ical of the country,
artistic in design, and of real commercial value. It is expected that
this end will be definitely furthered through the study and use of
the material contained in this reprint.

A considerable part of the subject matter of this publication
is the original work of Mr. Hugo H. Miller, Mr. John F. Minier,
Mr. U. S. Andes, Mr. Theodore Muller, and Mrs. Alice Brezina. Credit is
also due to numerous American and Filipino teachers for the submission
of reports and materials used in its preparation.

Frank L. Crone,

Acting Director.

Manila, February 1, 1913.

PHILIPPINE MATS.

The production of mats in the Philippines is large because of the
extensive domestic demand for them. The sleeping mat [1] is used
throughout the Christian provinces, and is also found among the
Moros. Such mats are of the finer class and are usually more or less
highly decorated with colored straws in various designs. For this
purpose the buri petates are more widely produced than those made from
any other material. Pandan mats are considered stronger and cooler
but their use is not so extensive, probably because they are more
expensive than the buri mats. In the Visayas, tikug mats are important.

Another use of mats is in the baling of two of the staple products of
the Philippines, tobacco and abaca. In the Cagayan valley mats of dried
banana petioles are employed. A great many of these are made in Batac,
Ilocos Norte, from which place they are shipped to Cagayan. In most
cases the tobacco of the Visayas is packed in such mats also. At Argao,
Cebu, banana petiole mats are woven as a by-product of the saba cloth
industry. In obtaining the fiber, the outer skin of the petiole is
pulled off for stripping, and the remaining portion, which is called
"upag," is dried and woven into very coarse mats by children. These
are called "bastos" [2] or "liplip," and are disposed of to the tobacco
balers in the town, or are shipped to Cebu and other towns for baling
purposes. While saba sinamay is produced in several of the districts
in the Visayas, notably in Bohol, it is not known that the upag is
used for mat weaving there.

Coarse buri mats are almost exclusively used in wrapping abaca for
the export trade. Since baling is carried on only in large seaports,
particularly in Manila and Cebu, the weaving of these mats in certain
localities where the buri palm is abundant and their transportation
to the hemp-producing to