base to the apex five very faint lines may be traced, over
which the spines arch a little ; these are the sutures of
the carpels, and show where the fruit may be divided with
a heavy knife and a strong hand. The five cells are
satiny white within, and are each filled with an oval mass
of cream-coloured pulp, imbedded in which are two or
three seeds about the size of chestnuts. This pulp is the
eatable part, and its consistence and flavour are indescribable.
A rich butter-like custard highly flavoured
with almonds gives the best general idea of it, but inter-
m in "led with it come wafts of flavour o that call to mindv
cream-cheese, onion-sauce, brown sherry, and other incongruities.
Then there is a rich glutinous smoothness in
the pulp which nothing else possesses, but which adds
to its delicacy. It is neither acid, nor sweet, nor juicy,
yet one feels the want of none of these qualities, for it is
perfect as it is. It produces no nausea or other bad effect,
and the more you eat of it the less you feel inclined to
stop. In fact to eat Durians is a new sensation, worth
a voyage to the East to experience.
When the fruit is ripe it falls of itself, and the only
way to eat Durians in perfection is to get them as they
fa ll; and the smell is then less overpowering. When unripe,
it makes a very good vegetable if cooked, and it is
also eaten by the Dyaks raw. In a good fruit season large
quantities are preserved salted, in jars and bamboos, and
kept the year round, when it acquires a most disgusting
odour to Europeans, but the Dyaks appreciate it highly
as a relish with their rice. There are in the forest two
varieties of wild Durians with much smaller fruits, one of
them orange-coloured inside; and these are probably the
origin of the large and fine Durians, which are never found
wild. It would not, perhaps, be correct to say that the
Durian is the best of all fruits, because it cannot supply
the place of the subacid juicy kinds, such as the orange,
grape, mango, and mangosteen, whose refreshing and cooling
qualities are so wholesome and grateful ; but as producing
a food of the most exquisite flavour it is unsurpassed.
If I had to fix on two only, as representing the perfection
of the two classes, I should certainly choose, the Durian
and the Orange as the king and queen of fruits.
The Durian is, however, sometimes dangerous. When
the fruit begins to ripen it falls daily and almost hourly,
and accidents not unfrequently. happen to persons walking
or working under the trees. When a Durian strikes a
man in its fall, it produces a dreadful wound, the strong
spines tearing open the flesh, while the blow itself is very
heavy ; but from this very circumstance death rarely
ensues, the copious effusion of blood preventing the inflammation
which might „otherwise take place. A Dyak
chief informed me that he had been struck down by a
Durian falling on his head, which he thought would