THE COLDNESS OF FRESHLY GATHERED FRUIT. 231 



nice dish with a delicate flavour, not unlike that of 

 rather underbaked fresh bread, much liked by many 

 people. There are several wild varieties of this fruit, 

 which form noble, and large growing timber, in some 

 tropical forests, as for instance in Ceylon, all of them 

 distinguished by their ornamental foliage. The Jack 

 Fruit tree (A . Intcgrifolid) is a good example of these 

 wild kinds; but its fruit is not edible by Europeans. 

 It is used, however, by Natives as an ingredient in 

 their curries. The Mango (Mangifera Indica) is another 

 grand and beautiful tree, growing to a very large 

 size, met with in these regions, whose fruit is highly 

 esteemed for the particular richness of its aroma and 

 flavour, and of which there are many varieties. Its 

 splendid dark evergreen crown of foliage forms so 

 dense a canopy that the deep cool shade cast around 

 its trunk is most grateful to the wayfarer in the hot 

 season. These trees are grown in millions all over 

 Hindustan and during their flowering season the whole 

 air is sometimes deliciously scented with the fragrance 

 of their blooms. But we might go on almost ad 

 infinitum, to record, did time and space permit, instance 

 after instance of remarkable examples of the vegetable 

 wealth of these favoured regions ; we must, however, 

 limit ourselves, before taking leave of this subject, to 

 the consideration of but one further point, which we 

 think ought by no means to be passed over unnoticed. 

 We allude to the delicious freshness, and intense 

 coldness, which visitors to the tropics can hardly fail 

 to have remarked, is characteristic of freshly gathered 

 fruit. 



Were fruits growing in hot countries to become 

 heated to the same temperature as that of the atmosphere, 



