HISTORY OP SAGO. 219 
erroneous name of German sago,* he has satisfied himself that 
it is perfectly analogous to it; and, moreover, upon comparing 
its characters with those attributed by M. Lesson to a sago 
procured from a species of cycas of the Isle of Waigiou, situa- 
ted to the North West of New Guinea, he thinks that it ought 
to retain this name. The grains of this sago have the form 
and volume of that from the Maldives, — but their predomi- 
nant colour is brick red. Some grains are also to be noticed, 
which exhibit this colour, with a paler shade of it; others have 
a dull white tint. This sago is exceedingly difficult to reduce 
to powder; its weight, compared with that of water, was -/oVo J 
500 grains absorbed 604 of this fluid, and assumed double the 
volume. Desiccation by the atmosphere restored it to its 
primitive condition. 
The maceratum was colourless, inodorous and insipid; it 
underwent no change from the addition of reagents. One 
grain and a half of an extract was obtained, which left upon 
the tongue an impression analogous to that of water distilled 
from Windsor beans, and contained traces of muriate of 
soda. 
Sago of the Moluccas. 
There exist in commerce three species of sago originally 
from the Moluccas, one called gray, to which druggists ex- 
clusively give the name of Molucca sago, while they designate 
the two other species by the names of rose-coloured and white 
sago of India. 
Gray Sago. 
This variety is in rounded grains, but less regular than in 
the preceding species, from one to three millimetres in dia- 
meter, of a pale fawn colour bordering upon gray; it appears 
to be the same as that which M. Lesson has seen prepared in 
* Under the Empire, during the continental war, all the productions 
from the English and Dutch possessions i.i India, came to us by way of 
the Hanse towns, hence the name of German sago, for it is needless to 
state that sago is not cultivated in Germany. 
