Page:Journal of the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks.djvu/452

394 made by five or six small triangles joined in a circle, and at the bottom several hollow green leaves, the remains of the flower. When they are to be eaten, the skin, or rather flesh, which is thick, must be taken off, under which are found six or seven white kernels placed in a circle. The pulp with which these are enveloped is what is eaten, and few things I believe are more delicious, so agreeably is acid mixed with sweet in this fruit, that without any other flavour, it competes with, if not excels, the finest flavoured fruits. So wholesome also are these mangostans, that they, as well as sweet oranges, are allowed without stint to people in the highest fevers. (19) Jambu (Eugenia malaccensis) is esteemed also a most wholesome fruit; it is deep red, of an oval shape, the largest as big as a small apple; it has not much flavour, but is certainly very pleasant on account of its coolness. There are several sorts of it, but, without much reference to kinds, the largest and reddest are always the best. (20) Jambu ayer (Eugenia). Of these are two sorts, alike in shape resembling a bell, but differing in colour, one being red and the other white; in size they a little exceed a large cherry; in taste they are totally devoid of flavour, or even sweetness, being nothing more than a little acidulated water, and yet their coolness recommends them very much. (21) Jambu ayer mauwar (Eugenia jambos) is more pleasant to the smell than the taste; in the latter resembling something the conserve of roses, as in the former, the fresh scent of those flowers. (22) Pomegranate (Punica granatum) is the same fruit as in England, and everywhere else that I have met with it, in my opinion but ill repaying any one who takes the trouble of breaking its tough hide. (23) Durian in shape resembles much a small melon, but has a skin covered over with sharp conical spines, whence its name, dure signifying in the Malay language a spine. This fruit when ripe divides itself longitudinally into seven or eight compartments, each of which contains six or seven nuts, not quite so large as chestnuts, coated over with a substance both in colour and consistence very much resembling thick cream. This is the delicate part of the fruit, which the