PHILIPPINE HATS. 
119 
on any large scale for many years. The only other use of 'the name that 
I have been able to authenticate, is sabotan byaya or “crocodile-sabotan” 
for Vallisneria spiralis Linn., the most cosmopolitan species found in the 
Philippines. It has no economic use, and is so different from true 
sabotan that the name might with equal propriety be given to almost 
any other monocotyledon. 
Sabotan leaves are not used until the plant is about 3 years old, and 
then only the older ones, as they are slow in growth and very tender 
when young. The apical part is always rejected as useless. The midrib 
is removed, and the half-leaves wilted in the sun for 2 to 4 hours, and 
then divided into strips by an instrument of local manufacture, called the 
pambulay or partidar. The material is then drawn around a flat piece 
of bamboo or other suitable object, the main purpose desired being to 
expel water from the tissues. It is then placed in cool water, usually 
that in which rice has been boiled, then itself boiled, again put in cool 
water to clean it, the times for all these processes varying. After drying 
and smoothing, it is ready for weaving. 
At Mavitac, about 100 hats of the better grades are made each month, 
of the lower grades perhaps 400 per week. If workers’ statements are 
to be credited, the time required in weaving must vary greatly as between 
different women, the time for an 8 peso hat being given from 8 days to a 
month. In general, a weaver earns from 50 centavos to a peso per day. 
OTHER PANDAN HATS. 
Next in frequency to buri-leaf hats for workmen’s use in Manila, and 
indeed most of central Luzon, is a pandan hat made at Luisiana and 
Majaijai, Laguna, from Pandanus utilissimus Elmer. 35 The hats are 
always coarse and cheap, averaging about 20 centavos each in price, but 
going higher and lower. They are well suited to the conditions which 
prevail here. Occasionally, they are worn as a rustic hat, and might 
have increased possibilities along that line. In Manila, they are acquir- 
ing an increasing monopoly of the name balangot, with bangcoan as a 
term of greater precision. In the localities where nearly all of them are 
made, they are called simply pandan. All of these terms have had 
other uses. 
The pandans here considered ( Pandanus utilissimus Elmer) are large 
and attain a great age, authentic data giving this up to 70 years for 
plants still living at the time. The leaves are very long, up to 5 m, and 
35 This is not the common pandan, except in a limited area, there largely 
through cultivation. That name should be reserved for P. tectorius Soland., as 
it is not only very much the most abundant in the Philippines, but has a very 
wide outside distribution, which our other species do not. In addition to Mr. 
Miller’s paper, there is an excellent account of this pandan by M. R ( oxas ) , Philip. 
Agric. & For. 1 (1911) 11, 12. 
