330 



CSRAM. 



rCIIAP. 3EXV. 



charged ivith sago starch passes on to a trough, with a 

 depressioo in the centre, where the sediment is deposited, 

 the surpUis water trickUng off by a shallow outlet. "Wlien 

 the trough is nearly full, the mass of stareh, which has a 

 slight reddish tinge, is made into cylinders of ahout thirty 

 pounds' weight, and neatly covered with sago leaves, and 

 in tills state is sold as raw sago. 



Boiled with water this fonns a thick glatlnous mass, 

 with a rather astringent taste, and is eaten with &alt, 

 limes, and chilies. 8ago-brcad is made in lai'ge quan- 

 tities, by kiking it into cakes in a small elay oven 

 containing six or eight slita side by side, each alwut 

 three-quarters of an inch wide, and six or eight inches 

 square. The raw sago is broken up, dried ia the sun, 

 powdered, aud finely sifted. Tlie oven is heated over a 

 clear fii-e of embers, and is lightly filled with the sago- 

 powder. The openings are then covered with a flat piece 



of sago hark, and in about 

 five minutes the cakes are 

 tvimed out sufficiently baked* 

 Tlie hot cakes are very nice 

 with butter, and when made 

 with the addition of a little 

 sugar and grated cocoa-nut 

 are quite a delicacy. They 

 BAoo nvKjt. are soft, and something like 



corn-flour cakes, but have a 

 slight characteristic flavour which is lost in the refined sago 

 we use in this country. AVlicn not wanted for immecUate 

 use, they are dried for several days in the sun, and tied up 

 in bundles of twenty, lliey will then keep for years ; they 

 are veiy hard, aud very rough and dry, but the people are 

 u.^ed to tliem fmm infancy, and Uttle children may he seen 

 gnawing at them as contentedly as ours with their bread- 

 and-butter. If dipped in water and then toasted, they 

 become almost as good as when fresh baked j and thus 

 treated they were my daily substitute for bread with my 

 coflee. Soalfed and boiled they make a very good pudding 

 or vegetable, and served well to economize our rice, which 

 is sometimes diihcolt to get so far east. 



It is truly au extraordinary sight to witness a whole 



