CH. VII] FRUITS AND VEGETABLES 95 



" European" vegetables; and many spicily flavoured "curry- 

 stuffs." It would lead too far to enter into details about all 

 these. 



The most striking instance of vegetable production is 

 probably to be seen in Java, where the rice fields are 

 cultivated in vegetables after the rice crop is reaped, and 

 where vegetables are good, cheap and abundant. 



In general native vegetables are poor of their kind, probably 

 owing to the crossing with poor sorts that continually goes on. 



There are several quite good kinds of tropical vegetables 

 cultivated in the lower levels, but the ingrained conservatism of 

 the European residents in the tropics prevents their cordial 

 acceptance. Such for instance are the sweet potato, the various 

 beans, pumpkins, gourds, yams (many of which are really 

 excellent if properly cooked), onions, egg-fruits or brinjals, 

 okras or bandakais, etc. It is true that none of these, except 

 the sweet potato, the brinjal, the onion, and perhaps some of 

 the yams, are quite up to the ordinary European standard, but 

 much more might be made of them than is made, especially 

 if better methods of cooking them were devised. 



There is a great want, from the point of view of the 

 European residents in the tropics, of good and varied vegetables 

 for eating. People constantly ask, in all eastern countries at 

 any rate, why this demand is not supplied, and blame the 

 native for not being sufficiently awake to his own interests to 

 supply it. In actual fact, however, the small European popu- 

 lation creates but a very small demand, and it is rare to find 

 Europeans who are willing to pay a higher price for a better 

 article. The cultivator who starts to grow fancy fruits or 

 vegetables for the local markets takes considerable risks. On 

 the other hand, a good many Europeans are willing to go to 

 some expense and trouble to grow such things in their own 

 gardens. At high elevations, seeds of the best kinds of vege- 

 tables can be imported every year from Europe, and cultivated 

 with success, but this is rarely the case in the low country. If 

 the right time of year be chosen for sowing, a surprising number 

 of European vegetables will give a fair crop there, but for all 

 the year round supplies reliance must necessarily be placed 



