1770. 34, 36. The Blimbing, or Averrhoa Belinibi; the Blim-
,December., j^j^g g efjej or Averrhoa Carambola; and the Cherrema, or
Averrhoa acida of Linnseus, are three fpecies of one genus:
and though they differ in fhape, are nearly of the fame
tafte. The Blimbing Beffe is the fweeteft: the other two are
fo aufterely acid, that they cannot be ufed without drefEng;
they make however excellent pickles and four fauce.
37. TheSalack; or Calamus Rotang Zalaccaof Linnseus. This
is the fruit of a prickly bufh ; it is about as big as a walnut,
and covered with fcales, like thofe of a lizard: below the
fcales are two or three yellow kernels, in flavour fomewhat
refembling a ftrawberry.
Befides thefe, the ifland of Java, and particularly the country
round Batavia, produces many kinds of fruit which were
not in feafon during our flay; we were alfo told that apples,-
ftra wherries, and many other fruits from Europe, had been
planted up in the mountains, and flourifhed there in great
luxuriance. We faw feveral fruits preferved in fugar, that
we did not fee recent from the tree, one of which is called
Kimkit, and another Boa Atap: -and here are feveral others
which are eaten only by the natives, particularly the Kellor,
the Guilindina, the Moringa, and the Soceurn. The Soccum is of
the fame kind with the bread-fruit in the South Sea iflands,
but fo much inferior, that if it had not been for the fimili-
tude in the outward apppearance both of the fruit and the
tree, wefhould not have referred it to that clafs. Thefe and
fome others do not merit to be particularly mentioned.
The quantity of fruit that is confirmed at Batavia is incredible;
but that which is publicly expofed to fale is generally
over-ripe. A ftranger however may get good fruit in a flreet
called Paflar Piffang, which lies north from the great church,
and
and very near it. This flreet is inhabited by none but Chinefe
fruit-fellers, who are fupplied from the gardens of Gentle- c— ^—
men in the neighbourhood of the town, with fuch as is
frefh, and excellent in its kind, for which however they
muft be paid more than four times the market -price.
The town in general is fupplied from a confiderable dif-
tance, where great quantities of land are cultivated merely
for the production of fruit. The country people, to whom
thefe lands belong, meet the people of the town at two
great markets; one on Monday, called Paflar Sineen ; and
the other on Saturday, called Paflar Tanabank. Thefe fairs
are held at places confiderably diflant from each other, for
the convenience of different diftriCts ; neither of them however
are more than five miles diflant from Batavia. At thefe
fairs, the befl fruit may be bought at the cheapefl rate ; and
the fight of them to a European is very entertaining. The
quantity of fruit is aflonifhing; forty or fifty cart loads of
the fineft pine apples, packed as carelefsly as turneps in
England, are common, and other fruit in the fame profu-
fion. The days however on which thefe markets are held
are ill contrived; the time between Saturday and Monday
is too fhort, and that between Monday and Saturday too
long: great part of what is bought on Monday is always
much the worfe for keeping before a new flock can be
bought, either by the retailer or confumer; fo that for feveral
days in every week there is no good fruit in the hands
of any people but the Chinefe in Paffar Piffang.
The inhabitants of this part of India pradlife a luxury
which feems to be but little attended to in other countries;
they are continually burning aromatic woods and refins,
and fcatter odours round them in a profufion of flowers,
poffibly as an antidote to the noifome effluvia of their ditches
V o l. III. U u and