^33 



Fortunately no fruit possesses such pre-eminent qualities as to 

 outdistance all rivals, but each species is particularly appropriate 

 to fulfil individual uses, and what qualities one is deficient in an- 

 other supplies. Of salad fruits who shall say that the tomato 

 excells the avocado pear? Or even could an exact discrimina- 

 tion between the two be made, many elements intervene, such as 

 those of comparative cost of production, length of season, extent 

 of habitat, and suitability for export which would go far to deter- 

 mine general popularity and utility irrespective of mere flavor 

 and quality. And so with all fruits. For drying and export, 

 figs, dates, prunes and grapes are suited, yet to none of these is 

 preference accorded, or one only would be grown to the ex- 

 clusion of the others. For preserves and jams, strawberries, cur- 

 rants, apricots and plums each have their particular use. For 

 table use pineapples, grapes, oranges and apples, each in turn are 

 welcomed. And so throughout the entire category, the luscious 

 peach, the exquisite lichi, the humble poha and the plebian w^ater- 

 melon each in turn is king, in some season, for some use, or to 

 some individual, until a throne is even dedicated to the repellant 

 durian. Of this last fruit, of which it is said that when one has 

 overcome one's natural loathing one becomes passionately fond^ 

 Richard Semon writes : "In passing; the market on my arrival at 

 Java, I had been struck by an odd and disagreeable smell, remind- 

 ing me at the same time of musk or onion and evoking the idea 

 of something rotten and about to decay. In the hotels it is for- 

 bidden to introduce Durian or to eat it indoors." Wallace, the 

 great naturalist, devotes several pages in his Malay Archipelaga 

 to a classic description of this "king of fruit," whose flavor he 

 compares to "a rich butter-like custard, highly flavored with ^ al- 

 monds and intermingled with which come wafts of flavor that 

 call to mind cream-cheese, onion-sauce, brown sherry and other 

 incongruities. To eat Durian is a new sensation, worth a voyage 

 to the East to experience." There is said to be only one pro- 

 ductive Durian tree in the islands, on Kauai, but if the enthusiasm 

 of Wallace were more generally shared there would certainly be 

 more. However, after the description of the eminent naturalist's 

 ''king" of fruit, we turn with gratitude to the more humble varie- 

 ties of our own islands. 



