314 



THE SAGO PALMS, BEEAD-FEUIT, <^-c. 



Sago, and starchy matter allied to it. is obtained from many palms. 

 It is contained in the cellnlar tissue of the stem, and is sepai'acedby 

 bruising and elutriation. From the soft stem of Oijcas circinalis. a 

 kind of sago is produced in the East and TVest Indies. The 

 finest is, however, procured from the stems of Sagus laevis {S. 

 i?iermis, of Eoxburgh), a native of Borneo and Sumatra ; and 

 Arcnga saccliarifera. or Gomufus saecliarifus, of Euraphius. The 

 Saguerus Bumjjldi, or JUefroxyJon Sagus, which is found in the 

 Eastern Islands of the Indian Ocean, yields a feculent matter. 

 After the starchy substance is washed out of the stems of these 

 palms, it is then granulated so as to form sago. The last-mentioned 

 palm also furnishes a lai'ge supply of sugar. Sago as well as sugar, 

 and a kind of palm wine, are procured fi'om Ca'-gota urens. 



In China sago is obtained from Bliapis flahelliformis. a dwarhsh 

 palm ; and some sago is made from it for native use in Travan- 

 core, Mysore, and Wynaad, and the jungles in the East Indies. 



The trunli of the sago palm is five or six feet round, and it grows 

 to the height of about 20 feet. It can only be propagated by 

 seed. It fLouiishes best in bogs and swampy mar-iie? : a good 

 plantation being often a bog, knee deep. The pit!i producing 

 the sago is seldom of use till the tree is fourteen or fifteen years 

 .old; and the tree does not live longer than thu'ty years. ]\Ir. 

 Crawfurd says there are four varieties of this palm ; the cultivated, 

 the wild, one distinguished by long spines on the branches, and a 

 foui'th destitute of these spines, and called by the natives female 

 sago. This and the cultivated species afiord the best farina ; the 

 spiny variety, which has a slender trimk, and tlie wild tree, yield 

 but an inferior quality of sago. The farinact- ous matter afibrded 

 by each plant is very considerable, 500 lbs. being a frequent 

 quantity, while 300 lbs. may be taken as the common average 

 produce of each tree. 



Supposing the plants set at a distance of ten feet apart, an acre 

 would contain 435 trees, which, on coming to maturity in fifteen 

 years, would yield at the before-mentioned rate 120,500 lbs. 

 annually of farinaceous matter. The sago meal, in its raw state, 

 will keep good about a month. The Malays and natives of the 

 Eastern Islands, with whom it forms the chief article of sustenance, 

 partially bake it in earthenwai^e moulds into small hard cakes, 

 which will keep for a considerable time. In Java the word " saga " 

 signifies bread. Tlie sago palm {Aletroxylon Sagus) is one of the 

 smallest of its tribe, seldom reaching to more than 30 feet in 

 height, and grows only in a region extending west to Celebes 

 and Borneo, north to Mindanao, south to Timor, and east to 

 Papua. Coram is its chief seat, and there large forests of it are 

 found. The edible farina is the central pith, which varies con- 

 siderably in difterent trees, and as to the time requu^ed for its attain- 

 ing proper maturity. It is eaten by the natives in the form of 



