se they are so heavy
that no one could carry or handle them if long. One end is sharpened and
charred in the fire, and when thus prepared they will pierce any armour,
and much better than iron would do." Marsden points out that this heavy
lance-wood is not that of the true Sago-palm, but of the _Nibong_ or
Caryota urens; which does indeed give some amount of sago.

["When sago is to be made, a full-grown tree is selected just before it is
going to flower. It is cut down close to the ground, the leaves and
leaf-stalks cleared away, and a broad strip of the bark taken off the upper
side of the trunk. This exposes the pithy matter, which is of a rusty
colour near the bottom of the tree, but higher up pure white, about as hard
as a dry apple, but with woody fibres running through it about a quarter of
an inch apart. This pith is cut or broken down into a coarse powder, by
means of a tool constructed for the purpose.... Water is poured on the mass
of pith, which is kneaded and pressed against the strainer till the starch
is all dissolved and has passed through, when the fibrous refuse is thrown
away, and a fresh basketful put in its place. The water charged with sago
starch passes on to a trough, with a depression in the centre, where the
sediment is deposited, the surplus water trickling off by a shallow outlet.
When the trough is nearly full, the mass of starch, which has a slight
reddish tinge, is made into cylinders of about thirty pounds' weight, and
neatly covered with sago leaves, and in this state is sold as raw sago.
Boiled with water this forms a thick glutinous mass, with a rather
astringent taste, and is eaten with salt, limes, and chilies. Sago-bread is
made in large quantities, by baking it into cakes in a small clay oven
containing six or eight slits side by side, each about three-quarters of an
inch wide, and six or eight inches square. The raw sago is broken up, dried
in the sun, powdered, and finely sifted. The oven is heated over a clear
fire of embers, and is lightly filled with the sago powder. The openings
are then covered with a flat piece of sago bark, and in about five minutes
the cakes are turned out sufficiently baked. The hot cakes are very nice
with butter, and when made with the addition of a little sugar and grated
cocoa-nut are quite a delicacy. They are soft, and something like
corn-flour cakes, but have a slight characteristic flavour which is lost in
the refined sago we use in this country. W