The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1902-08-07
PANAMA HAT CRAZE
WHERE AND HOW THE HATS
ARE MADE.
They Come Principally From Peru and
At Au-Their Quality.

According to Mems Wear" the plant
from which is obtained the material
Of which Panama hats are made il
commonly called the Panama hat
palm, although Dotanists do not group
1T under the head OF palms, classifying
it under the name cyclanthaceOe. The
botanical name of the particular spe-
cies with which we are concerned is
CarludOViCa palmata. The South Am
erican natives call it Palma de Pima.
1t is Indigenous 10 parts of Ecuador,
Colombia Peru, Brazil and Central
America
Right here it may be well to define
certain terms that have been used by
writer's in connection with this sub
ject, and which have appeared in adj
vertisements in the daily papers, with
out their meaning being clear.
The word Jipijapa is really the name
of an interior town i'm Ecuador, and
the natives in that part of the country
commonly speak of the Panama hat as
the Jipijapa hat. Another word that
has been frequently used is Mandbi.
This is the name of province in EC-
uador, and Manabi hat is also synOny-
nous with Panama hat. In Manabi
province is the city of Monte Cristi,
where some exceedingly fine hats come
from.
The expression paja toquilla has
been enormously used by some writer's
as being the name of the plant, but it
is the name of the straw obtained from
the plant, as anyone who knows Span
ish might readily have understood,
since the word paja meant straw.
Many will be surprised to know that
this straw is made from the fiat leaf,
and not from the stalk of the plant,
for casual glance at the exterior sur
face of a Panama hat would give the
impression that the hat was woven
from a fiber of cylindrical form. How
ever, close scrutiny of the inner sur
face of the hat will disclose the fact
that the fiber is not cylinder.
The method of preparing the straw
is as follows: Young plants, not over
four or five feet in height, are used for
this purpose. Only the leaves that are
young, stiff and in prime condition can
be used. These are split into narrow
strips by the native, who for this pur-
pose uses his finger nails. But the
strips are not separated at the stalk
end These punches are then bleached
in the sun. Up to this point you still
have the fiat straw; but what we shall
call the rounding, tor want of better
name, is accomplished by the deft-tln-
Eere1 natlNe, dlueu DN the natural ten
dency of the strip to curl. The strip
is rolled from each of its two edges
toward its middle, and thus is formed,
ready for plating into a hat body, that
excellent straw with no raw edges and
which is deceptively like a cylinder,
The French Panamas are made Of
this same material, which IS exported
to Nancy, Saar Union and other pla-
ces in Europe, where the ""ench Pa
mama hats are made.
The statements that Panama hats
are woven under water, or that the
very fine ones are woven only by can
delight, are characterized as incorrect
by a man who has all his life been en-
gagged as a first hand in the Panama
hat trade, and who has not only seen
the hats made, but has made Panama
mats himself.
II is true that the hat are woven in
the early morning hours when the at
mosphere is damp as the heat of the
sun makes the fiber brittle and unfit
for manipulation. At night the hat is
hung out in the open air, where it alb
serbs the dew, and is the next day
again i'm condition to be worked. This
accounts for the great length of time
required in the hat making, one of the
very fine grades requiring upward of
three and a half months to produce.