Mangosteen

“ Pineapples touch perfection on Java soil; cherimoya and mango, papaya and the various custard-fruits, the lovely but tasteless rose-apple, and the dark green equatorial orange of delicious flavour, afford a host of unfamiliar experiences. The winter months are the season of the peerless mangosteen, in beauty as well as in savour the queen of tropical fruits. The rose-lined purple globes, with the central ball of ivory whiteness in each fairy cup, suggest fugitive essences of strawberry and nectarine combined with orange to produce this equatorial marvel, also considered perfectly wholesome. ”

“ The season of the mangosteen is the same with that of the durian. The tree grows about fifteen feet high, and the foliage is extremely glossy [Pg 269] and dark. The fruit may be eaten in large quantities with safety, and is of incomparable delicacy of flavor. No fruit in the world has won such praises as the mangosteen.
Of the mineral treasures of Siam, enough has been already indicated in the description of the wealth and magnificence which is everywhere apparent. ”

“ Of all Eastern fruits the mangosteen is perhaps the general favourite with Europeans, and of all fruits it is one of the most delicious and refreshing. It flourishes in nearly all the islands from the south coast of Java to Mindanao, the most southern of the Philippine group, and on the mainland it flourishes as far as Bangkok, and in the interior to 16° N., but on the coast of the Bay [311] of Bengal only to 14° N. Attempts to cultivate it in India have failed, and in Ceylon success is only partial. In the West Indies all attempts to grow it have proved abortive. ”

“ The mango trees attain a great size. Many of the fruit-trees and plants have been introduced from India and Malaysia, such as the mangosteen, guava, durian, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves, all of which thrive well. ”

“ All these things are naught to him if he cannot have his vegetable marrow, and he will tell you about the exceeding goodness and rarity of the vegetable marrow, until you will figure it in your mind like unto the famous mangosteen fruit of the Malay Peninsula, he who once eats whereof tastes never again any other fruit of the earth, finding them all as dust and ashes by the side of the mangosteen. ”

“ There are in the forest two varieties of wild durions with much smaller fruits, one of them orange-coloured inside. It would not perhaps be correct to say that the durion is the best of all fruits, because it cannot supply the place of a sub-acid juicy kind; 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. ”

“ Ordinarily, old Mangosteen, of the —th Native Infantry, meeting Junglebird, C.S.I., who lived with him in the N.W.P., where they were as brothers, says 'How do?' and passes on. Each knows that the other has but one thought—his embarrassments: they respect one another's misfortunes, and avoid the hollow mockeries to which conversation must necessarily give rise. ”

“ Lindley once said, in his usual incisive way, that “most tropical fruits were edible,” but that “very few were worth eating;” but then the probability is he had never tasted a mango or a mangosteen, a tarippe fruit, or the deliciously rich apricot-like pulp which surrounds the seeds of the caoutchouc-yielding willughbeias, and certainly not a durian.
The mangoes, oranges, bananas, pomoloes, and pine-apples are all cultivated fruits in the East, just as are our best gooseberries, strawberries, apples, pears, and grapes at home ”

“ It is said that the Indians destroyed all their pepper plantations in consequence of frauds practised on them by the Manila merchants.
Attempts to introduce some of the more costly spices, such as the Cinnamon and Nutmeg, have not been attended with success.
Fruits are abundant. There are no less than fifty-seven varieties of the banana. The fame of the Manila mango is universal in the East. There are [264] many sorts of oranges, pines (ananas) in great quantities, guavas, rose-apples, and the mangosteen is found in Mindanao. ”

“ It not being considered advisable to alienate any further crown lands at present on account of the low prices obtainable, the Government rice lands are let annually for prices varying from two to four shillings per acre. The edible fruits cultivated are fine oranges of several kinds, excellent [118] pomoloes, Durian, mangoes, tarippe, rambutan, jack-fruit and champada, rose apples (jambosa) , cocoanuts, mangosteen, rambi, bananas in variety, limes, guava, papaw, cashew nut, and several others, including the bread-fruit, baloonas, mambangan. ”

“ It is a native of the Malay Peninsula, and is extensively cultivated in southern Tenasserim, and in some places in the Madras presidency. Poor results have followed the attempt to introduce it to other countries; and A. de Candolle refers to it as one of the most local among cultivated plants both in its origin, habitation and cultivation. It belongs to a family in which the mean area of the species is very restricted. ”

“ Commingle with musk and honey, coriander and aniseed, smother with the scent of musk roses, blend with cider, and the mixture may convey a dim sense of some of the delectable qualities of one kind of mango. To do justice to the produce of the very next tree another list of triumphant excellences might be necessary. A first-class mango is compact of so many sensations to the palate, its theme embraces such rare and delicate surprises, that the true artist in fruit-flavours is fain to indulge in paraphrase and paradox when he attempts to record its virtues and—yes, its vanities. ”

“ The central feature of the whole ritual is a wild mango tree, so young that it has never flowered: the men who cut it down, carry it into the village, and dance at the festival, are forbidden to eat mangoes: pigs are killed in order that their dying squeals may move the mango trees to bear fruit: at the end of the ceremonies pieces of young green mangoes are solemnly placed in the mouths of the fasting men and are by them spurted out towards the setting sun in order that the luminary may carry the fragments to every part of the country ”

“ The French have taken immense trouble in perfecting this valuable fruit, and have now introduced so many excellent varieties that one crop succeeds another in rotation. The round mango is succeeded by the golden egg, and that by a small purple, while the large long sort seems inexhaustible. Best of all are those specially cultivated by Monseigneur Janssen, Bishop of Axièri, who has raised a super-excellent mango with a very large fruit, and a long stone so thin and flat as to resemble the inner sole of a child's shoe. ”

