The Birmingham age-herald., 1902-07-06
The Panama Hat.

ed demand as they are thlS sedsoh' IL ID not surprising that much has been writ- ten concerning them.
 The plant from which Is obtained the material of which the ..ats are made IS commonly called the Panama hat palm' although botansts do not group 1, under the name cyclanthacecoe. The botanical name of the particular species with which we are concerned is Carludovica palmata The South American natives call it Palma de Pima. It is indigenous toparts Of Ecua- dor. Colombia, Peru. Brazil and Central America.
 Right here it may be well to define cer- tain terms that have been used by writers in connection with this subject, and which have appeared in advertisements Tn the daily papers without their meaning being 1 clear
 The word Jipijapa is really the name of an interior town in Eeaudor, and the na- lives In that part of country commonly 1 speak of the Panama hat as the Jipijapa hal Another word that has been fre- l ouently used in Manabi. This is the l name of a province in Ecuador, and Man i abi hat is also synonymous with Panama i hat. In Manabi province is the city Of 1 Monte Crista, where some exceedingly l fine hats come from.
 The expression paJa toquilla has been i erroneousy used by some writer as being the name of the plant, but 1t the name l of the straw obtained from the plant as any one who knows Spanish might readily have understood, since the word paja means straw.
 Many of our readers will be surprised to 1 know that this straw is made from the flat leaf, and not from the stalk of the l plant for casual glance at the exterior surface of a Panama hat would give the impression that the hat was woven from a fiber of cylindrical form. However, l close scrutiny of the inner surface of the hat will disclose the fact that the fiber is not a 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 purpose uses his fin- ger nails. But t..e strips are not separ- ated at the stalk end. These punches are then bleached in the sun. Up to this point you s.--- have the flat straw. but what we shall call the rounding, for want of a better name, Is accomplished by the delft fingered native, aided by the natural tendency of the strip to curl The strip is rolled from each of its two edges to- ward the middle, and thus is formed, ready for plating into a hat body. that l excellent straw with no raw edges, and which is deceptively like cylinder.
 The French Panamas are made of this same material, which Is exported to Nan cy, Saar Union and other places in Eu- I rope where he French anama hats are ] made.
 The statements that Panama hats are made under water and that the very fine ones are woven only by candle light are characterized as incorrect by man who has all his life been engaged as a first hand in the Panama hat trade, and who has not only seen the hats made, but has made Panama hats himself.
 It is true that the hats are woven in the early morning hours, when the atmos- phere is damp. as the heat of the sun makes thefibers brittle and unfit for ma nipulation. At night the hat is hung out In the open air, where it absorbs the dew, and is the next day again in condition to be worked This accounts for the great length of time required in the hat making, one of the very fine grades re- quiring upward of three and a half months to produce.
 The hat is woven on a block which is held between the knees of the operator, although some of the very course hats are woven on the knee of the native too poor to own hat lock. Men, women and children among the native Indians are en- gagged in the weaving of the hats. To the children are entrusted only the making of the courser grades, and the youngsters be- come more skillful rom year to year, and in time some of them become experts capable Of making the exceedingly me hats. Those who have long been engaged in the handling of the Panama hats know from glance at the button from what To- cality the hat comes. The button is the little central portion of the crown of the hat, at which point the weaving begins and extends outward toward the edge.
 While a great deal has been written about $109 and S250 hats, it must be re- membered that these arr few In number When one takes into consideration that a broken straw or a straw not matching in color the rest of the hat, or knot show ing makes the hat defective, 1t will be realized that there cannot be many of these extremely fine hats produced. The finishing of the hat Is an operation re- quiring much skill. because each of the overlapping filters has to be turned back into the edge of the crown and trimmed off.
 Of course, most people in the trade are by this time aware tnat the Panama great majority of the hats made in Peru and Ecuador find their way to Guayauuil. whence they are shipped to Panama and, after crossing the isthmus, are shipped form Colon. This is true of the hats made in Colombia, many of which are shipped from Cartagena Cr Savanilla.