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Your Panama Hat from the Tropical Jungles of South America to the American Hat Store

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Your Panama Hat from the Tropical Jungles of South America to the American Hat Store 456 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN May 15, 1915 Your Panama Hat From the Tropical Jungles of South America to the American Hat Store By A. M. Jungmann HEN you get ready to put on your Panama hat hat is completed receives a handsome sum for it. But only one way, the different localities where the hats are W this season view it with renewed interest. It is nc· matter what the pay, it surely is well earned, for made each has a method of handling the skeleton char­ about the only article of apparel which is still being the weaving of such a hat requires an amazing amount acteristic of that particular s�hool of weaving, and the made in exactly the same way it was when these hats of skill and knowledge of the best sort of "cogollo" to placing and design of the skeleton straws are unfailing came into being centuries ago, before Columbus discov­ go into its construction. Also it takes an entire season indications, to the initiated, of the place of manufac­ ered the Americas. That is, of course, if your Panama t(1 complete one. These adepts at .weaving develop a ture of a Panama hat. is a real Panama. And speaking of real Panama hats, sensitiveness in feeling comparable only to our blind Starting at the center of the "plantilla," the weaver in point of fact there is no such thing. Panama hats who have been taught to use their fingers as their eyes. builds a series of concentric braids. Each of these fine are not and never have been made in Panama. They The sense of touch must be delicate in the extreme to circles is called a "carrera." The greatest manual dex­ acquired this false name because the city of Panama turn out the exceptional Panamas. These wonderful terity is necessary to handle these delicate straws and was· and still is the great distributing center for this gift hats, which rarely ever are seen by ordinary mor­ interweave them with the skeleton straws, yet keep the particular variety of hat. tals, have a texture as fine and supple as a piece of whole symmetrical. In order to facilitate the bending Panama hats are woven from the leaves of Ca1"I'!tdo· Lyons silk. The weaver who is selected to make one and turning of the straws, the weaver keeps that part vica palmata, a low growing, sturdy member of the attains great honor in his village. Not many of the of the hat on which he is emplo'yed wet by means of a palm family, and the finest of them come mop of straw, which he dips into a vessel from Ecuador; others are made in Colom- I of water at his hand. The entire hat is bia and Peru. This palm, of which there never kept wet; only a very small part of are half a dozen varieties, grows wild in it at a time. When the crown is com­ the semi-darkness of the tropical jungles pleted and the time comes to join the brim of the Pacific coast of South America. In on to the crown, the weaver slips the selecting its leaves for hat making care is crown onto a block and then attacks the exercised to take the young unopened "carre," as the juncture of crown and leaves. These are pliable, white, and brim is called. I suppose efficiency engi­ larger than the developed leaf. The rough neers will be shocked to learn that in this outer layers of the leaf are cast away and day and generation the weavers of Panama the smooth, white inner layers which lie hats still persist in the ancient and tuber­ folded fanwise are carefully cut into, culosis encouraging habit of holding the literally, thousands of fine shreds or strips block in place with their chests instead of varying in size from pieces as fine as the adopting a more healthful and up-to·date hair of a horse's tail to strips as thick as method. The weaver now completes the ordinary twine, according to the quality tortuous ordeal by finishing off the brim of hat to be made. border or "remate," as he calls it. The The knife used for this operation is brim is then pulled into shape by a series very thin and sharp and considerable of firm twists and pulls and the block skill is necessary to cut the leaves, for the removed. strips must not be separated from the The loose straws which stand out, halo­ parent stem of the leaf. The leaf when like, around the border of the brim are cut is known as a "cogollo." A number of carefully trimmed off, and the hat is lea ves so prepared are tied together by ready to be washed and bleached. After the l'tems and submitted to a process of How Panama hats are bleached after they are received. all the soil has been washed out and it steeping in boiling water. After this they has been given the desired whiteness, it h; are bleached by methods known to the once more put on a block in preparation natives and are then ready to be woven for the process termed "masetear," which into hats. The preparation of the "co­ means to be beaten with a wooden ham­ gollo" is an entirely separate industry mer. This calls for great skill, for as the from that of the hat making. Each hammer is manipulated so is the appear­ "cogollo'.� contains on an average twen­ ance of the hat changed. When the hat ty-eight straws about 50 centimeters long looks the way the weaver wants it to he and weighs usually 15 grammes. The stops beating it and very gently and pains­ price the weaver pays for this material takingly proceeds to iron it. This then varies according to the fineness of the completes the process and the hat is texture of the "cogollo" and the even packed with its fellows to begin its com­ coloring of the straws. mercial adventures. The hats are stacked The hats are not woven in factories, but one within the other and between them in the homes of the weavers. Sometimes sulphur is liberally sprinkled to prevent an entire family is engaged in weaving. moulding, something which must be con­ In the more remote districts where com­ stantly guarded against in humid, tropical munity life does not exist all the members countries. Occasionally when hats arrive of a family are provided with "cogollos" at the distributing centers they have dark of a fineness of texture suitable to their spots on them, which are not readily re­ individual skill. The children are sup­ moved. There is a certain preparation plied with the coarsest straws and the which is sold for the removal of these older and more experienced weavers with blemishes, but for some reason the for­ finer material. Where the population per­ mula has been kept a secret. mits, the weavers gather into congenial When the hats are finished they are groups. The young men of the village taken to the nearest market place on mar­ Panama hats are received in crates-thousands of dollars worth in a congregate each day and weave in little ket day and there sold to the dealers by single crate. groups, lightening the time of toil with their makers. These markets are pic­ jokes and stories. Similarly the girls form pleasant best hats are brought to. this country. In the depart- tllresque in the extreme. The gaudily dressed natives, weaving parties and sing while their fingers are busy ment of Antioquia, Colombia, there are weavers who the women wearing innumerable petticoats, the haggling with the palm strands. The. older people are apt to turn out hats which almost any American would be crowds, the colorful display of vegetables, hats, clothes, gather togetheF according to their skill, but there is glad to own, but they do not equal the Ecuador product. and a thousand and one interesting objects, not for­ usually one weaver whose art is so far ahead of the There is but one place in Peru where the industry getting the quaintly hideous charms sold by the In­ others that he or she is set apart and generally re­ flourishes, and that is in the small town and district dians, the patient pacl, animals all go to make up a garded with a generous amount of admiration or envy, known as Catacaos, in the province of Piura. These scene almost incredibly unique, for to-day it is just as as the case may be. On the whole, however, these peo­ hats are shipped from Paita. In the countries where it was generations ago. Progress has not reached the ple are of a pleasant, though somewhat phlegmatic, Panama hats are made there are but two classes of market places where Panama hats begin their journey disposition. people, the rich or anistocratic class, and the poor or iJ�to the great, bustling world. The utmost perfection in weaving has been attained serving class. Many of the hats which usually find The weavers of the very finest Panama hats do not in the districts of Jipijapa, Monteci'isti, and Santa Ana, their way to the United St.ates and are sold at moderate need to belong to a trade union to insure their working province of Manabf, Ecuador. Some of the hats pro­ prices are made in Peru. They would be spurned by days being shortened to accepted standards. They work duced there are almost as fine as a linen handkerchief.
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