754 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



pelago and the islands of the Pacific. It attains an elevation of 

 about fifty feet, and grows wild in the forests. The leaves are 

 large, glossy, and deeply pinnated, like the fronds of a fern, and 

 the fruit resembles a muskmelon the edible interior being of the 



LOWER PART OF MANGO TREE. Hawaiian Islands. 



consistence of newly baked bread, and tasting like batter-pudding 

 or boiled milk and potatoes. It is sometimes fried in slices, and 

 served with meat as a side dish, or eaten with milk and sugar ; 

 but the usual mode of preparation is to bake the unripe quartered 

 portions in rude ovens of heated stones, arranged in layers with 

 earth and leaves, on the same principle as scalloped oysters. As 

 there are many varieties, ripening at different seasons of the year, 

 the supply is practically inexhaustible. Some kinds yield valu- 

 able timber, and from the inner bark of other species the natives 

 manufacture clothing. 



The " Jack-fruit "a South Sea representative is long and 

 gourdlike, and weighs from twenty to sixty pounds. Although 

 most of the crop is borne on the boughs, in the usual manner, 

 some of the fruit grows directly on the bare trunk, a foot or two 

 from the ground, presenting a very singular appearance. It 



