150 THE MANGO TREE. 



It has a kernel inside which, in a fruit of the above 

 measurement, would be about four inches long and an 

 inch in thickness ; the skin is about one-tenth of an inch 

 in thickness. 



The fruit is used in three ways as mango fool, as 

 pickles, and as a fruit when ripe. 



The tree is a beautiful tree, with very thick foliage, 

 acting as an impervious umbrella against rain, and a 

 most delightful retreat from the heat ; for in the heat a 

 resinous substance is given out, which gives the sweet 

 perfume of the fruit itself. It grows to about fifty feet 

 in height, bears the fourth year, and as it gets larger in 

 the sixth and seventh year, bears from 200 to 400 fruit. 

 This tree is generally planted in India in groves, gener 

 ally of twenty to fifty trees. The kind called the Bombay 

 mango is the best. Up towards Delhi the best fruit is to 

 be found ; but in Dacca, Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay, 

 the fruit is excellent. The mangoes are not all of the 

 kind I have described* There are some nearly as infe 

 rior as those to be seen at Charleston from the West 

 Indies. The West Indian mango has a nasty turpentine 

 flavor, and is so stringy, that it takes a day to pick the 

 fibres from between the te^th. There are none so bad 

 in India, but there are some very inferior. 



The mango fruit is an article of great inland commer 

 cial importance. In the great cities of India, for four 

 months in the year, whole streets are lined with stores of 

 them, and thousands of people are to be found hawking 

 them about. Hackeries (carts, drawn by two bullocks) 

 loaded with them, pour in from all parts, and the ghaut 

 (wharfs) are thronged with boats bearing them to the 

 markets. At the meat bazaars, to which all resort in 



