HA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OS SIP. 



197 



not there attain to such perfection as in the Malay 

 Islands. It appears to have been introduced into 

 this country in 1789, and it first produced its fruit in 

 the gardens of the Duke of Northumberland at Syon, 

 Isleworth, in 1855, from whence it was figured by Sir 

 W. J. Hooker in the Bot. Mag., t. 4847, where it is 

 also well described. 



It is a large tree, with a freely-branched conical 

 head, leaves oblong-elliptical, acutely pointed, entire, 

 glossy, of a leathery texture. Flowers near the 

 extremities of the shoots, solitary, on very short 



Fig. 78.— Flower of Garcinia mangostana, Linn. 



Fig. 79.— Fruit of Garcinia mangostana. 



peduncles, of a dull red colour, and about the size of 

 dog-roses. Fruit spherical in form, a section of 

 which would be about three inches in diameter, and 

 for which the tree is most highly esteemed, although 

 it possesses other virtues which gain for it great 

 favour. The fruit is largely used as an article of food, 

 it is very luscious and wholesome, and with the last 

 is one of the best tropical fruits. Dr. Abel, in his 

 description of the fruits of Batavia, says: "First in 

 beauty and flavour was the mangosteen. This, so 

 often eulogised by travellers, certainly deserves much 



of the praise bestowed upon it. It is of a spherical 

 form, of the size of a small orange when ripe, 

 reddish-brown, and when old, chesnut-brown. Its 

 succulent rind is nearly the fourth of an inch in 

 thickness. It contains a very powerful astringent 

 juice, and in wet weather exudes a yellow gum which 

 is a variety of gamboge. On removing the rind its 

 esculent substance appears in the form of a juicy pulp, 

 having the whiteness and solubility of snow, and of a 

 refreshing, delicate, delicious flavour. We were all 

 anxious to carry away with us some precise ex- 

 pression of its qualities, but after satisfying ourselves 

 that it partook of the compound taste of the pine- 

 apple and peach, we were obliged to confess that it 

 had many other equally good but inexpressible 

 qualities." It is stated that any quantity of the fruit 

 may be eaten without deleterious effects, and it is 

 given with sweet oranges to persons affected with 

 fevers, and, according to good evidence, Dr. Solander, 

 in the last stage of a putrid fever at Batavia, found 

 himself insensibly recovering by sucking this delicious 

 and refreshing fruit. According to Dr. Garcin, in 

 honour of whom the genus is named : " It is one of 

 the most delicious of the East Indian fruits, and a 

 great deal of it may be eaten without inconvenience ; 

 it is the only fruit which sick people are allowed to 

 eat without scruple." Mr. A. Wallace ("Malay 

 Arch.," p. 84), in describing Sarawak, says, " a cool 

 spring under an overhanging rock just below the 

 cottage furnished us with refreshing baths and 

 delicious water, and the Dyaks brought us daily 

 heaped-up baskets of mangosteens and sunsats, two 

 of the most delicious of the sub-acid tropical 

 plants." 



The bark of the tree is astringent, and a decoction 

 of it is used by the natives in dysentery, etc., and the 

 Chinese prepare a black dye from it. 



A NATURALIST ALL AT SEA. 



IT was in February that I jotted down a few notes 

 near the Equator, outward-bound for Australia.* 

 I wrote under difficulties — for a head-wind and 

 choppy sea interfered sadly with our action, and I 

 upset a bottle of ink over the counterpane in my 

 berth, amongst other misfortunes. 



Sydney was my farthest point from home. Our 

 ship— the P. and O. " Victoria "—entered the heads 

 at five o'clock A.M. I was already on deck, 

 knowing full well that one of the finest sights in the 

 world would shortly be revealed. 



The gap in the precipitous headlands is so narrow 

 that even Captain Cook himself at first sailed past 

 without discovering the entrance. He landed at 

 Botany Bay, marching overland to behold Port Jack- 

 son ; a stupendous revelation it must have been ! 



* Science-Gossii', April, 1888. 



