PREPARING THE BIRDS FOR SALE. 27 



soil would produce an hundredfold, if they would 

 take the pains to cultivate it. 



This is especially the case in the places where 

 the sago-palni grows ; for sago and fish are all 

 the native seems to care for. 



The tree is something like the cocoa-nut palm, 

 but its stem is thicker, and it has great prickly 

 leaves that cover the trunk. These leaves are 

 fifteen feet long, and immensely thick. But in 

 spite of their thickness they are very light, and 

 can easily be carried. The people make great use 

 of these' giant leaves. They build houses of them, 

 thatch with them, and floor with them. Nothing 

 can be more convenient. 



As for the trunk, it feeds millions of people. 

 At the proper season it is cut down, the leaves 

 taken away, and a slit made from one end to 

 the other. Then the natives come with wooden 

 clubs and break the pith, and clear it out. It is 

 carried away in baskets to a washing-machine, 

 which stands in the river, and is made of the palm- 

 wood itself. Wh^n the pith or sago is ready, the 

 women employ themselves in making it into 



