SAGO, a word signifying, in the language of the Palmas, trend, since it constitutes the staple article of food of the inhabitants of the Eastern Archipelago and other parts where the plants which yield it grow. It is not a seed, as sometimes supposed, but the farina from the stem of several palms and palm-like vegetables. The old stems of Caryota arena also yield goods ago. Sago is a variety of starch, prepared by the plant for the use of the flowers and fruit, and is most abundant Just before the evolution or appearance of the spadix or flower-bud, which is known by a whitish dust transuding through and covering the leaves. At this time the stem is cut down, near the base, and then divided into pieces of five or six feet in length. " A part of the outer hard wood is then sliced off, and the workman, coining to the pith, cuts across the longitudinal fibres and the pith together, leaving a part at each end uncut, so that when it is excavated there remains a trough, into which the pulp is again put, mixed with water, and beaten with a piece of wood ; the fibres, being then separated from the pulp, float at the top, and the flour subsides. After being cleared in this manner by several waters, the pulp is put into cylin drical baskets made of the leaves of the tree ; and, if it is to be kept some time, those baskets are generally sunk in fresh water to keep it moist, for the pulp will keep long if preserved from the air, but if exposed it presently turns sour." (Forrest's Voyage to the
Moluccas.') The quantity yielded by one treo is prodigious. Five or six hundred pounds are not an unusual produce for one tree; and ae the vegetation still remains after being felled, a stem again springs up, which goes through the different stages of growth till it is fit for the axe.
The flour or powder is rarely imported, granulated sago being the state in which it is commonly brought to Europe. To briug it into this state ,from the flour, it must be moistened and passed through a sieve into an iron pot (very shallow) held over a fire, which enables it to assume a globular form. Thus all our grained sago is half baked, and will keep long. Of this granulated sago there are two varieties, the common or brown sago, and pearl sago. The latter is in small, hard, horny, or semi-transparent grains, about the size of a pin's head ; the former are in large grains, about the size of the grains of pearl barley. Both are inodorous, and have an insipid taste. They swell in cold water, and are nearly thoroughly soluble is boiling water, so as to form a thick starch-like solution, which may be used as a pudding, or prepared in other ways as an article of diet for children and invalids, if a farinaceous diet is required. Care must be taken to distinguish a factitious sago prepared from potatoes. This can only be done by the microscope.