A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 13 eBook

Robert Kerr (writer)
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 794 pages of information about A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 13.

A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 13 eBook

Robert Kerr (writer)
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 794 pages of information about A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 13.

23.  Durion.  A fruit that in shape resembles a small melon, but the skin is covered with sharp conical spines, whence its name; for dure, in the Malay language, signifies prickle.  When it is ripe, it divides longitudinally into seven or eight compartments, each of which contains six or seven nuts, not quite so large as chesnuts, which are covered with a substance that in colour and consistence very much resembles thick cream:  This is the part that is eaten, and the natives are fond of it to excess.  To Europeans it is generally disagreeable at first; for in taste it somewhat resembles a mixture of cream, sugar, and onions; and in the smell, the onions predominate.

24.  Nanca.  This fruit, which in some parts of India is called Jakes, has, like the Durion, a smell very disagreeable to strangers, and somewhat resembling that of mellow apples mixed with garlic:  The flavour is not more adapted to the general taste.  In some countries that are favourable to it, it is said to grow to an immense size.  Rumphius relates, that it is sometimes so large that a man cannot easily lift it; and we were told by a Malay, that at Madura it is sometimes so large as not to be carried but by the united efforts of two men.  At Batavia, however, they never exceed the size of a large melon, which in shape they very much resemble:  They are covered with angular prickles, like the shootings of some crystals, which however are not hard enough to wound those who handle them.

25.  Champada.  This differs from the Nanca in little except size, it not being so big. .

26.  Rambutan.  This is a fruit little known to Europeans.  In appearance it very much resembles a chesnut with the husk on, and like that, is covered with small points, which are soft, and of a deep red colour:  Under this skin is the fruit, and within the fruit a stone; the eatable part thereof is small in quantity, but its acid is perhaps more agreeable than any other in the whole vegetable kingdom.

27.  Jambolan.  This, in size and appearance, is not unlike a damascene; but in taste is still more astringent, and therefore less agreeable.

28.  The Boa Bidarra, or Rhamnus Jujuba of Linnaeus.  This is a round yellow fruit, about the size of a gooseberry; its flavour is like that of an apple, but it has the astringency of a crab.

29.  Nam nam.  The Cynometra Cauliflora of Linnaeus.  This fruit in shape somewhat resembles a kidney; it is about three inches long, and the outside is very rough:  It is seldom eaten raw, but fried with batter it makes a good fritter.

30, 31.  The Catappa, or Terminalia Catappa; and the Canare, the Canarium Commune of Linnaeus, are both nuts, with kernels somewhat resembling an almond; but the difficulty of breaking the shell is so great, that they are no where publicly sold.  Those which we tasted were gathered for curiosity by Mr Banks from the tree upon which they grew.

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A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 13 from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.