52 ON THE VEGETATION OF MALAYSIA, 



the growth of a tree, an acre of sago is equal in annual produce 

 to 23 or 10 acres of wheat.'' ("Journal of the Indian Archi- 

 pelago,'' Til., p. 312). 



The manufacture of pearl sago by the Chinese is described fully 

 in the works already cited. Though Sagus Icevis or aS'. koenigii is 

 the species most used for the production of the farina, there are 

 probably three or four species and a number of varieties known 

 to the Malays. There is what is called a bastard sago, derived 

 from the Toddy Palm {Caryota urens), a native of the mountains 

 of India and Ceylon. Another sago is made from a distant 

 relation of the palm family in Japan (Cycas revoluta). There is 

 also an extensive trade in Brazilian sago, derived from Copernicia 

 cerifera. Cycas circinnalis yields sago in Malabar and Cochin 

 China. 



A few words more about some well-known species in Malaysia 

 must conclude the references to the palms. Certain species 

 frequent certain altitudes. In an expedition to Gunong Bubu I 

 met with three palms clothing the mountain side, almost to the 

 exclusion of any others up to about 3,500 feet. For the first 

 2,000 feet we had the usual mountain species of Arenga, Areca or 

 Betel, and Ptychosperma^ with occasionally the less common genera 

 of the plains. At 2,000 feet or so we began to meet with abund- 

 ance of Pinanga, or Ptychosperma, with which genus it has been 

 united. The large pinnse were especially useful for roofing our 

 temporary huts. They are unarmed, often arboreous palms or 

 shrubs, somecimes with creeping stems. There are several species 

 such as Pinang boreng of Malacca, and Kurdu at Penang. Many 

 persons think that this particular species produces those formidable 

 palm-tree bludgeons which are known in the Straits Settlements 

 as "Penang lawyers ;" but it cannot be the Pinang boreng which is 

 Areca (Pinanga) onalayana (Mart. Palmse, p. 184, pi. 158, fig. 3, 

 and Griffith, " Palms of Brit. E. India," p. 152, pi. 230). It is an 

 elegant palm eight to twelve feet high, with a distinctly annulate 

 stem scarcely an inch in diameter, and a crown of five to eight 

 spreading leaves with stalks a foot and a-half long, while the 



