THE PALMS OF ASIA. 107 



Phoenix fnrinifcra is a dwarf species of tlae 

 same genus as the last, and grows on dry 

 ground or sandy hills, not far from the sea, on. 

 the Coromandel coast. It is a very low tree, 

 or rather great leafy bush, for the trunk is 

 never above one-and-a-half or two feet high, 

 and the leaves completely conceal it. It is of a 

 much deeper green and has much narrower 

 leaflets than those of the date. It fruits and 

 flowers much in the same manner. The berries 

 are about the size of kidney beans, and are 

 black and shining ; they have not much pulp, 

 but what there is is sweet and mealy. It 

 flowers in January and February, and the 

 fruit ripens in May. The leaflets are wrought 

 into mats for sleeping on, and the main leaf 

 stalks are split lengthwise into three or four 

 pieces, and are used for making baskets. This 

 is one of the sago palms. It contains in the 

 cellular tissue of its small trunk a large quantity 

 of a farinaceous substance, or sago starch, which 

 the natives use for food in time of scarcity ; but 

 being of inferior quality to that yielded by 

 other palms, and withal bitterish in taste, it is 

 seldom met with in commerce. To obtain it 

 the small trunk is split into six or eight pieces, 

 and dried ; then beaten in wooden mortars till 

 the farinaceous part is detached from the fibres j 



