THE PALAEOTROPICS 



•Jl lo 



is a very different type of fruit, and on account of its powerful 

 odor, rather suggesting a skunk, it must be admitted, many per- 

 sons cannot be induced to taste it, and thus miss enjoying a fruit 

 which is quite without a rival, and almost alone worth a trip to 

 the Far East. The Malays are passionately fond of the Chilian, 

 and in its season the heaps of the big spiny green fruits in the 



A B 



Fig. 59. — A. A characteristic Malayan palm (Caryota sp.); B. Dipterocarp left in 

 a rubber plantation near Quala Lumpur, Federated Malay States. In front 

 of the tall tree is a young rubber tree (Hevea Brazilicnsis). 



market make their presence evident far and wide. Wallace in 

 his "Malay Archipelago" gives an admirable description of this 

 delicious fruit, quite the best that has been written. 



Among the other common fruits are several species of Nophe- 

 lium, related to the Chinese lichi. The commonest is the " Ram- 

 butan," a fruit about the size of a large plum, with a shaggy crim- 

 son rind enclosing an oval mass of juicy white pulp with a single 

 big seed. 



