44 



CHAPTER V. 



THE "SUNTARA" ORANGES. 



IN Baber's memoirs the following occurs, which is 

 stated to have been said by Humayoon : " In Bengal 

 there are fruits which have an acid flavour, though 

 they are not of equal excellence with the amratphal 

 (sweet lemon). The one is kamilah, the other is the 

 samtere/i, and are larger than the orange, but are not 

 sour. The latter is found in Bengal at one village, 

 called Senargam, and even in Senargam it is found in 

 the greatest perfection only in one place. There is 

 no pleasanter fruit than the samtereh." 



There is hardly any reason to doubt that the 

 samtereh and kamilah of Humayoon are the suntara 

 and /&<?#/ of modern Indians. The Bengalis still call 

 the suntara of Sylhet and the Khasia hills, by the 

 name of kamlah lemboo. Lemboo is a sort of generic 

 name, which Bengalis use for all kinds of citrus. It is 

 a corruption of limo, and in the chapter of derivations 

 I have endeavoured to trace the origin of the latter 

 designation. 



About 300 years ago the suntara orange appears 

 to have been rare in India. Then it appeared to 

 have found its way only to Bengal, and even there 

 to have been limited to one particular locality, Senar- 

 gam. At the present day it is to be found almost all 

 over India. In the Khasia hills, and further north and 

 to the west, in Bhotan, Nepal, and Kumaon, it grows 



