GLIMPSES OF EAST AFRICA AND ZANZIBAR 



pink pulp, is excellent eaten with port wine and 

 sugar, but uninteresting otherwise. 



Of bananas there are many kinds, but he only 

 is wise who buys either the red variety (a Uganda 

 kind) or the " sugar " banana ; the others are dull 

 and tasteless, but I sometimes fried them as a vege- 

 table. 



Cooks, Swahili especially, use cocoanuts for 

 making curries, and boiling the rice in the milk. 

 Pineapples are very cheap ; and there is a horrible 

 fruit, sometimes given one with a large present of 

 fruit from an Indian, called Jack fruit, and much 

 eaten and liked by the natives. It has a most 

 offensive smell, the seeds have a certain amount of 

 pulp round them, and the nut kernel is roasted by 

 the natives, and the peel and other waste parts 

 help to feed the chickens — the native chicken 

 taking the place of the Irish pig. I tasted it on 

 one occasion, but ever afterwards hastily presented 

 it to my boys when any was given me. Early in 

 the year leechees are in the market, and guavas, 

 but loquats and melons do not seem to grow well. 

 I had a present of some nice fruit like medlars ; but 

 they have only been imported and grown during 

 the last few years, so there are still only a few on 

 the island. 



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