Orange and Lemon Trade of India. 163 



orange. Any one, having once scented the leaf or 

 the rind of a true mandarin orange, can always recog- 

 nise it again.* 



The kbnda ndrun of Ceylon, which, as I said, is 

 much like that of Nagpore, is eaten always in its green 

 state. It could be found in the markets of Ceylon 

 during all November. It had not an unpleasant 

 flavour, but appeared to be unripe. Some said, how- 

 ever, that it is better flavoured in its green state. It 

 is so habitually plucked, sold, and eaten in its green 

 unripe state, that the people there may have come to 

 look upon it as a green orange which never turns of an 

 orange colour. As I had never heard of a green 

 orange, and as I did not believe in one, I bought two 

 dozen of these green kbnda ndrun.\ On leaving 

 Kandy on December nth, I wrapped each in a bit of 

 newspaper, and packed them loosely in a covered 

 bamboo basket. They travelled with me from Kandy 

 to Colombo by rail, crossed the channel to Tuticorin on 

 the igth, and travelled all the way by the South India 

 Railway, Madras, G. I. P. and E. I. Railways to 

 Etawah, where I reached on January ist. On opening 

 the basket, I found only one spoilt. All the others 

 were either turning or had turned yellow. I kept 

 them till January 2oth unpacked, when I took them 

 out of their papers, and all had turned of a yellow- 

 orange colour, and only one more had spoilt in the 

 meantime. All the rest (twenty-two) were sound, and 

 of a nice flavour, and juicy. I sent some to Mr. 

 Ridley, Lucknow, who found them also very nice. It 

 would appear, therefore, that the green orange has no 



* For the probable origin of the true mandarin in Ceylon, see 

 Chapter VI., on "The keonla and mandarin Group." 



t Rumphius, however, mentions a similar orange which is eaten 

 while green. 



M 2 



