AGRICULTURE. 



173 



made of bamboo in the isle of Ceram, of hard, heavy wood in West New Guinea and of 

 serpentine, in Humboldt Bay and also on Lake Sentâni. Such a stone, fèiuâ, N°. 595 

 of Ajâpo, more or less conical, ± 12 cm. in length, has at the thick end ahvays a round 

 concavity of which the margin acts like a circulai- edge, clearly visible in fig. 7 of PI. XX. 



The fixing of the fèma into a previously lengthwise split holder of wood, both halves 

 hollowed into the shape of a 

 gutter and afterwards caught 

 between one or more rattan 

 rings, sari, and the placing of 

 this into an oblique hole of 

 another longer pièce of wood, 

 which serves as a handle, difters 

 on Lake Sentàni in no way 

 from the description already 

 given by DE CLERCQ and 

 SCHMELTZ [1893, 64, N°. 309, 

 PI. XVII, fig. 6] of Hum- 

 boldt Bay. 



What thèse writers in- 

 dicate as a carrying sling, is a 

 stringof rattan orothermaterial 

 (PI. XX, fig 7), called murô on 

 Lake Sentâni, and which is 

 tightly strained like a cord 



between the handle and the holder of the stone, in order to prevent the splitting of the 

 handle near the hole. Martin [1894, PI. XXII, fig. il; PI. XIX, fig. 19] already illustrated 

 with the sago club of Ceram, as well as with the one of New Guinea, this tensioned string. 



The geographical distribution of this kind of sago club seems limited to Papua Tâlan- 

 djang; to the west, in Geelvink Bay, the object is not only entirely of wood, but the handle 

 is fastened to the other part by rattan lashings (see fig. 110 and De CLERCQ and SCHMELTZ 

 [1893, PI. XXI, fig. 8]), whilst to the east, in the Berlin Harbour district, the part which 

 holds the stone is also connected by rattan with the handle, which in front is provided with 

 a broadening (PARKINSON [1900, PL XIX, fig. 3], ERDWEG [1902, 341, fig. 234]). Of British 

 N. G. EDGE PARTINGTON [1898, PI. 79, N°. 8] illustrâtes another form, in which the tied 

 string also appears. 



MOSELEY [1879, 444], who looked upon the instrument as an ordinary hammer and 

 tried to use it in nailing down something, blâmes the people of H. B. for not noticing, that 

 the part, which holds the stone, is, according to his expérience, too long for practical use; 

 the length, however, no doubt facilitâtes the holding of the handle by a person sitting. 



The work to be done with the sago club, means moreover, not only the loosening 

 of the fibres, but also the crushing (the Malay people correctly speak of pukul sago = sago 

 beating), in order to make the washing out of the fecula thoroughly effective. It is therefore 

 no sign of uncivilised life if métal hatchets are not used for this work. In New Guinea and 



Fig. 110. Beating sago; Geelvink Bay. 



