j<)4 



ISLAND OF GILOLO. 



ference, of great ftrength, faced with precipices ; flat at top, con- 

 taining many houfes and gardens, and inacceflible unlefs by- 

 ladders. 



This ifland abounds with oxen, buffaloes, goats, deer, and 

 wild hogs, but fcarcely any flieep. 



The natives have a turn to manu failures, but it is checked 



by the Dutcb\ notwithftanding this, they import a great deal of 



cotton yarn from Ball'i^ and the Buggefs country, which they 



fabricate into cloth. 



Sago Tree. Ix Gilolo, in all the Moluccas, and other iflands of that diftridf, 



and even in New Guinea, grows the Rima or Bread Fruit. I 



have before mentioned that ufeful tree, the Cycas circinalisy 



Sago or Libby tree, which appears firil: in Siam, grows in Sumatra, 



Borneo, Jobor, Java, and Minda)iao, is continued through all the 



illands, and becomes in thefe countries a vegetable of the firft 



importance, for the fubfiftence of the inhabitants. It is as wheat 



to the Europeans, mayz to the Americans, dates to the Arabs, 



and rice to the Hindoos. The ufe of rice, the great food of India, 



ceafes ; either the ground is unfit for the cultivation, or the 



natives are too lazy to fow it, when nature offers them a more 



ready food. The fago trees grow in great numbers in every one 



of thefe illands. It fometimes attains the height of thirty feet, 



and the branches extend twenty ; the circumference of the item 



is as much as a man can en^brace ; the head fpreads into leaves 



like a palm, to which genus it bears a great refemblance ; but 



Linnaus choofes to fling it among the ferns. Rumphius (who 



is very difFufe in his account of it) places it among the palms, under 



the name of Sagu, and Raima farinaria * ; Mr. Forrejl gives 



* Rumphius, i. 72 to 83. tab. 17. 



the 



