turned out, inexperience with extracting sago from Manicaria 
prompted him to make a cutting edge as wide as that used 
for extracting starch from Mauritia, which has a much larger 
trunk. The space between the hard bark on either side of 
the opening measured only 26 cm., much less than the trunk 
of a Mauritia customarily utilized for starch recovery. Thus, 
the edge proved to be too wide to be efficiently used. The 
Warao hoe bears close resemblance to sago hoes used in 
southeast New Guinea for the same purpose (Stohr, 1972, 
Fig. 35). 
After the pith was crushed, a woman washed it in a trough 
made from a piece of the trunk of a Mauritia 1.25 m. long. 
About 25 cm. at either end of the trough (canoa arua) was 
left untouched and the centre section excavated by means 
of an axe, so that a cross section was V-shaped (PLATE 
LXXXIII). 
After the men had placed the trough in a north/south 
direction (it must never be in the direction of the course of 
the sun), the woman drove four 1.20 m. long petiole sections 
of Mauritia (namoru) halfway into the water-logged ground 
next to the hollowed-out Manicaria (PLareE LXXXVIIT). 
Two uprights 75cm. apart stood on either side of the trough, 
and on top of these uprights the woman placed a dish-like 
strainer (bihi) made of strips of Ischnosiphon. Immediately 
below the strainer she positioned, at a steep angle, the fleshy 
end of a Mauritia leaf stem (wate buaka) for the purpose of 
collecting the washed pith below the strainer and channeling 
it smoothly into the trough without splashing. 
The woman collected the crushed pith from the trough, 
transferred it onto the strainer by means of a calabash 
(Cresentia Cujete), poured water over the pith, and began 
kneading it. From time to time, she scooped out some water 
from the trough and poured it over her hands and the pith. 
The water turned milky in the process, and the sago began 
settling on the bottom of the trough (PLAtes LXXXIX-— 
XCIII). 
The moment the woman started kneading the pith, she 
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