SAGUS FARINIFERA. Gxrtn.
Sagus Rumphii, Willde. Metroxylon sagus, Konig.
S. spinesus, Roxb.
This sago palm is a native of the peninsula of Malacca and of the Eastern Archipelago. The seeds are generally abortive, and it propagates itself by suckers from the roots of the old trees. This palm is one of the smallest of its tribe, seldom reaching to more than 30 feet in height, and grow ing chiefly in a region extending west to Celebes and Borneo, north to Mindanao, south to Timor, and east to Papua. Ceram is its chief seat, and there large forests of it are found.
It is grown in great perfection in some parts of Borneo, and its sago meal is exported in large quantities from the west coast to Singapore, and also by the Bugis boats from the eastern aud southern sides of the island.
The stem, before maturity, and previous to the formatiOn of the fruit, consists of a thin hard wall, about two inches thick, and of an enormous volume of tissue (commonly termed the medulla or pith), from which the farina or sago is obtained. As the fruit forms, the farinaceous medulla disappears, and when the tree attains full maturity, the stem is no inore than a hollow shell. The edible farina is the central pith, which varies considerably in different trees, and as to the time required for its attaining proper maturity. It is eaten by the natives in the form of pottage.
In Borneo, the natives prefer rice, and the Miliniewe, who live on tho rivers Egan, Iloya, Mocha, and Bintulu, and who are the principal cul t ivatora of the. aago tree, always import considerable quantities of grain for their own consumption.
The pith producing the sago is seldom. of use till the tree is fourteen or fifteen years old; and the tree does not live longer than thirty years.
The farinaceous matter afforded by each treo is very considerable, 500 lbs. being a frequent quantity, while 300 lbs. may be taken as tho com mon average produce of each tree. Supposing the plants set at a distance of ten feet apart, an acre would contain 435 trees, which, on coining to maturity in fifteen years, would yield, at the before-mentioned rate, 120,500 lbs. annually of farinace,ous matter. Sago meal, in its raw state, will keep good about a month. The Malays and natives of the Eastern Islands, with whom it forms the chief article of sustenance, partially bake it in earthenware moulds into small hard cakes, which will keep for a considerable time.
Cossus saguarius, a large lamelliform beetle, found in the pith of this sago palm, is considered by the natives a great delicacy.—Roxb. ; Voigt ;