MAIZE STAECH. RICE STARCH. 83 



the brown sago (Sagu fuscum of Pereira*) which is rarely 

 met with ; a sample of it was shown in the Liverpool Col- 

 lection of Imports at the Exhibitiou of 1851 ; it was almost 

 as large as the confection called caraway-comfits, of a greasy 

 appearance and reddish-brown colour; indeed, it was not 

 unlike radish-seeds, but rather larger ; this is most usually 

 known in the market as Borneo Sago. Nearly all the sago 

 we receive comes from Singapore ; but that place is merely 

 the entrepot : it is produced in most of the islands of the 

 Indian Ocean and forwarded to Singapore, whence it is im- 

 ported to Europe. The quantity brought to the United 

 Kingdom has immensely increased within the last few 

 years : it now amounts to nearly 5000 tons per annum (in- 

 cluding all the varieties). It is extensively used as food, 

 being very palatable, nutritious, and cheap : but the sago- 

 meal or flour is principally consumed in the factories as 

 starch for stiffening textile fabrics. 



Maize Starch. — This is the starch from Indian corn; 

 it has scarcely yet become a commercial article; a few lots 

 only have been imported for experiment, and the Americans 

 exhibited samples of it in the Great Industrial Exhibition 

 under the name of Oswego Starch. 



Rice Starch is almost, if not entirely, home-manufac- 



* Pereira's Elements of Materia Medica and Therapeutics. 



