e and is ready to be woven. Sometimes the lengths are stripped
before being rolled, hence the straw is left in the sunshine for
another half day and then placed under the log in the iluhan.

Mats are woven in Majayjay and Luisiana only, the weavers of
Cavinti devoting their entire time to the fabrication of hats. The
mats are woven of single straw, but they are fairly thick and not
at all limber. The number produced per week runs probably into the
thousands, of which about 75 per cent are made of coarse straw and are
intended for use in drying palay, copra, etc. These mats are known as
"bangkoan," a word having about the same significance as "bastos;"
that is, coarsely or poorly made. The finer and better made mats are
intended for use as sleeping mats and for the floor. They are decorated
with colored buri straw, usually in some shade of red produced by
mordanting with kolis leaves and boiling with sappan wood as explained
for buri straw. Occasionally, other colors are used, produced from
the imported coal-tar ("Chino") dyes, but in all cases the shades
produced are not very pleasing. The decorations are embroidered in,
and consist of simple borders in straight lines with an open center
design of somewhat the same pattern. When first woven, the mats are
usually of a dark green color. Before being sold, they are placed in
the sun, which changes them to a grayish color somewhat resembling
sabutan. After long use, however, the final shade is yellowish green.

There seems to be but little division of labor in the production of
these mats. Usually the whole family goes out into the patch and cuts
the leaves, removing the thorns before bringing them home. Only women
weave the mats. In Majayjay a few workers color their own buri straw
used in decorating the mats, but for the most part this material is
obtained from dyers, one a Chinese, the other a Filipino, who prepare
it for sale.

The weavers are independent of advances by brokers and sell their
product to Filipinos or to the representatives of Chinese merchants
in Pagsanjan and Manila. A few weavers take their mats to Lukban,
whence they are distributed over Tayabas Province, but many more are
gathered up by these brokers and sold in the market at Pagsanjan. The
mat market there usually occupies one whole sidewalk running the
length of the market building.

The pandan mats of Majayjay and Luisiana are notable for their strength
and durability, and are excellent for th