120 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. [Part I. 



viting tlie visits of tlie wild elephants, with whom they 

 are especial favourites. 



These, and the Bihnibi and Guava, the latter of 

 which is naturalised in the jungle around every cottage, 

 are almost the only fruits of the countiy ; but the Pine- 

 apple, the Mango, the Avocado-pear, the Custard-apple, 

 the Eambutan [Nephelium lappaceum), the Fig, the Gra- 

 nadilla, and a number of other exotics, are successfully 

 reared in the gardens of the wealthier inhabitants of 

 the towns and villages ; and within the last few years 

 the peerless Mangustin of Malacca, the dehcacy of which 

 we can imagine to resemble that of perfumed snow, 

 has been successfully cultivated in the gardens of Caltura 

 and Colombo. 



With the exception of the orange, the fruits of 

 Ceylon have one deficiency, common, I apprehend, 

 to all tropical countries. They are wanting in that 

 piquancy which in northern chmates is attributable to 

 the exquisite perfection in which the sweet and aromatic 

 flavours are blended with the acidulous. Either the 

 acid is so ascendant as to be repulsive to the Em^opean 

 palate, or the saccharine so preponderates as to render 

 Singhalese fruit cloying and distasteful. 



Still, all other defects are compensated by the 

 coolness which pervades them ; and, under the ex- 

 haustion of a blazing sun, no more exquisite physical 

 enjoyment can be imagined than the chill and fragrant 

 flesh of the pine-apple, or the abundant juice of the 

 mango, which, when freshly pulled, feels as cool as iced 

 water. But the fruit must be eaten instantly ; even an 

 interval of a few minutes after it has been gathered is 

 sufficient to destroy the charm ; for, once severed from 

 the stem, it rapidly acquires the temperature of the 

 surroundino; air. 



Sufficient admiration has hardly been bestowed upon 

 the marvellous power displayed by the vegetable world 

 in adjusting its own temperature, notwithstanding at- 

 mosplieric fluctuations, — a faculty in the manifestation 



