TROPICAL GARDENS 



one sees the pretty little Saguim monkeys, peeping out of the thickets 

 with their gnome-like faces. All these creatures soon lose any fear 

 of man, and so the garden becomes a little Paradise, full of a peace 

 to which even the human mind becomes attuned. 



Variety and abundance are the characteristics of the tropical orchard, 

 as they are of the tropical garden, for in the tropics there are 

 hundreds of species of fruit-trees, and even externally they present 

 an incomparable variety of form. 



A Mango-tree, with its gnarled and sturdy trunk and its expansive 

 crown, on which the long, lancet-shaped dark-green leaves grow in 

 starry rosettes, is a most impressive sight. And when the great fruits 

 dangle from the boughs, as though suspended on strings, it has the 

 look of a decorated Christmas-tree (Plate 22). And the fruit, the 

 mango — or manga, as it is called in Brazil — delights the eye by 

 the brilliance of its rind ; in particular the Manga rosea, which is 

 the loveliest, if not the best variety. This large fruit, ending in a 

 blunt, curved point, is washed with pink and yellow; sometimes 

 the pink lies over the yellow like a network. 



Whenever I ate a mango I racked my brains to define the flavour 

 of the fruit. At last I came to the conclusion that the yellow, very 

 juicy and rather slimy pulp has a flavour of gherkin, apricot, and 

 egg, with the addition of just a dash of turpentine. Many tropical 

 fruits employ such a means of self-preservation, and despite this 

 curious addition the mango is one of the most delicate fruits imagin- 

 able. The green mango, Manga espada, has hardly any flavour of 

 turpentine; it is more acid, and less fibrous. After eating mangoes 

 one must not drink milk or alcohol, or serious illness may result; 

 on the other hand, water may be taken. It is best to be cautious in 

 respect of all the tropical fruits, and the newcomer will do well to 

 acclimatize himself for six months before eating mangoes, or jacas, 

 or abacaxis — as the pineapple is cafled in Brazil. Further, it is im- 

 portant that both the fruit and the eater should be cool ; it is dangerous 

 to eat fruit that has been hanging in the sun directly it is plucked 

 from the tree. The Brazilians prefer to eat fruit in the morning, 

 even in their bath: a custom which has its advantages, for then 

 the juice of the fruit cannot spoil their clothes. The juice of the 

 cashew-fruit, a relative of the mango, of which I have already spoken, 

 leaves an indelible stain. 



Other relatives of the mango are the Gajas or Balsam-plums; 



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