pith, after its first
preliminary washing, is called _lamantah_ (_i.e._, raw), and after its
preparation for export by the Chinese, _sagu_. The botanical name is
_Metroxylon_, _M. Laevis_ being that of the variety the trunk of which is
unprotected, and _M. Rumphii_ that of the kind which is armed with long
and strong spikes, serving to ward off the attacks of the wild pigs from
the young palm.

This palm is indigenous in the Malayan Archipelago and grows to the
height of twenty to forty feet, in swampy land along the banks of rivers
not far from the sea, but out of the reach of tidal influences. A
plantation once started goes "on for ever," with scarcely any care or
attention from the proprietor, as the palm propagates itself by numerous
off-shots, which take the place of the parent tree when it is cut down
for the purpose of being converted into food, or when it dies, which,
unlike most other palms, it does after it has once flowered and seeded,
_i.e._, after it has attained the age of ten or fifteen years.

It can also be propagated from the seed, but these are often
unproductive.

If required for food purposes, the sago palm must be cut down at its
base before it begins to flower, as afterwards the pith or _farina_
becomes dried up and useless. The trunk is then stripped of its leaves
and, if it is intended to work it up at its owner's house, it is cut
into convenient lengths and floated down the river; if the pith is to be
extracted on the spot the trunk is split in two, longitudinally, and is
found to contain a mass of starchy pith, kept together by filaments of
woody fibre, and when this is worked out by means of bambu hatchets
nothing but a thin rind, the outer bark, is left. To separate the starch
from the woody fibre, the pith is placed on a mat in a frame work over a
trough by the river side; the sago washer then mounts up and, pouring
fresh water over the pith, commences vigorously dancing about on it with
his bare feet, the result being that the starch becomes dissolved in the
water and runs off with it into the trough below, while the woody fibre
remains on the mat and is thrown away, or, if the washer is not a
Mahomedan, used for fattening pigs. The starch thus obtained is not yet
quite pure, and under the name of _lamantah_ is sold to Chinese and
undergoes a further process of washing, this time by hand, in large,
solid, wooden troughs and tubs. When sufficiently purified, it is
sun-dried and, as a fin