118 
ROBINSON. 
PANDAN HATS. 
SABOTAN. 
Sabotan hats are of many grades, from coarse ones sel ling for 20 
centavos each and worn by laborers, to a very superior grade the price 
of which, formerly about 8 pesos, is stiffening at a higher figure and is 
sometimes as much as 15 pesos. Formerly very few of the better grades 
were made, this part of the work extending back only sixteen years, but 
there is an increasing production at one peso and upward, the largest 
number of the better hats selling for about 3 pesos. No more suitable hat 
is made in the Philippines to withstand tropical conditions. The material 
is firmer than most other good materials, and the hats afford good 
protection from intense sunlight and are very durable. The natural color 
is a grayish or bluish green, and so far, attempts to secure a good bleach 
have been largely failures. For short periods of time, very satisfactory 
results have been obtained, but the effect is not permanent. Commercial 
production of these hats is confined to two towns, Mavitac in Laguna 
and Pililla in Eizal, adjoining in one sense, connected by a difficult trail 
and both much nearer other towns than they are to one another. There 
is no dispute about the facts that the work has been a recent introduction 
into Pililla from Mavitac, and is becoming nearly as important in the 
former as in the latter. There is little difference in the hats produced 
in the two places, if anything, the materials used in Pililla are thicker, 
and the prices higher. The leaves of this pandan vary in thickness 
according to the amount of shade in which the plants are grown, and 
Mavitac’s criticism of Pililla is that the people of the latter town do 
not yet understand this sufficiently. On the contrary, there are those 
who prefer the Pililla hat, although the writer is not one of them. Use 
of the material is long-standing, not only in these but other towns near 
by, but Mavitac only has been engaged in the sabotan hat industry for 
a long time, two centuries as against less than a decade. At present, but 
few of the better grades of sabotan hats are to be seen in Manila, and 
probably still fewer have been exported, but there should be a distinct 
increase in both respects. 
From Blanco’s statements, 34 the name sabotan was used, as far back 
as his time for a species of Cy perns which from the notes attached was 
probably C. malaccensis Lam. Nowadays, it is known to be given to a 
pandan on the east coast of Luzon, which from the appearance of the 
hats made from it can not be true sabotan. These are made at Baler, 
Tayabas, and are of several grades. The best sell for 60 centavos, and 
are of distinctly good appearance. They, also, may be an important 
addition to the minor classes, but it is unlikely that they can be produced 
34 Fl. Filip. (1837) 778. 
