The largest of the smaller towns is probably Jipijapa, in the province of Manabi, which is the centre of the Panama hat industry and had in 1900 an estimated population of 6000, nearly all Indians.
I saw him in the sunlight wearing a white suit and a Panama hat.
In the summer, fedoras and driving caps gave way to the straw Panama hat or the shallow, flat-topped hats known as boaters or skimmers.
Even more popular in America was the Panama hat.
Early in the 20th century, the Panama hat was first seen in the States and became wildly popular thanks to a photograph of President Theodore Roosevelt wearing one.