854 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[April 26, 1873. 
“ It may give some idea of the enormous rate of this 
produce, if it be considered that three trees yield more 
food-matter than an acre of wheat, and six times more 
than an acre of potatoes. It is far from being either so 
palatable or nutritious as it is prolific, and is never pre¬ 
ferred, even where it is most abundant, to rice. 
“ All the raw sago manufactured at Singapore is brought 
from islands to the eastward, principally from the north¬ 
west coast of Borneo and the north-eastern of Sumatra, 
with its adjacent isles, from Siak to Indragari, but a con¬ 
siderable portion comes from places more than 1,000 miles 
distant. ” 
This article is very easily prepared for exportation in 
its raw state ; the tree is cut down, then the pith or cel¬ 
lular tissue is taken out and made up into bundles. In 
this form some 20,000 tons are annually imported at 
Singapore, where it is prepared by the Chinese, who clear 
the meal or farina from the fibres of the pith, or cellular 
tissue, when the flour is either made up for exportation in 
its natural state, or is granulated into pearl sago. 
< The imports of sago have steadily increased in England 
since the abolition of the duty which was formerly levied. 
In 1830 the import and consumption of sago in the 
United Kingdom was only 3,000 cwt. ; in 1841 it was 
52,000 cwt.; in 1850, 90,000 cwt. ; in 1860,179,825 cwt.; 
in 1870 the aggregate of sago and tapioca received from 
Singapore was 344,000 cwts., of the value of £283,541. 
In Singapore tapioca manufacture has been very suc¬ 
cessful, but the crop is said to entirely exhaust the soil in 
five years. 
From Penang as much as 10,000 cwt. of tapioca and 
arrowroot is shipped annually to Great Britain and the 
United States. 
In the colony of Labuan the sago traders have largely 
increased their business, owing to the Sultan of Borneo 
having removed some of the obstructions to the transit of 
sago in the neighbouring rivers, and it is not improbable 
that this island may yet become the centre of the sao-o 
manufacture of the Eastern A.rcliipelago. In 1867 sag’o was 
imported into Labuan of the value of £9,811; in the fol¬ 
lowing year the trade increased one hundred per cent., the 
value of the imported sago being £19,841, and the process of 
manufacture added £8,764 more to the value of the sago. 
In Celebes all the inhabitants feed upon sag’o of a very 
coarse quality, which may be said to grow spontaneously, 
affording abundance of subsistence to the inhabitants. 
The sago plantations are situated in the valleys between 
the mountains, in swampy ground. There are several 
kinds of sago-trees, some of which will not produce any 
useful fecula or starch for the first sixteen years. It is 
collected from trees of eight years up to thirty-two or 
thirty-five years of age, after which the tree becomes per¬ 
fectly hollow, and rots away from the top downwards. A 
sago-tree of ten years’ growth will be about 27 feet high, 
and from 5 to 8 feet girth at the bottom, and is continu¬ 
ally yielding its crop. When the substance of the edible 
sago is 3 to 5 inches thick they cut it, and this will be in 
two or three months, according to the nature of the soil, 
and the oftener it is cut the faster it grows. 
Australian Arrowroots , etc. 
Attention has of late years been much directed to the 
production of arrowroot in several of the Australian co¬ 
lonies, facilities having been afforded by the culture and 
distribution of the several plants from the excellent bo¬ 
tanic gardens oi Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane. 
Canna Achiras (Gillies) native of Mendoza, is one of the 
few extra-tropical Cannas eligible for arrowroot cultivation. 
C. glauca (Lin.), and C. coccinea (Roscoe), yield, with 
some other Cannas, the particular arrowroot called tons les 
mois. C. flaccida (Roscoe) of Carolina is probably also 
available for arrowroot. 
C. edulis (Edwards), the Aderia of Peru, is one of the 
hardiest of the arrowroot plants, for seeds, even if many 
years old, will germinate, and are commonly called Indian 
shot. 
