The planter usually sells his abaca to a shipper who has a baling machine and large warehouses in some seaport town, with his own wharves for loading the freight on steamers bound for Manila or foreign ports.
During the shipping season these warehouses present scenes of busy activity. Outside is a large courtyard crowded with carabao carts piled high with fresh abaca which men are weighing and sorting as it is unloaded. From within can be heard the rattle and rush of the baling as men and boys, urged by the shrill commands of their foreman, run around a circular track turning a great wheel that puts the pressure upon the bales. Extending from the warehouse to the vessel is a long line of noisy taos (tä′-ōs̝), or workmen, carrying the heavy bales out on the wharf and over the side of the steamer to be stowed away in the hold.
Hauling Hemp
Hemp Warehouse
All kinds of rope, from the heavy cables used on board ship to the small ropes used on the farm, and even string and thread are made from abaca. Carpets are woven from the fiber. In Paris, hats of the finest quality are made from it; and in the Philippines similar uses are made of it. Many Filipino households have their own looms on which they weave sinamay (sĭn′-ä′mäy̆) and pinalpog (pï′-năl-pōg), beautiful and durable cloths which are used for making men’s shirts, and also women’s waists and dresses. It is woven into handsome patterns in various colors. Sinamay is of rather coarse texture, while pinalpog is as fine as linen, having a glossy sheen which is secured by pounding the fiber in a mortar before weaving. Sometimes threads of silk are woven in with the abaca fiber and the cloth is then called jusi (ho͞o′-sĭ).
Weaving
Francisco’s grandmother, whose house was not far away, made her living by weaving abaca; and she wove a number of very handsome patterns from which Maria’s best dresses were made. The women of the Philippines wear waists, with open flowing sleeves and very large collars that fasten like a scarf in front and extend in a V shape from the shoulders almost to the waist line. It is a custom among Filipinos to decorate the sleeves and collars of especially nice dresses with hand-painted designs. Maria had some artistic skill and had so decorated two of her waists, one with a cluster of flowers and the other with a small view of Mayon Volcano.