“ Ernest.—I thought, father, that the mango tree only grew on the sea-shore, and in marshy soils?
Father.—You were not mistaken; it is the black mango tree which loves the water. But there is, besides, the red mango, which bears its fruit in bunches, something like our currant bushes. This kind of the mango tree, is found at a considerable distance from the sea, and its wood is used for dyeing red. There is a third sort, which is called the mountain mango, or yellow wood, and this is the kind, whose roots produce the beautiful arches you now see around us. ”

“ The kernel of the mango is of a hot and rather offensive flavour; the poor people, however, collect it, and when dried grind it into flour for bread, which is more wholesome than agreeable; in seasons of scarcity, however, it is a useful addition to the then scanty means of the lower orders of the people. The flavour of the fruit itself differs so much, that no description can be given of the taste of a mango—even the fruit of one tree vary in their flavour. ”

“ Its delicious fruit is superior to that on the coast. For weeks the natives who have charge of the mangoes live entirely on the fruit, and, as some trees bear in November and some in March, while the main crop comes between, fruit in abundance may easily be obtained during four months of the year; but no native can be induced to plant a mango. A wide-spread superstition has become riveted in the native mind, that if any one plants this tree he will soon die. The Makololo, like other natives, were very fond of the fruit ”

“ The mango is one of our handsomest fruit trees; the symmetry of its growth, its large glossy leaves, the delicate colouring of its young growth, which is of different shades in different varieties, the abundance of fruit that it produces, varying in colour from dull-green to yellow, red, or even purplish tints, all render it conspicuous. As well as being one of our handsomest, it is also one of our most widely distributed fruits, being found growing luxuriantly the whole length of our eastern seaboard. ”

“ How delightful is the season when the jasmine-creeper and the mango-tree seem thus to unite in mutual embraces! The fresh blossoms of the jasmine resemble the bloom of a young bride, and the newly-formed shoots of the mango appear to make it her natural protector.
[Continues gazing at it.
PRIYAMVADÁ. Do you know, my Anasúyá, why [S'] akoontalá gazes so intently at the jasmine?
ANASÚYÁ. No, indeed, I cannot imagine. I pray thee tell me.
PRIYAMVADÁ. She is wishing that as the jasmine is united to a suitable tree, so, in like manner, she may obtain a husband worthy of her. ”

“ The sleight-of-hand man stood up, and jerked off the cloth, and pointed to a two foot shrub with some kind of fruit on it. A minute ago that shrub had been a twig. The boy pulled off the fruit and tossed it up. It was a mango K right enough. But I had seen the mango trick before.
The way it works is this: the hand-is-quicker-than-the-eye artist has a small bush with a stem sharpened to a point wrapped up in his apron or sleeve, and when the innocent bystander is busy looking at the twig, he slips it under the cloth. ”

“ It is when the sun has attained its greatest height, that such scenes should be viewed; then the dense, splendid foliage of the mango hides the ground with its darkest shade, whilst the upper branches are rendered, from the profusion of light, of the most brilliant green. In the temperate zones the case is different—the vegetation there is not so dark or so rich, and hence the rays of the declining sun, tinged of a red, purple, or bright yellow color, add most to the beauties of those climes. ”

“ The solitary mango-tree, in a field of corn, seems to exult in its position-to grow taller and spread wider its branches and rich foliage, in situations where they can be seen to so much advantage. The peepul and bargut trees, which, when entire, are still more ornamental, are everywhere torn to pieces and disfigured by the camels and elephants, buffaloes and bullocks, that feed upon their foliage and tender branches. There are a great many mhowa, tamarind, and other fine trees, upon which they do not feed, to assist the mango in giving beauty to the landscape. ”

“ The young leaves of the mango are of a brownish red; and amid the general profusion of green, they impart a not ungrateful relief to the eye. Even their russet blossoms have a pleasant look. But in a good season, when the fruit is ripe, the groves have a magnificently rich appearance. Rows upon rows of yellow fruit look like lines of golden apples. Most people are extravagantly fond of them ”

“ You are ready to agree with the East Indian maxim that a mango never should be eaten except in a tub of water. You cannot help beginning with another; but let it be small, or you will be likely to inquire if you may not divide your second with a friend. The fruit is of about the same color inside as the muskmelon, but it is harder, though not tough, not disagreeably sweet; juicy, nutritious. We began to receive them at Hong Kong in May, from Manila, where they are in perfection. ”

“ The mangas also are prolific bearers, whose fruit ripens in July and August, a month or so later than the mango. The fruit is roundish, very plump, and with the beak or point of the mango entirely missing. Its color is lemon yellow with a delicate reddish blush, the length about three inches and the weight from five to eight ounces. The skin, rather tough, peels readily, and in eating should be torn down from the stem towards the apex. The same fibre is present as in the mango, while the pulp is very juicy, sweet, slightly aromatic and pleasant in flavor. ”

“ The majority of these are plants introduced either from the larger islands or from more distant tropical countries, that have been planted in the neighbourhood of houses.
One of the first that strikes a new-comer in the tropics is the mango tree, which, though introduced by man from its original home in tropical Asia, is now common throughout the hotter parts of America. Its widespreading branches, bearing dense tufts of large leathery leaves, make it as welcome for the sake of protection from the sun as for its fruit, which is a luxury that some persons never learn to appreciate. ”

“ Mangoes.—Hundreds of varieties of the mango are grown in India; and, according to Dr. G. Bonavia, fifty or more kinds might be named which for texture and exquisiteness of flavor would more than compare with the same qualities in the nectarine and peach. Only those who have had opportunities of trying the choice varieties have any conception how good this fruit is. The uncultivated seedling mangoes are generally fibrous, but this does not prevent their having very often an exquisite flavor. To enjoy them they must be sucked. ”