HATS. 
117 
and durability, but the returns to the workers seem to be less than in 
making any other variety. The time required for a 50-centavo hat was 
given as three days; for a peso hat, five days or even more; for the 5 
peso, a month; for the 30 peso, three' Month's. The best estimates for the 
output were about 500 per week, and the workers also stated that the 
number has been nearly constant for several years. A few hats of this 
material are made in a barrio of the nearest town to Calasiao, namely 
San Carlos ; otherwise, the material is not used in Luzon. However, in 
Panay, it again comes into prominence, in Pototan and Dumarao, and 
to a less extent in Dao, Passi, and Dumalag. The women of Calasiao 
itself use other materials as well, buri-leaf, bamboo, rattan, and second in 
importance to buri-midrib, nito. For cigarette-cases, buri-midrib, nito, 
and horsehair are used. 
Information has been obtained from authentic sources, that at Cama- 
ligan, Ambos Camarines, a fourth portion of the buri-leaf, namely the 
outer surface of the petioles, is also used for hats. They are said to be 
of good appearance, and to sell for 3 to 15 pesos each. 
Yet a fifth portion of the leaf is used in Bohol, in mat making, namely 
the thin epidermis or outer surface of young leaves, which is woven on 
looms. When either this or strips of buri-leaf are rolled, they receive 
the name saguran. 
RATTAN HATS. 
While this is perhaps the best name to use for general purposes, bejuco 
and way are more common locally. The species used in Calamus mollis 
Blanco, a climbing palm, growing only in the Philippines. It is typically 
a forest plant, but is cultivated at Baliuag in small quantity. Practically 
all of the material has to be obtained from a distance, which adds to the 
cost: The prices have risen considerably in recent years, and it is rarely 
possible to get a rattan hat for less than 12 pesos and they are more often 
18 to 25 pesos. The upper limit is lost in fable, it is alleged to be 1,000 
pesos and is at least 300 pesos. The parts used are the intermediate layers 
of the stem, which are prepared in the same way as bamboo, except that 
boiling is unnecessary. They are sufficiently strong to permit finer divi- 
sion than any other Philippine material. Consequently, with their satiny 
sheen, the higher grades of rattan hats are extremely beautiful, but beyond 
a limit, which may vary with individual taste, they are rather works of 
art than usable commodities. Nearly all the rattan hats on the market 
come from Balinag, Calasiao makes them when ordered, and there is 
elsewhere a scattered but very scanty production. On the other hand, 
reason has already been given for believing this to have been the original 
material used for hats as distinguished from salacots in many places in 
the Islands. The workers say that a second species of Calamus is very 
rarely used, but its exact identity has not been ascertained. 
