TWENTY-THIRD ANNUAL MEETING. ' 105 



mango, also an eastern fruit, has reached here in only one of its varieties, 

 and this one of the poorest. The trees are hardy, and they are often 

 planted for shade along the streets of the towns. The fruits are green, 

 stringy, and resinous, and one in eating them can get little idea of the 

 mango as found in the East Indies. The one fruit which, in spite of all 

 neglect, is abundant and always good, is the banana. The varieties grown 

 are immeasurably better in quality than those in our markets. The fruits 

 themselves are shorter and round and smooth, with oily, light yellow skin, 

 and their flesh is as soft and smooth as a custard. They are frequently 

 brought in perfection by steamers to New York, and there is no reason 

 why they should not in time supplant the variety now' in our markets. 

 The plantain, another species of the same genus as the banana, has great 

 food value as well as use for fruit, being cooked in the ripe state and eaten 

 as we use cooked fruits, and baked in a green state, when it becomes a 

 substitute for bread used by thousands of the inhabitants of the river. 

 The bread-fruit has been transplanted in the seed state, the seeds being 

 cooked and eaten like chestnuts. 



While the Portuguese and Spaniards transplanted these eastern fruits, 

 they left behind the finest, the mangoes and the durians and mangostans 

 of the equatorial regions of the east. We may expect our sister republic 

 of Brazil to soon take up the introduction of these fine fruits. There can 

 be no question of their flourishing, and we may soon have American enter- 

 prise and capital used in raising these fruits on the virgin lands of the 

 Amazon, as they are now invested in banana-raising in Venezuela. 



Some of the wild and semi-cultivated fruits of the Amazon, of American 

 origin, which are worthy of note, are the cashew, alligator pear, certain 

 leguminous trees with the fruit in pods, and asai palm fruit. 



The cashew has become known from its curious fruit, in which the seed 

 hangs outside of the fleshy fruit. The seed itself is edible, and the fruit, 

 which is light red or purple, of the size and shape of a small pear, is tough 

 and inedible, but filled with an acid but pleasant juice. It would probably 

 be of no value for export. The trees are abundant in the forests in the 

 Amazon region. 



The alligator pear will probably become of more importance. The fruit 

 is the size and shape of a large pear, and green in color. The taste is hard 

 to describe, being hardly more fruity than that of pickled olives. It is 

 eaten with salt and pepper. 



The markets of the river towns are always supplied with great pods, 

 looking like immense bean pods, which are full of snowy white, sweet, 

 juicy pulp, surrounding the seeds. They grow upon low, spreading, 

 ornamental trees with immense white flowers. 



The most noteworthy native fruit of the Amazon valley is the asai. On 

 all the low, half-flooded lands about the mouth of the Amazon, one sees 

 clumps of a beautiful palm, with delicate stems of five or six inches in 

 diameter and growing to thirty or forty feet in height, with a crown of 

 lovely, delicate, drooping leaves. Beneath these are often seen great grape- 

 like clusters of fruit, purplish black in color and of the size of cherries, the 

 clusters being often two or three feet in length and weighing twenty or 

 thirty pounds. This is the asai palm. The fruits are little cocoa-like nuts 

 with a thin film of rich fruit covering them. They are put in hot water 

 and then rubbed together, when the fruit comes off looking like dark 

 purple cream. It is eaten with sugar, is called vinho de asai (asai wine), 

 and is as good as fine strawberries and cream. 



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