THE PALMS OF ASIA. 137 



rating the farina from the accompanying Lran 

 and filaments is simple and obvious, and consists 

 merely in mixing the powdered medulla with 

 water, and passing the water charged with the 

 farina through a sieve at one end of the trough 

 in whicli the mixture is made. The Avater so 

 charged is made to pass into a second vessel, 

 where the farina falls to the bottom, and after 

 two or more washings is fit for use. This is 

 the raw sago meal, which keeps without more 

 preparation a month. For further use this 

 meal is made into cakes, which keep a long 

 time. Tliesc cakes are formed in moulds of 

 earthenware, divided into compartments. The 

 moulds are first heated, and the dry meal being 

 thrown into them, a cake is formed in a few 

 minutes, so that one heating of the mould 

 serves to bake several series of cakes. They 

 are, according to the country^ in which they 

 are made, of various forms and sizes. Those of 

 Amboyna are half a foot long, and three or 

 four inches broad ; those of Ccram are much 

 larger, and excessively hard. These cakes, 

 strung on a filament of cane, are the form in 

 which the sago is chiefly exposed for sale in 

 the markets, and that in which the largest 

 proportion of it is consumed. A considerable 

 quantity of the sago meal is also consumed in 



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