UNDER THE JAMUNS. 



Let not the reader indulge in fond fancies of the deli- 

 cious and succulent fruit hanging in all its lusciousness 

 on a sun-bathed old wall in distant England, nor yet 

 conjure up visions of the vale of far Kashmir: these plums 

 are but the small black fruit of the Indian jam-tin (Eugenia 

 jambuland) ; and they grow in lavish profusion, astringent, 

 rough, and alum-like to the cultivated palate, on the larger 

 trees that mingle with groves of mango and mhowa on the 

 highest plateaux of the Southern Satpuras. Thejdmun 

 displays its prodigal harvest just before the commencement 

 of the monsoon rains, and at this season its shady green 

 boughs are to be seen hanging heavy-laden with the well- 

 known berries, that are about the size and colour of English 

 damsons. A few of the better favoured trees bear fruit that 

 is quite passably sweet, and almost free from astringent 

 taste; and these are resorted to by the Indian black bear 

 and his apparently near relative the aboriginal Korku. 



Both Korkus and bears have, before the fruiting of the 

 jamun, been regaling themselves on the fallen jungle 

 mangoes, and, before that again, on the rich flowering of 

 the mhowa tree, not to mention the sakhriya a queer, 

 sweet-flavoured, whitish berry, which grows in myriads 

 on a prickly bush partaking of the nature of a creeping 

 bramble; and their palates are tickled by the distinct 

 change in diet now afforded by Eugenia jambulana. From 

 the deep glens and ravines that sink away sheer from the 



