THE MAXGOSTEEX. 173 



also dried in ovens and exported. In order to obtain the fruit 

 in perfection, for the use of the Imperial Court, the trees, as 

 soon as they blossom, are conveyed from Canton to Pekin on 

 rafts, at a very great trouble and expense, so that the plums 

 may just be ripe on their arrival in the northern capital. 



The beautiful Mangosteen {Garcinia 3Iangostana), a native 

 of the Moluccas, and thence transplanted to Java, Siam, the 

 Philippines, and Ceylon, resembles at a distance the citron-tree, 

 and bears large flowers like roses. The dark brown capsular 

 fruit, about the size of a small apple, is described as of un- 

 equalled flavour — juicy and aromatic, like a mixture of straw- 

 berries, raspberries, grapes, and oranges. It is said that the 

 patient who has lost an appetite for everything else still relishes 

 the mangosteen, and that the case is perfectly hopeless when he 

 refuses even this. 



The stately Mango (Manrjifera i'ndica) bears beautiful 

 girandoles of flowers, followed by large plum-like fruits, of 

 which, however, but four or five ripen on each branch. More 

 than forty varieties are grown at Kew, the finest of which are 

 reserved for the Queen's table. From Ceylon, its original seat, 

 the mango has been transplanted far and wide over the torrid 

 zone. 



MAXGOSTEK>. 



