120 
ROBINSON. 
the heads of fruit of great size, weighing 15 to 25 kilos and containing 
thousands of drupes. The latter are never used for reproduction, as 
this is easier by means of the abundant suckers which develop at the 
roots. The leaves are cut for use when the plant is three to five 
years old and upward, the midrib removed, and the spines along the 
margin stripped off. The half-leaves are divided into strips with a knife, 
the use of a guide being necessary, wilted and drawn under a roller or 
around any other suitable surface. 
In southeastern Luzon, this pandan is replaced by a very similar 
species, Pandanus simplex Merrill, caragumoy, from which hats are made 
at Malilipot, Tabaco, and Bacacay, Albay. They are similar to those 
just mentioned, but slightly yellower, and serve the same class of trade. 
My information is that the prices are higher, but I distrust it : if true, 
this make will not be able to compete with the Laguna products. 
BALANGOT HATS. 
If any plant more than another is entitled to the name balangot, 
it is Gyperus malaccensis Lam., and repeated statements by scores of 
individuals indicate that- this species has been used for both hats and mats 
up to a comparatively recent date. All the better informed agree that 
this use has ceased or practically ceased. 36 But the name persists. At 
any shop ( tienda ) in Manila, where cheap hats are sold, an inquirer is 
practically certain to be offered balangot , but the hat is made from 
Pandanus utilissimus. Many dealers will have a second name for them, 
namely bangcoan. If it be protested that this is not true balangot, the 
dealer looks puzzled, and tries again with buri-leaf, or possibly the 
coarsest grade of sabotan. However, almost as often, he will say that 
there is no other kind of balangot. Yery rarely, a dealer will admit that 
the hat offered is not true balangot, but will add that the latter is not 
used for hats. Again, in provinces as distant as Union and Bohol, it is 
stated that balangot was formerly an inclusive term for all soft hats; 
where cross-examination has been possible, it further develops that such 
hats were always cheap. The confusion is of long standing, Blanco 
laments it in 183 7. 37 
The confusion extends to the other and more definite term for the 
hat now most frequently sold under the name of balangot, for the people 
who make all of those on the market do not seem even to have heard of 
bangcoan at all. Noav, this last is very near a name for Pandanus atro- 
carpus Griff., in various dialects from Borneo to Sumatra, 38 bangkoeivang, 
for example, requiring only the omission of “oe” to have one of the 
numerous spellings of the Philippine word. But we seem to have no 
3<i See page 105. 
37 FI. Filip. 777-780. 
83 De Clercq, F. S. A. Nieuw Plantk. Woordenboek Ned. Ind. (1909) 296. 
