May 1908.] 



433 



Edible Products. 



seeds for a period of at least two months 

 is by using paraffin, giving them a coat- 

 ing of at least 2 mm. thick (1 mm. ^03937 

 in.) But to be successful one must go to 

 work very carefully. Having cut the 

 pod off the tree, it should be left in the 

 open for two or three days, so that the 

 outside of the husk, to the depth of at 

 least 2 mm., should become pretty well 

 dry. Having done so, all that is needed 

 is to blunge the pod into the paraffin, 

 heated (liquefiee) to 60° C. The paraffin in 

 cooling will become solidified. If this, 

 the first coat, does not seem sufficient, a 

 second can be applied with the fingers. 

 If care is not taken to dry the pod before 

 applying the paraffin, it will blister and 

 peel and come off, and fermentation set 

 in, or parasites attack the pod. Before 

 despatch each pod must be packed 

 separatelv in a sheet of paper." — Tropi- 

 cal Life, Vol. IV. No. 3, March, 1908. 



THE SAGO PALM. 



A new arrival in British Guiana in- 

 quiring how it is that such a favoured 

 land as this, both in soil and in climate, 

 only exports sugar and rum as agri- 

 cultural products worthy of mention, 

 though rice has within the last twelve 

 months figured largely in the same list, 

 aud imports every day food requirements 

 such as groundnuts, potatoes, butter 

 and indeed many other things easily 

 grown locally, is told in Georgetown 

 that the farmer is too lazy, he only 

 grows sufficient for his own consumption. 

 Not satisfied with this reply the inquirer 

 goes out into the country and interro- 

 gates the farmer, questioning him as 

 to why he does not grow this or that ; 

 the reply nine times out of ten is that 

 he is quite willing to do so, but has not 

 the capital necessary to drain and im- 

 prove his land in order to ensure remun- 

 erative crops. It is obvious even to a 

 casual observer that but little can be 

 done in this " land of water," one might 

 say, without drainage and thorough 

 drainage. The stranger concludes that 

 both statements contain much truth but 

 that the farmer might perhaps more 

 correctly be termed unenterprising 

 rather than lazy and that the opportuni- 

 ties afforded by the favourable natural 

 conditions existing in this country offer 

 exceptional inducements to energetic 

 colonists to develop other industries and 

 swell the list of our exports. It would 

 be well for the farmer to realize that 

 though he may not have means to put 

 a large area under thorough drainage at 

 once, it is no reason for him to sit down 

 and repine ; he should remember that a 



little accomplished each day by his own 

 labour would soon amount to a consider- 

 able patch, and realizing tnis he should 

 never be idle while daylight lasts. How- 

 ever something can always be done and 

 it will be the endeavour of this article to 

 point out to our farmers one thing which 

 can be done without any expenditure of 

 either capital or labour, and which will 

 give a return in vegetable food more 

 rich and less variable in its produce than 

 even rice, which industry it is pleasing to 

 see is taking such a hold on our farmers. 

 Our subject is the Sago Palm. 



Description. 



There are four well-marked varieties 

 of this palm which, with the exception of 

 one, is the smallest, of its species, rarely 

 exceeding 30 feet in height ; on the other 

 hand its stem is one of the thickest. 

 Two only of these varieties need be men- 

 tioned here, the Metroxylon Rumphii 

 and Metroxylon laeve, the former being 

 spiny aud the more productive, the 

 latter smooth. In the early period of its 

 growth, and before the stem has formed, 

 this palm (M. Rumphii) appears like a 

 cluster of so many shoots, and until the 

 stem has obtained a height of 5 or 6 feet 

 it is covered with sharp spines, which 

 afford it protection from the attacks of 

 the wild hog and other animals. When 

 from the strength and maturity of the 

 wood this protection is no longer neces- 

 sary the spines drop off. Before the 

 tree has attained full growth, and pre- 

 vious to the formation of fruit, the stem 

 consists of a thin hard wall, about two 

 inches thick, and of an enormous volume 

 of a spongy medullary substance. This 

 substance is the edible farina, from 

 which the inhabitants of the lands 

 where it grows make their bread. Sago 

 meal is eaten by the natives in the form 

 of* porridge, and also in the shape of bis- 

 cuits two inches long, two broad and 

 half an inch thick, analogous to local 

 cassava bread, and which will keep for a 

 long time. It is cooked by simply dip- 

 ping the cake in warm water, which 

 softens it ; it is also made into soup. An 

 old writer gives this description of ob- 

 taining the meal from the palm. " Meal 

 is produced out of the said tree thus : — 

 They be mighty huge trees and when 

 they are cut with an axe to the ground, 

 there cometh out of the stock a certain 

 liquid like unto gum, which they take 

 and put into bags made of leaves, laying 

 them for fifteen days in the sun and at 

 the end of those fifteen days when the 

 liquor is thoroughly parched it becometh 

 meal. Then they steep it first in sea- 

 water, washing it afterwards in fresh 

 water and so it is made very good and 

 savoury paste whereof they make either 

 meal or bread as they think good," 



