8t AN ACCOU:?irT OP THE 



taken out, and the mealy part feparated from the fi- 

 brous, by maceration and treading it in a large trough 

 continually fupplied with frefh water : the meal fub- 

 iides and is kept in bags made of a kind of rufh ; and 

 in this ftate it may be preferved for a conliderable time. 

 When they take it from their ftore for immediate ufe, 

 fomc farther preparation of wafliing is neceflfary ; but 

 they do not jjranulate it. One tree Vv'ill fometimes yield 

 two hundred pounds of fago : when they cook it, it is 

 put into the hollow joints of a thin bamboo, and roafted 

 over the tire. 



Besides- this article, they have a variety of nourilli- 

 ins; plants, fuch as the yam, the fweet potatoe, the 

 pkiintain, &c. Their animal food confiits of fowls, 

 hogs and filh ; fliell fifh they cat raw. The ufe of 

 betel, fo common in the Eaft, is unknown to them, 

 and I obferved in many marks of the fcurvy in their 

 mouths. 



TiiErnarms confift of a bow and arrows. The bow- 

 is made of the AWwz^ tree, a fpecies of palm, which, 

 when of a proper age> is very ftrong and elaftic ; the 

 ftringi are formed of the entrails of ibme animal ; the 

 arrow is made of a fmall bamboo or other light wood, 

 headed with brafs, or with another piece of wood fixed 

 to the end of the fliaft and cut to a point : thefe ar- 

 rows, we were told, are fometimes poiioned. Though 

 flrangers. to the ufe of feathers to fteady the flight of 

 the arrow, they neverthelefs difcharge it from the bow 

 with much ftrength and Ikill. With a mongrel breed 

 of dogs, probably procured originally from Sumatra, 

 they roufe the deer in the woods, which they fometimes 

 kill with their arrows ; they alio kill monkeys by the 

 lame means, and cat their iiefh. We obferved an;iong 

 them a few who were in polfcUioii of creefes or Malay 

 dafietTS. 



• is J 



TiiEiR knowledge of mitals is entirely derived 



from 



