452 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL lUST. f^OCIETY, Vol. XXIL 



sj)adices — male and female. The female spadix yields fruit, but no 

 juice, and the male vice versa. Some trees will produce five or six 

 female spadices before they yield a single male one, and such trees 

 are considered unprofitable by the toddy collectors ; but it is said 

 that in this case they yield sago equal in quality, though not in quan- 

 tity, to the Gycas circinalis, although it is not always put to such a 

 requisition by the natives ; others will produce only one or two 

 female spadices, and the rest male, from each of Avhich the quantity 

 of juice extracted is the same as that obtained from ten cocoa-nut 

 spadices. A single tree will yield in one day sufficient juice for 

 the manufacture of five bundles of jaggerjr, valued at two cents each. 

 The number of mayams shooting out at any one time may be avera- 

 ged at two, although three is not an uncommon case. When sickness 

 or other occupation prevents the owner from manufacturing jaggery, 

 the juice is put into a jar, where, in a few days, it is converted into 

 excellent vinegar, equal in strength to that produced by the vinous 

 fermentsition of Europe. Each mayam will yield toddy for at least 

 three months, often for five, and fresh mayams make their appear- 

 ance before the old ones are exhausted ; in this way a tree is kept in 

 a state of productiveness for a number of years, the first mayam 

 opening at the top of the stem, the next lower down, and so on, 

 until at last it yields one at the bottom of the trunk, with which 

 the tree terminates its existence." 



Tschirch observes " that it is not worth while to grow the palm 

 for sugar, because its production per acre is insufficient. He gives 

 the yield for Java at about 8,000 lbs. per hectare (say 2^ acres). 

 The estimate qtioted by Simmonds is about 6,600 lbs. to the acre." '' 



(c) 8ago. — Like the true Sago Palm, Metroxylon so,gti, Eottb., the 

 Gomuti Palm affords a medullarjr substance, from which a meal is 

 prepared. In the western and poorer part of Java it is used in 

 considerable quantity, and offered for sale in all the markets. It is 

 smaller in quantity than the pith of the true Sago Palm, more 

 difficult to extract, and inferior in quality. It has got a certain 

 peculiar flavoxu- from which the meal of the true sago is free. 



According to Jumelle," about 400 trees can be planted to the acre, 

 and each tree yields about 154 lbs. of sago. This gives the enormous 

 total of 61,600 lbs. to the acre. Roxburgh sajs that one palm gave 

 about 150 lbs. of good sago-meal. 



(cl) The Fruit. — The juice of the fleshy outer covering of the 

 fruit is highly stimulating and corrosive. If applied to the skin it 

 causes great pain and inflammation. It is said that the inhabitants 

 of the Moluccas were in the habit of using in the defence of posts 

 during the war a liquor obtained by the maceration of this fruit, 

 which the Dutch appropriately denominated " hell-water." From 



1. Watt. Commerce. Prod, of India, (1908), p. 92. 



2. Jumelle. Les Cultures Coloniales. PI. (Aliment) 27 ; (1900). 



