Sago is not an article which can ever displace the cereals, or which should be anywhere substi tuted for them, but it ought to be produced in an exportable state at such a price as to be.within reach of the poorer classes whenever a diminution in the supplies of rice or corn deprives them of a sufficient quantity of their ordinary food.
According, as we allow 7 or 15 years for the growth of a tree, an acre of sago is equal in annual produce to 23 or 10 acres of wheat.
Thp cnrrn nnlm nf Parnm ffl 14 11 fP has a midrib 12 to 15 feet long, which is used in lieu of bamboo. Tho lower part is aa thick as a man's leg; entire houses aro built of them ; they form admirable roofing poles for thatch ; when split and well supported, they do for flooring; and when selected of equal size, and pegged together sido by side to fill up tho panels of framed wood houses, they have a very neat appearance, and make better walls and partitions than boards, as they do not shrink, require no paint or varnish, and are not a quarter of the expense. When care fully split and shaved smooth, they are formed into light boards, with pegs of the bark itself, and aro the foundation of the leaf-covered boxes of Gomm. The leaflets, when folded and tied sido by side on the smaller midribs, form the atap or thatch in universal use; while the product of tho trunk is the staple food of some hundreds of thousands of men.
Pearl Sago.—Raw sago having been made ready for the manufactory, the first process to which it is subjected is that of a thorough washing. The moist sago being poured into a strainer of coarse thin cloth, and there broken and bruised by the hand, is agitated until all its fine particles pass through the cloth and descend to the bottom of the tub. The sago is then stirred about with an oar for about an hour, after Nvhich it is left to stand for about twelve hours, when tho water is ladled out, and the sago is removed to undergo tho last purifying process which precedes the granulation. This is performed in a mode at once simple and ingenious. Two tubs are placed at a distance of ten or twelve feet from each other, and connected by two troughs raised by a framework above them. A man now stirs up a portion of the sago with an oar till the water obtaids a milky appearance, when he pours it into the troughs. When the milk in the upper tub begins to grow shallow, it is again filled up with water and more sago stirred up and mixed with it. The water in
the troughs has occasionally time to deposit all its contents, the last being a fine fibrous matter, which, if not removed, would leave a thin yellow layer. The surface is washed with the hand until this layer is effaced and held in suspension. When the troughs have been gradually tilled up in the manner described, the sago is left to consolidate for twelve or fourteen hours. In order to give it the degree of dryness required, it is removed from the troughs and exposed for one day to the sun in lumps about a cubic foot in size, which are placed on tables standing in the open air. Large kajang mats, made of the leaf of the mang-kwang, are kept in readiness to cover it when a shower of rain falls. It is next carried to tho largo shed, where it is thrown in a heap on a long table, and broken down into a pulverulent state. It then .passca through an oblong sieve, 30 inches by 20 inches, of which the bottom is formed of parallel fibres from the stem of the cocoanut leaf, kept in their positions by strings which cross them at distances of about two inches. The lumps which do not pass through the long interstices between the fibres, aro thrown back into the heap. Tho granulation or pearling now takes place. The sifted sago is placed in a cloth, of which the ends are tied to a long stick, and which is kept ex panded in a bag shape by a short cross stick.. A horizontal vibratory motion is given to this, tho whole inass being kept in constiuit agitation, and every part sue,cessively driven along the sides of the bag. If under-dried or over-dried, it will not granulate. This lasts for about a minute, when the new granular sago is again passed through a sieve similar to the last, but the smaller grains which pass through are those which are now re jected. Those that remain are transferred to a circular sieve, of which the bottom is formed of fine stripes of bamboo crossing each other. The grains that pass through the square holes thus produced, form the pearl sago of commerce in the unroasted state. Those that are larger than the holes are thrown back into the heap, to run through the same course again. To assist the men, the oblong sieves and granulating bag are sometimes suspended by rattans from the rafters of the shed.