118 • CERAM. [chap. XXV. 



covered with stout paper inside and out, are strong, light, 

 and secure the insect-pins remarkably well. The leaflets 

 of the sago folded and tied side by side on the smaller 

 midribs form the " atap " or thatch in universal use, while 

 the product of the trunk is the staple food of some 

 hundred thousands of men. 



When sago is to be made, a full-grown tree is selected 

 just before it is going to flower. It is cut down close to 

 the ground, the leaves and leaf-stalks cleared away, and a 

 broad strip of the bark taken off the upper side of the 

 trunk. This exposes the pithy matter, which is of a rusty 

 colour near the bottom of the tree, but higher up pure 

 white, about as hard as a dry apple, but with woody fibres 

 running through it about a quarter of an inch apart. This 

 pith is cut or broken down into a coarse powder by means 

 of a tool constructed for the purpose — a club of hard and 

 heavy wood, having a piece of sharp quartz rock firmly 

 imbedded into its blunt end, and projecting about half an 



SAGO OLHE. 



inch. By successive blows of this, narrow strips of the 

 pith are cut away, and fall down into the cylinder formed 

 by the bark. Proceeding steadily on, the whole trunk is 



