THE PALMS OF ASIA. 125 



manufacture into Avine, and that the sago ob- 

 tained from the stem is of such inferior quality 

 as to be of use only in times of famine. Dr. 

 Roxburgh, however,, gives a very different 

 statement. He says, "This tree is highly 

 valuable to the natives of the countries where 

 it grows in plenty ; it yields them during the 

 hot season an immense quantity of toddy or 

 palm wine. I have been informed that the best 

 trees will yield at the rate of one hundred pints 

 in the twenty-four hours. The pith, or farina- 

 ceous part of the trunk of old trees, is said to 

 be equal to the best sago ; the natives make it 

 into bread, and boil it into thick gruel. I have 

 reason to believe this substance to be highly 

 nutritious. I have eaten the fruit, and think it 

 fully as palatable as that obtained from the 

 Malay countries." Mr. Bennett, also, in his 

 work on Ceylon, states that the toddy of this 

 palm is so very luscious that it is only drunk 

 when that from the cocoa nut cannot be ob- 

 tained. Eight gallons of this sap, boiled over 

 a slow fire, will yield four gallons of very thick 

 syrup. To this is added small pieces of the 

 bark of the halgas, {Shorea rohista,) and being 

 again boiled, jagghery is the product, not only 

 superior in quality to that obtained from the 

 cocoa nut, but also double in quantity. The 



