334  Sago  Cultivation  in  North  Borneo.  {ATuJe!Ji895.harm' 
also  reported  to  produce  more  raw  sago,  but  the  quality  of  flour  is 
the  same  in  both  species.  Each  tree  produces  from  four  to  five 
pikuls  of  raw  sago  (133  lbs.=  i  pikul),  being  at  the  rate  of  one 
pikul  per  fathom  of  trunk.  Both  trees  grow  to  the  same  dimen- 
sions, 24  to  42  feet  in  height,  and  in  1^  to  3  feet  in  diameter  at  the 
base  of  trunk.  The  sago  palm  is  not  subject  to  any  disease  ;  but,  if 
a  deep  cut  is  made  at  the  base  of  the  trunk  close  to  the  earth,  the 
pith  is  attacked  by  large  maggots,  which  gradually  eat  their  way 
into  the  centre  of  the  tree,  and  in  three  or  four  months  destroy  the 
whole  trunk.  This  is  a  favorite  way  of  paying  off  a  grudge  among 
the  natives.  The  sago  tree  takes  from  five  to  seven  years  to  mature, 
according  to  the  nature  of  the  soil.  During  the  third  year  the 
plant  begins  to  send  out  shoots.  These  grow  up  with  the  parent 
tree,  and  in  time  give  out  suckers.  If  these  are  allowed  to  grow  too 
freely  they  form  a  dense  thicket  around  the  mature  trunks  and  give 
a  great  deal  of  trouble  to  the  workers.  Every  year  each  clump  pro- 
duces a  large  number  of  workable  trunks.  During  the  fifth  year 
the  parent  tree  is  ready  to  be  cut  down.  In  the  meantime,  the 
young  shoots  are  rapidly  developing,  and  in  the  seventh  year  prob- 
ably three  or  four  trees  are  ready,  and  so  on,  so  that  the  sago  tree, 
once  planted,  continuously  supplies  the  planter  with  logs  without 
giving  him  any  trouble  as  regards  their  cultivation.  The  natives 
compare  their  sago  plantation  to  a  herd  of  cattle,  and  it  would  be 
difficult  to  reckon  the  number  of  logs  that  each  clump  may  have 
produced  in  the  space  of  forty  or  fifty  years.  When  the  sago  tree 
is  allowed  to  flower,  the  pith  begins  to  diminish,  and,  if  the  mature 
trunks  are  not  cut  down  regularly,  the  whole  clump  gradually 
deteriorates  and  the  trees  become  stunted  bushes  instead  of  grow- 
ing to  the  usual  height.  Nothing  of  the  sago  tree  is  lost.  The 
trunk  supplies  the  sago,  the  leaves  and  stems  are  largely  used  by 
natives  for  building  purposes,  the  former  for  roofs  and  the  latter  for 
partitions  and  walls  of  houses,  which,  when  properly  constructed, 
are  very  neat-looking  and  durable.  The  top  shoot  makes  an  excel- 
lent vegetable,  while  the  trunk,  when  split  in  two  longitudinally,  and 
the  pith  scooped  out,  is  used  as  a  boat  to  transport  the  raw  sago 
which  has  been  extracted  from  it.  The  bark,  when  taken  off,  makes 
excellent  fuel,  and  an  enterprising  Chinaman,  who  employs  an 
engine  for  rasping  sago  logs,  uses  this  as  a  substitute  for  firewood. 
The  sago  trade  between  Mempakul  and  Labuan  is  carried  on  by 
