1 36 THE PALMS OF ASIA. 



individual trees become ripe. The length of 

 time in which this happens depends on the 

 nature of the soil in wliich the sago groAvs. 

 Fifteen years may probably be reckoned an 

 average time for the tree to come to maturity. It 

 is not, however, by a calculation of the tree's age, 

 but by its appearance, or by an actual experi- 

 ment on the pith, that the period of maturity 

 is determined. The inhabitants of the Moluccas 

 note six stages in the progress of the maturity 

 of the medullary matter, the earliest of which is 

 marked by the appearance of an efflorescence 

 on the branches, and the last by the com- 

 mencement of fructification. Tlie pith may be 

 extracted in any of these stages, and sometimes 

 the natives, trusting to their experience, pro- 

 ceed to the harvest from the mere appearance 

 which the tree presents. IMore frequently, 

 liowever, a hole is bored in the trunk, and 

 Some of the pith actually extracted, and its 

 maturity examined. When the pith is ascer- 

 tained to be ripe, the tree is cut down near the 

 root, and the trunk subdivided into portions of 

 six or scA'Cn feet long, each of which is split into 

 two parts. From these tlie medullary matter is 

 taken, which, by means of an instrument of 

 bamboo or other hard wood, is forthwith reduced 

 to a powder like sawdust. The process of sepa- 



