o 
n V U A T K A. fj 
rtry limlrect, owing to the liberality with which nature, unfoFw 
cited, adminifters to their wants. Maize fjag^^ngj^ though very ge- 
nerally planted here, is not cultivated in quantities, as an effentiai ar- 
ticle of food. The cars are plucked whilfl green, and being flightly 
roaftedj are eaten as a delicacy, Pacco hendoo refembles a young dwarf 
coconut tree, and is probably of that fpecies. The ftcm is Ihort and 
knobby, and the lower parts of each branch prickly. The young flioots 
arc much efteentied in curries. It produces a cabbage like that of 
the coconut and ncebong, which is a fine culinary vegetable. Its 
flower is yellow. Though ranked by the Malays, and by Rumphius, in 
the clafs of ferns, it has no obvious affinity to them. The neeb&^g or cab- 
bage tree, a fpecies of palm, grows wild in too great abundance to re- 
quire being cultivated. The pith of the head of the tree is the part 
eaten. The ft em, which is tall and ilreight, like the coconut, is much 
ufed for pofts of ilight hoiifes, being of a remarkably hard texture on 
the outer part. Within fide it is quite foft, and therefore, being 
hollowed out, it is often ufed as gutters or channels to convey water* 
Anm I This is a tree of the palm kind alfo, and of much importance, 
as the natives procure from it Sago, (but there is alia another fago tree 
more produdive) ; toddy or palm wine, of the firft quality; fugar or 
jaggree, and ejoo. The leaves are long and narrow, and though na- 
turally tending to a point, are never found pcrfetf^, but always jagged at 
the end. The fruit grows in bunches of thirty and forty together, on 
ftrings three or four feet long. One of thefc fti ings being cut off, the 
part ot the fhoot remaining is tied up, and then beaten ; afterwards an 
kcifion in it is made, and avefTel clofejy faftencd, ufually of bamboo, 
into which the toddy {mtroo} diftills. The ejoo^ exa<ftly refembling 
coarfe, black horfc hair, and ufed like it, among other purpofes, for 
making ropes, and mixing with mortar, encompafiea the ftem^ and is 
fcemingly bound on by thicker fibres or twig?, of whicli the Mala)^a) 
make pens for writing.. 
Indigo Qaroom) being tlie principal dye-ftuif employed by the natives, %c-flur*, 
tiiat Ihrub is always found among their plantations,, but they do not ma- 
X nufa^turc 
