ncial and interprovincial trade. Since 1907
the people of Dolores, Oras, Santa Rita, and Balangiga have improved
in weaving and are now producing a few mats for the market. Their work
is much inferior to that of Basey and Sulat. In the year 1911 Basey
produced about 9,000 mats and Sulat about 300. The latter town could
have increased its production greatly, but its remoteness from the
market and from the routes of commerce reduces the large demand which
might otherwise exist for the mats. Basey is better situated in these
respects; moreover, the people have been forced to fall back on mat
weaving as their chief means of support, for typhoons have destroyed
their coconuts and abaca, and their rice crop is scant. Almost every
night mat weavers are found at work in many of the houses.

Several years ago, when American soldiers were stationed in the
vicinity of the town, there grew up a great demand for mats, and the
weavers, taking advantage of their need and their little knowledge of
values in the Philippines, demanded exorbitant prices and received
them. Most of the Basey people spent their time producing mats,
and to a great extent sacrificed quality for quantity. The grade
of mat that sold for P18 several years ago can now be bought for
about P8; that which sold for P3 two years ago can be bought to-day
for P2. Lately there has been a rise in price owing to increased
commercial demand. Mats made to order, particularly special mats, cost
more than those bought already woven, the price depending upon the
size of the article, the character of the design, and the fineness of
the straw and the weave. A mat two meters by one meter, made of the
finest grade of tikug, would require several months for completion
and would probably cost between P30 and P40. There is hardly a limit
to the size of the mat which can be woven. Three years ago one having
dimensions of 10 meters by 12 meters was made for a church, as many
as 30 women working on it at the same time.

Basey mats are of two general kinds: those with plaid designs woven in
and those on which the designs are embroidered. The former are the more
difficult to weave; but as there is no decoration to be added, they
are the cheapest mats obtainable, the prices for the ordinary grades
ranging from P0.80 to P3 each. Some weavers turn out only blank mats
of one color and do neither designing nor decorating. Straw used on
these is usually dyed, very few mats of natural colors bein