universal curry. As it ripens, the interior changes
from green to white, and then to a bright yellow. A
tough outer skin being removed, there is seen a soft,
almost pulpy, but somewhat fibrous mass within.
Some of these fruits are extremely rich, and quite
aromatic, while others have a sharp smack of turpentine.
They even vary greatly in two localities, which
may be but a few miles apart. Rumphius informs us
that it was introduced into the moluccas by the
Dutch in 1655. It has also been introduced into
Zanzibar and Madagascar. When the Spaniards first
visited the Philippines it was not noticed, but now it
is very common in those islands, and considerable
quantities of it are shipped to China, where I was
frequently assured it was very delicious; but those
who have tasted this or any other tropical fruit from
only one locality are by no means competent judges.
At Singapore I found some very nice ones that had
been brought down from Siam. It also flourishes in
India, and Mr. Crawfurd thinks, from the fact that
the Malay and Javanese names are evidently only
corruptions of the old Sanscrit, that it was originally
brought into the archipelago from the continent, and
should not be regarded as indigenous.
The duku is another highly-esteemed fruit. The
tree is tall, and bears a loose foliage. From its trunk
and limbs little branchlets grow out, bearing in lo n g
clusters the fruit, which is about the size of a robin’s
egg. The outer coating of this fruit is thin and
leathery, and of a dull-yellow color. This contains
several long seeds, surrounded by a transparent pulp,
which is sweet or pleasantly acid. The seeds themselves
are intensely bitter. The natives, however, invariably
prefer the dvyria/n to all other fruits. The
Durio zibethinus is a very large tree. Its fruit is
spherical in form, six or eight inches in diameter, and
generally covered with many sharply-pointed tubercles
This exterior is a hard shell. Within it is
divided into several parts. On breaking the shell, a
seed, as large as a chestnut, is found in each division,
surrounded by a pale-yellow substance of the consistency
of thick cream, and having an odor of putrid
animal matter, so strong that a single fruit is enough
to infect the air in a large house. In the season for
this fruit the whole atmosphere in the native villages
is filled with this detestable odor. The taste of this
soft, salvy, half-clotted substance is well described by
Mr. Crawfurd as like “ fresh cream and filberts.” I t
seems paradoxical to state that the same substance
may violate a man’s sense of smell, and yet gratify
his sense of taste at the same time, but the natives
certainly are most passionately fond of it, and I once
met a foreigner who assured me that when he had
once smelled this fruit he could never be satisfied till
he had eaten some of it. Its simple odor is generally
quite enough for all Europeans. I t thrives well in
Sumatra, Java, the Spice Islands, and Celebes, and is
found as far north as Mindanao. On the continent v
forests of it exist on the Malay Peninsula, and it is
successfully raised as far north in Siam as the thirteenth
or fourteenth parallel. On the coast of the
Bay of Bengal it is grown as far north as Tenasserim,
in Lat. 14° N. It flourishes well on all the kinds of
soils in this area, but all attempts have failed to in