224 Oranges and Lemons of India. 



Sanskrit, both by Mr. Growse and Prof. Cowell of 

 Cambridge. 



Many insist that suntara or suntra is no other 

 than Cintra, a town in Portugal, noted for oranges, 

 and that the Portuguese introduced this type of orange 

 into India from there, and that the suntra orange is 

 no other than the orange of Cintra. Of all explana- 

 tions, this is the least likely, for the following 

 reasons : 



(a.) The orange of Cintra is the Portugal orange 

 (C. aurantium sinense, Gall.), with a close-fitting skin. 

 Of this orange there are now many varieties in the 

 English shops, viz., the oranges from Brazil, Florida, 

 St. Michael's, Valencia, Denia, Jaffa, Malta, and others 

 of the same type. While the Suntara orange is a 

 totally different thing (A. sinense, Rumph.). I have 

 seen none of this type in the English shops. It is 

 loose-skinned, and the nearest approach to this type 

 is the mandarin orange (called Tangerine in the 

 English shops). 



(b.) If the suntara orange had been introduced into 

 India by the Portuguese, it would be reasonable to 

 expect that its cultivation would be now more exten- 

 sive towards the coasts of India than in the interior, 

 while it is just the opposite. On the slopes of the 

 N.E. hills, from Kumaon to Khasia, the suntara 

 orange is semi-wild ; and, about 300 years ago, in the 

 time of Humayoon, it had only reached one village 

 of Bengal, Senargam. Humayoon calls it samtereh, 

 and no doubt it is the same orange he wrote of. 



Colonel Yule in his Glossary says that " Abulfeda 

 as early as the beginning of the I4th century extolled 

 the fruit of Cintra," although it is not quite certain 

 that he meant the orange. Renaud's version says, 

 " pommes admirables pour la grosseur et le gout." 



