ch. xv.] A Maccdoine of Fruits. 309 



cheese, nectarines, crushed filberts, a dash of pine- 

 apple, a spoonful of old dry sherry, thick cream, 

 apricot-pulp, and a soupc t on of garlic, all reduced to the 

 consistency of a rich custard, you have a glimmering 

 idea of the durian, but, as before pointed out, the odour 

 is almost unmentionable — perfectly indescribable, except 

 it be as " the fruit with the fragrant stink ! " 



The fruit itself is in size as large as a Cadiz melon, 

 and the leathery skin is protected b} r sharp broad-based 

 spines very similar to those of a horse chestnut. The 

 name durian, in fact, is derived from these — the word 

 duri in Malay meaning a spine or thorn. There are 

 many varieties in the Bornean woods, some but little 

 larger than horse chestnut fruits, and having only two 

 seeds ; others larger, but with stiff orange-red pulp, not 

 at all nice to eat, however hungry you may be ; and even 

 the large kinds, with creamy pulp and many seeds, vary 

 very much in flavour. The trees are monarchs of the 

 forest, as a rule varying from seventy to one hundred and 

 fifty feet, or even more, in height, with tall straight boles 

 and spreading tops, and the foliage is oblong acuminate, 

 dark green above, paler and covered with rufous stellate 

 hairs or scales below. The fruits of the finer varieties fall 

 when ripe, and accidents sometimes happen. 



I saw a native who had the flesh torn from his shoulder 

 by a blow from one of these armed fruits, and saw several 

 narrow escapes, but personally I gave the trees a wide 

 berth at fruiting time. Some varieties, especially the 

 " durianburong," or wild-bird durians, do not shed the 

 fruits, which hang on the branches until the valves open, 

 when the seeds fall to the ground, or are eaten by horn- 

 bills and other large fruit-eating birds and monkeys. I 

 saw some magnificent specimens of durian trees in the 

 Bornean forests north of the capital, and also in other 



