Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 48.djvu/837

Rh ripens numerous seeds, which are considered very nutritious, and are eaten like chestnuts.

An Indian tree of great beauty and interest is the tamarind, with its thick, lofty trunk, wide-spreading branches, and clusters of purplish or yellowish flowers. So fine and light is the foliage that the Koran doomed lost souls in hell to have their thirst quenched only once in a thousand years with as much water as could be held in a single leaflet. The long, narrow pods contain citric and tartaric acid, sugar, and potash, and are imported in large quantities from the East and West Indies, to be utilized in various economies.

The fruit of the curious papaya, sometimes called the papaw, suggests a pumpkin in taste and general appearance, and a score or more are attached in a mass to the naked stem, immediately beneath the crest of leaves. As they contain a large amount of pepsin, they are widely used medicinally; and tough meat, wrapped for a couple of hours in one of the leaves, becomes exceedingly tender, and in time almost rotten.

There are numerous kinds of guavas, the best being the red and the white species, which are famous for their jelly-making possibilities. The fruit is about the size of a small apple, and is obtainable at nearly every season of the year.

The mango came originally from Hindostan, and is a magnificent shade tree, forty feet high, with leaves something like those of a peach tree, and quantities of juicy yellow plummets, suspended from the branches by very long, slender stems. Some wild varieties have an unpleasant taste of turpentine, but the better-flavored sorts are manufactured, when in an unripe state, into preserves and pickles for exportation.

The shining emerald leaves and the pretty scarlet flowers of the pomegranate (Punica granatum) are familiar to nearly every one who owns a garden or frequents a city park. The fruit of this