This species has been extensively introduced into Aus¬ 
tralia, and, according to Baron Muller, yields an excellent 
starch at Melbourne, Western Port, Lake Wellington. 
Ballarat, and other localities, from plants supplied by the 
Melbourne Botanic Garden. 
The Rev. Mr. Hagenauer, of the Gipps Land Aborigi¬ 
nal Mission station, obtained 2201bs. of arrowroot from 
one-eighth of an acre of this Canna. The gathering of 
the roots in Australia is effected about April. The plants 
can be set in ordinary ploughed land. Captain James Half, 
of Hastings, also prepared starch largely from this root! 
The starch grains, it is well-known, are remarkably large.* 
Maranta nobilis appears to be the species chiefly culti¬ 
vated for arrowroot in New South Wales. There were 
seven exhibitors of arrowroot from it at Paris in 1867 : 
Mr. E. S. Hill, Mr. D. L. Waugh, Mr. John Higgins Mr 
E. W. Rudder, Mr. W. C. Hetherington, Melville, Mr. G.* 
T. Lodis, Wiley Flat, near Singleton, and Mr. H. Moss, 
Shoalhaven • the last three received bronze medals for 
their products. 
I n 1870 there were 84 acres of land under arrowroot in 
New South Wales, from which 13,567 cwt. of arrowroot 
was obtained, being 18,251 cwt. less than was made in 
the previous year from only 31 acres of land. 
From Queensland, 26,368 lb. of arrowroot, valued at 
£548, were exported in 1869, the first shipment of a few 
packages having been made in 1860. 
Good arrowroot used to be made in Norfolk Island, 
while it was a convict settlement, but I am not aware 
whether the production is maintained since the Pitcarn 
Islanders have been transferred there. 
Arrowroot is made from Zamia angustifolia in the 
Bahamas, etc. 
Under the ^local name of Coonti an arrowroot is pre¬ 
pared in Florida from the fecula of Zamia iniegrifolia. A 
fecula was also formerly prepared in Florida by the 
Indians fiom the saw palmetto Chcuuocvops scvi'ulcitci. 
Arrowroot prepared in Queensland from Encephalartus 
{Zamia) spiralis was shown in 1872 at the London Exhi¬ 
bition. 
At the Paris Exhibition, in 1867, starch made from the 
seed of the bean tree, or Moreton bay chestnut (Castaneo- 
spermum Australe), was shown by the New South Wales 
Commission and Mr. T. Bawden, of Grafton, Clarence 
River district, which was highly commended. The seeds, 
are said to be abundant, and the manufacture inexpen¬ 
sive. This large tree is found in abundance in the bushes 
from the Macleay River south to Cape York to the north. 
On examination under the microscope of the samples I 
obtained there, I feel convinced that this starch is not 
from a leguminous seed at all, but is merely a fraudulent 
substitution of cassava starch under a new name 
Mr. C. Moore, the colonial botanist, also exhibited it 
and received a bronze medal from the Paris jury for this 
new starch. I should like to have the point cleared up 
as to there being any bond fide production of this legu- 
mmous starch in the colony. 
Starches of the Pacific Islands. 
. A considerable production and commerce is carried on 
m various feculas in many of the Pacific Islands. One 
or two species of Arums especially are utilized. Arum 
macrorhizon, Linn., grows wild in Tahiti, and the rhizomes 
are occasionally eaten, but the Arum esculentum, Linn, 
the Lolocasia escuLenta of Ray, known under the name of 
laro , is that most largely cultivated and esteemed for its 
starch, which is an article of food of prime necessity. The 
natives enumerate no less than thirteen varieties The 
rhizomes range in weight from two to four pounds, but 
there is great variation, some varieties producing very 
small roots and others very large. They contain much 
fecula combined with a bitter principle, which is dissipated 
by heat. In preparing the starch, care has to be taken 
not to rub the pulp on the sieve with the hand, or a 
blistering effect will be produced. The yield of starch is 
as much as 33 per cent. 
