178 CULTIVATED VEGETABLES. 



long, by the sides of the rivers. Their body 

 and shape is much like that of the palmeto 

 tree, or the cabbage tree, but not so tall as 

 die latter. The wood is full of white pith, 

 like that of elder. The tree, after being cut 

 down, is split in the middle, and all the pith 

 is scraped out and well beaten with a wooden 

 pestle in a great mortar or trough, and then 

 put into a cloth or strainer over a trough ; 

 water being poured upon it, the substance is 

 stirred about until the water carries all the 

 pith through the cloth into the trough, leav- 

 ing behind a light sort of husk, which is 

 thrown away. That which runs into the ves- 

 sel settles at the bottom like mud ; the water 

 is then drawn off, and the substance formed 

 into cakes, which being baked, prove a very 

 good bread. The people of Mindanao live 

 three or four months of the year on this food. 

 The native Indians of Ternate, Tidore, and 

 all the Spice Islands, have plenty of these 

 trees, and use them for food. The sago 

 which is transported into other parts of the 

 East Indies, is dried in small pieces like little 

 seeds or comfits, and commonly eaten with 

 milk of almonds by those who are troubled 

 with the flux. 



The Arabs eat the pith of the young date- 



