268 



THE SAGO PALM. 



substance. This medullary substance is the edible farina, from 

 which the inhabitants of the Archipelago make their bread. As the 

 fruit forms, the farinaceous pith disappears, and when the tree attains 

 full maturity the stem is no more than a hollow shell. The utmost 

 age of the tree does not exceed thirty years. The sago palm loves 

 low, marshy situations, and will not flourish on dry or mountainous 

 places. Eumphius says : — " This tree grows best in miry or watery 

 soil, where men sink to the knee in mud. It will also grow in 

 gravelly soil, if only it is charged with moisture, and hence no plan- 

 tation of the sago tree will thrive where there are not one or more 

 rivulets of water." A bog knee-deep is consequently the best site 

 for a sago plantation. There are four well-marked varieties of this 

 palm, namely : 



(1) The cultivated, S. Bumphu or S. Konigii, spinous, both on the 

 trunk and leaves. (2) The wild. (3) One distinguished by the 

 length of the spines on the branches. (4) Another destitute of 

 spines {S. Icevis, Reinw.), and usually called by the islanders the 

 female sago. 



The first and last varieties yield the best farina ; the second a hard 

 pith, from which the farina is extracted with difficulty ; while the 

 third, which has a comparatively slender trunk, contains but a small 

 quantity of farina. The sago, like other palms, is propagated from 

 the seed or fruit, which is of inconstant shape and size, from^a prune 

 to a pigeon's or a pullet's egg. 



The Sago and Nipa palms furnish in the Amboyna Isles a whole- 

 some and abundant nourishment, for a basket of their fruit will 

 support seven or eight persons for a week. A good tree will furnish 

 thirty baskets as an average harvest ; the fruits keep well in water. 



The sago of the Arenga palm is more palatable than that of the 

 sago palm, bu* the culture involves more care, and the product does 

 not keep so well. 



The word sagu is said to be the Malay name for bread or meal. 



Sago meal is eaten by the natives in the form of pottage, and also 

 partially baked in earthenware moulds into small square biscuits 

 about two inches long, two broad, and half an inch thick, which will 

 keep a considerable time. Large quantities of the sago meal in its 

 raw state are received at Singapore from the Eastern Islands to be 

 granulated or pearled and bleached for shipment to Em.*ope. 



Sago is much used during their sea voyages by the natives ; it is 

 cooked by simply dipping the cake in warm water, which softens it, 

 it is also sometimes made into soup. 



The sago tree is found, in one or other of its species, throughout 

 the whole length of the Eastern Archipelago, from the islands off the 

 west coast of Sumatra to New Guinea. It is probably capable of 

 flourishing with complete vigour across nearly the entire breadth, 

 wherever its natural soil occurs, and certainly within 10° north and 

 south of the Equator, a band which includes all the Archipelago, ex- 

 cept the Philippines. The only countries, however, where it is found 

 growing in large forests are. New Guinea, the Moluccas, Celebes, 

 Mindanao, Borneo, and Sumatra, being widely spread over the 

 Moluccas, but confined to particular parts of the others. 



