62 THE SAGO PALM. 



sionally with boobies and noddies perched upon 

 them. These trees had probably ^own upon the 

 banks of the rivers of the bay, and been washed 

 away by the undermining- of the low alluvial banks 

 on which they grow, and carried out to sea by the 

 current. Along several of the fresh-water channels 

 on the western side of the Great Bight examined by 

 the Flj^s boats in 1844, 1 had seen this pahn grow- 

 ing on the margin of the stream in great profusion, 

 and according to Gi'om, the bisi tree (as she called 

 it), is occasionally carried by the winds and cmrents 

 as far south as the Prince of Wales Islands, when 

 the natives scoop out the soft spongy inner wood, 

 wash it well with fresh water, beat it up into a pulp, 

 separate the farinaceous substance which falls to the 

 bottom of the vessel, and bake it as bread. On no 

 part of the coast of New Guinea, however, did we 

 ever see any of this sago bread, which is known to 

 constitute the principal food of the inhabitants of 

 the north-west coast of that great island.* 



On one occasion lately the water was discoloured 

 by a conferva resembling the "sea sawdust" of 

 Captain Cook, with which it was found to agree 

 generically in consisting of long filaments joined 

 together by a softer gelatinous looking substance. 



* Forrest endeavours to shew that an acre of ground planted 

 with 300 sago palms will maintain fourteen men, as each tree 

 produces 300 pounds of sago flour, when arrived at full maturity 

 in its seventh year. Voyage to New Guinea and the Moluccas in 

 1774-6; hy Captain Thomas Forrest, 2nd, Ed. p. 44. 



