ij6 The Gardens of the Sun. [ch. vm. 



may in some places be obtained. If no heavy loads 

 have to be carried, however, one may travel quicker 

 without them, except where deep and rapid flowing 

 streams have to be forded, and there they are most 

 useful. 



We stayed at one little sago station, where the natives 

 were preparing the raw product. The process is very 

 simple. The trees are cut down just as they attain 

 maturity, the time being known by the production of the 

 branched inflorescence. The leaves are removed, and 

 then the trunks, which are ten to fifteen feet long, and 

 as thick as a man's body, are split longitudinally into 

 two halves. A man then cuts out the pith, with which 

 the whole centre of the trunk is filled. This requires 

 some skill. The implement employed for the purpose 

 is an axe, formed of a bamboo-stem, fixed in a stout 

 wooden handle, and lashed with rattan. By repeated 

 strokes of this instrument the pith and fibres are scooped 

 out in thin layers, care being taken to cut it out as free 

 from lumps as possible. The pulped pith is then carried 

 in baskets to a washing apparatus. This consists of a 

 rudely-constructed vat, elevated on piles, beside a river 

 or brook, whence fresh and clean water is plentifully 

 obtainable. 



From the vat a spout conducts the water into a trough 

 below. The bottom of the vat is covered with a mat or 

 bark-strainer. The pith is now placed in the vat, and 

 trodden, water being occasionally poured over it during 

 the progress, and the result is that the fine sago starch 

 is washed through, and settles in the bottom of the 

 trough below, the coarse particles and other impurities 

 being retained by the strainers, at the bottom of the 

 treading-vat. After the fine sago has been allowed time 

 to settle in the trough, the water is run off, and the 



