Page:Journal of the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks.djvu/453

1770 natives are vastly fond of; but few Europeans, at first, however, can endure its taste, which resembles sugared cream mixed with onions. The smell also prejudices them much against it, being most like that of rotten onions. (24) Nanca (Sitodium cauliflorum), called in some parts of India jack, has like the durian a smell very disagreeable to strangers, resembling very mellow apples with a little garlic. The taste, however, in my opinion makes amends for the smell, though I must say that amongst us English I was, I believe, single in that opinion. Authors tell strange stories about the immense size to which this fruit grows in some countries which are favourable to it. Rumphius says that they are sometimes so large that a man cannot easily lift one of them: the Malays told me that at Madura they were so large that two men could but carry one of them; at Batavia, however, they never exceed the size of a large melon, which in shape they resemble, but are coated over with angular spines like the shootings of some crystals: they are, however, soft, and do not at all prick any one who handles them. (25) Tsjampada (Sitodium) differs from nanca in little else than size. (26) Rambutan is a fruit seldom mentioned by Europeans; it is in appearance much like a chestnut with the husk on, being like it covered with soft prickles, but smaller and of a deep red colour: when eaten, this skin must be cut, and under it is a fruit, the flesh of which indeed bears but a small proportion to the stone, but makes rich amends for the smallness of its quantity by the elegance of its acid, superior to any other (maybe) in the whole vegetable kingdom. (27) Jambolan (Myrtus) is in size and appearance not unlike an English damson, but has always rather too astringent a flavour to allow it to be compared even with that fruit. (28) Boa bidarra (Rhamnus jujuba) is a round yellow fruit, about the size of a musket bullet; its flavour is compared to an apple, but like the former has too much astringency to be compared with any thing but a crab. (29) Nam nam (Cynometra cauliflora) is shaped something like a kidney, very rough and rugged on