The coarsest kinds of mats, employed chiefly by the lower class, are called in the central districts _klóso bóngko_; those prepared from grass, _klóso mándong_; and the others, _klóso psántrem_ (from the place where they are made). The materials of all these are plaited by hand. The _klóso psántrem_ are of superior quality, and in use through the central and eastern parts of the island; especially among the natives of the first class, with whom they constitute the principal furniture of the dwelling-house. A person of the highest rank aspires to no luxury, more delicate or expensive in this way, than the possession of a bed composed of mats from _psántrem_.
A kind of umbrella hat worn by the common people, and universal in the Súnda districts denominated _chápeng_, is also manufactured in this manner, principally from _bámbu_, dyed of various colours, which being shaped in the form and of the size of a large wash-hand basin worn reversed, is rendered impervious to the wet by one or more coverings of varnish.
A great part of the manufacturing ingenuity of every people must be displayed in collecting the materials, or arranging the fabrics of those articles of clothing, required for protection, decency, or ornament. Whether these materials are derived from the fleece, the fur, or the feathers of the larger animals, from the covering of an insect, the bark of a tree, or the down of a shrub, they have to undergo several laborious and expensive processes before they are fit for use; and in conducting these processes, or forming machinery for rendering them more expeditious, complete, and easy, the superior manufacturing skill of one nation over another is chiefly evinced. The sheep on Java, as in all tropical climates, loses its fleece before it can be used with advantage. The silk-worm has never succeeded, although no reason can be given why it should not, and therefore the chief material of Javan clothing is cotton.
Cotton, in its rough state, is called _kápas_, and when cleaned _kápok_. The process of separating the seeds is performed by means of a _gilíng'an_, which is a roller, consisting of two wooden cylinders revolving in opposite directions, between which the fibre is made to pass. This operation is very tedious, two days being necessary for one person to clean a _káti_, equivalent to a pound and a quarter English. After the separation of the seed, it is _géblek_, or beaten with a rattan, and _píndi_ or picked. The finer sort is then bowed after the Indian manner; this operation is called _wusóni_. The cotton thus prepared is afterwards pulled out and drawn round a stick, when it is called _púsuh_. To perform the process upon a single _káti_ will employ one person about two days. The cotton is now ready for spinning (_'ngánti_), and requires ten additional days' labour of one person, to convert the small quantity above mentioned into yarn, when the result is found to be three _tukal_, or hanks, of the ordinary kind.