210 SAGO MANUFACTORY. 



pepper plantations, as well as a great number of 

 various kinds of fruit trees. 



Singapore is the principal, if not the only 

 place in the East, where the refining or manu- 

 facturing of the pearl sago is carried on ; the 

 process is said to be a recent one, and the in- 

 vention of the Chinese. According to Crawford, 

 it was first practised in Malacca about twenty- 

 years ago, and was only introduced into Singa- 

 pore in 1824. I availed myself of the establish- 

 ment of many of the manufactories of this article, 

 in and about the settlement, to visit one,* in 

 which I found a number of Chinese, all of whom 

 were busily occupied in different stages of the 

 operation. The sago, or sagu, is imported in 

 large quantities into Singapore from Sumatra in 

 native boats, who bring it at all seasons of the 

 year ; and a few days since eighteen proas of 

 difiPerent sizes arrived in the creek, laden with 

 this article alone in its raw state. The tree 

 from which the raw material is produced is 

 named Rumhiya by the Malays, and has been 

 too often described to render an account neces- 

 sary here.t 



* Situated at Teluk-ayer, (teluk, bay ; and ayer, water). 

 f There is a very coarse granulated sago in large grains, 

 and of a dirty greyish colour, which is imported by the 



