SAGO

a food-stuff obtained from the pith of various = trees in the Eastern eg re and particularly in Sumatrs and eo. The tree is cut, and the pith extracted from sections of the stem and placed in a sieve, through which water is pa ed. This carries the flour into a second ve el, where it is deposited and dried after the water has been run off. The sago is then sent to Singapore, where it stuieae for the market, and shipped. THE, is the great belt of desert that stretches cast wards from the Atlantic to the Nilo, and southwards tc the Niger and Lake Chad. Its northern edge is the hinterland of Morocco, Algeria. Tunis and aioe. South of Algeria and Morocco and in the centre are important mountain ranges seamed with valleys in which water to be found below the surface. The mountains of the centra! plate an are covered with snow for three months of the year. The Sahara is cro ed by many caravan routes, which follow the oases. The routes from Murzuk in Tripol! to Lake Chad, and from Morocco to Cairc are of particular importance. A proces: of desiccation or ester is in progre al; over this area. Extreme heat during the day and exce ive cold during the night, combined with the great evaporation that takes place, tend to break up the rock and thus to produce fragments that the wind reduces to sand. It is a wide error to suppose that the Sahara lics as a whole below the sea level, although a chain of lagoons exists in Northern Algeria, which have been — with a view to forming them into an {Inland sca by connecting them with the Mediterranean. SAHIB (Arab. ‘‘ Master’’) a term of respect equivalent to Mr. or Sir, used by natives in India and Persia in addre ing Europe ans.: [s. 267]