SAGO 91 



of the trough with water which is constantly poured 

 into it ; the water carries away the sago into the lower 

 part of the trough, and nothing remains above but the 

 coarse fibrous stuff which is thrown away ; the lower 

 trough gradually becomes filled with sago and tlie 

 water flows away. The sago, a dirty white substance 

 with a rather sour smell, is made into cylindrical cakes of 

 about 30 lbs. weight, and neatly wrapped up in leaves 

 of the palm to be carried back to the village. Most 

 of the work of collecting and preparing the sago is done 

 by the women. 



According to Mr. Wallace, one fair-sized sago palm 

 will supply one man with food for a year, so it will be 

 seen that the amount of labour required to feed a 

 community in a district where sago is plentiful is not 

 very overwhelming. 



The usual method of cooking employed by the 

 Papuans is to roll the sago into lumps about the size 

 of a cricket ball and roast them in the embers of a fire. 

 On one or two occasions I saw them prepare it in a 

 different way, which was to wrap up the sago in 

 banana leaves and cook it on hot stones ; the result 

 was probably more w^holesome food than the charred 

 lumps that they usually eat. 



Very often the natives of the Mimika eat the crude 

 sago, that is to say, the pith simply as it is cut out of 

 the tree, without having been washed or pounded. The 

 stuff is roasted in the usual way and the separation 

 of the sago is done in the mouth of the eater, who 

 spits out the uneatable fibre. 



As well as providing the Papuans with the bulk of 



