SAG 
SAG 
long, and till it produces fruit, they know that the pith will 
turn entirely into green filaments, and yield no sago. When 
. the tree is thus felled, it is cut through in the middle of its 
length into two or more pieces, and the hard bark of each 
piece is split asunder by the insertion of wedges; the sago 
then appears uncovered, just like the spongy substance in 
our elder-trees. They then make a certain instrument, re¬ 
sembling an adze, out of one of the branches of the tree 
they have felled, with which they loosen the sago all round 
from the bark, and reduce it to the appearance of saw¬ 
dust. 
The whole tree being thus .poekeled out, the raw sago 
is put by portions into a trough, like a canoe, and water is 
poured upon it, and well mixed with the sago, by which 
means the meal is separated from the filaments. 
These filaments, which might be denominated the bran 
of the sago, are called ela, and are made use of to feed 
hogs, poultry, &c. 
The water, thus impregnated with the sago-meal, hav¬ 
ing stood still for some time, the meal subsides, by its own 
. weight, to the bottom; the water is then poured off, and 
it is a second time purified in the same manner: after this, 
the wet meal is laid upon flat wicker-baskets, to dry, and 
it is then kneaded together, and formed into little cakes of 
three inches long, two inches broad, and half an inch thick ; 
finally, it is put into moulds of the same size and shape, and 
baked over the fire, till it is done enough, and becomes 
dry and hard. 
The mould, or oven, for baking sago-bread is made of 
earthern-ware; it is generally nine inches square, and about 
four deep, divided into two equal parts by a part : ‘ion parallel 
.to its sides. Each of those parts is subdivided o eight or 
nine, about an inch broad, so that the whole contains two 
.rows of cells, about eight or nine in a row. The oven is 
turned first on one side and afterwards on the other, upon 
the fire, and the cakes are sufficiently baked in about ten 
or twelve minutes. 
The taste of the sago-bread does not much vary from 
that of the cassava, or manioc, of the West /Indies; but it 
appeared to Mr. Wilcocke to be more nutritive; it is not 
.unpleasant to eat, when it has been first a little soaked, 
and afterwards fried in butter; yet it is very difficult of 
■digestion. 
The finest part of the meal is mixed with water, and 
the paste is rubbed into little round grains, like small shot, 
and dried. This preparation is not disagreeable in soups, 
in lieu of Italian macaroni: the sago that is produced in 
Borneo is esteemed the best for this purpose. 
- A preparation is likewise made of this finest part of the 
meal, which is called popeda, and has much resemblance to 
the porridge of buckwheat-meal which is made in Holland, 
but is much more gelatinous. This is eaten with little 
sticks, which being dipped into the popeda, take with them 
a part of it which adheres to them; they are then dipped 
in broth, and, together with a little fish, constitute the 
best dish of the Amboynese, and even of those who are 
descendants of Europeans. 
Besides the farinaceous part for food, the sago-tree yields 
other things of utility to the Indians. 
- The stem or bark, after the meal has been poekeled out, 
is made use of by the natives, to form little bridges over 
rivulets, or little creeks. 
What are called the branches, which are channelled on 
the upper side, and convex on the under, serve also some¬ 
times for the same purpose; but the chief use which the 
Amboynese make of them is for the walls and roofs of their 
houses, and for packing cases, &c. This article is called 
gabbe-gabba. 
The leaves, laced together, form what is called atap, and 
serve instead of tiles for covering of houses, and to preserve 
things from the rain: but roofs of atap must be renewed 
every six or seven years. 
The sago-tree has, like all the trees of the palm kind, a 
cabbage, which is eaten by the natives, though it is not so 
good or wholesome as that of the aneebong, or proper 
543 
cabbage palm. When a sago-tree has been felled, the ela, 
or refuse, is frequently left in the woods, and the wild hogs 
fatten upon it; a kind of mushrooms, which are much 
esteemed by the natives, grow upon the heaps of ela. The 
sago-tree is even of benefit after it has been deprived of 
its pith, and left to rot where it was felled; for when rotten, 
a sort of very fat white worms called sago-worms, with 
brown heads, are found in it, which the Indians roast, and 
think a great delicacy. A computation has been made by 
Forrest of how many persons may live on an acre planted 
with sago-trees. A sago-tree he allows to take up 100 
square feet; now the contents of an acre are 43,500 square 
■feet, which allows 435 trees to grow within that space; but 
supposing only 300, and that, one with another, they give 
300 weight of flour, then three trees, or 900 weight, would 
maintain one man for a year, and an acre to be cut down 
would maintain 100 men for the same time; now, as sago- 
trees are seven years a-growing, 100 divided by seven, will 
allow fourteen men to be maintained for a year on the pro¬ 
duce of one-seventh part of an acre, immediately, or on 
the produce of a whole acre, progressively cut, one-seventh 
part at a time, allowing fresh trees to sprout up. By Dr. 
Forster’s computation, ten or twelve persons live eight 
months upon the produce of an acre planted with bread¬ 
fruit trees, at Otaheite. 
The small grains are the sago of the shops. This sub¬ 
stance, commonly recommended as a restorative in phthises 
and emaciations, and for restraining fluxes, appears to be a 
light, moderately nutritious demulcent food; in which view 
it is by some directed as a proper aliment for young children,, 
in preference to the more tenacious and less digestible pre¬ 
parations of wheat-flour. 
M. Parmentier has proposed to make sago out of po¬ 
tatoes; in consequence of his idea that all feculse are ab¬ 
solutely identical, and that this principle is one and the same 
in nature. For this purpose he proposes to add a spoonful 
of the fecula of potatoes gradually to a chopin, or half a 
pint, of hot water or milk, to be kept stirring over a gentle 
fire for half an hour. Sugar may be added, with aromatics 
or spices, such as cinnamon, lemon-peel, saffron, orange- 
flower water, rose water, &c. The sago of potatoes may 
likewise be prepared with veal-broth, chicken broth, or 
common broth. The preparation may be varied in a thou¬ 
sand ways-, and it forms a very nourishing and wholesome 
food. 
SAGOCHLAMYS, among the Romans, a sort of 
garment that partly resembled the sagiun, and partly the 
chlamys. 
SAGONA, a small town situated on a bay of the same 
name, on the west coast of Corsica, between Calvi and 
Ajaccio. Though now in ruins, it was formerly a consi¬ 
derable place, and the see of a bishop, who still takes his title 
from it, but resides at Vico. In April 1811, two French 
frigates and a large merchantman, all laden with ship timber, 
though lying under the protection of a tower and battery, 
were here attacked and destroyed by two British frigates and 
a sloop of war. 
SAGOR, or Ganga Sagor, an island of Bengal, situated 
at the entrance and eastern side of the Hoogly, or Bhagurutty 
river. It is eight miles in length by four in breadth, and is 
detached from the mainland by a creek, the north end of 
which is dry at low water. It is remarkable that the spring 
tides rise here four fathoms, which, if it should ever be 
inhabited, will give it a great advantage, for repairing of 
ships, &c. At present the only buildings at this place are a 
Hindoo temple, and a large reservoir for containing rain 
Water, there being no springs of fresh water on the island, 
which has been evidently formed by the sand and mud 
brought down by the river. Sagor island has been from time 
immemorial a celebrated place of Hindoo pilgrimage, being 
situated at the junction of the Bhagurutty river, the mo.st 
sacred branch of the Ganges, with the ocean. Till very 
recently, many persons annually devoted themselves, and 
sacrificed their children at this place, to the sharks and 
alligators; but measures have been taken by government to 
put 
