250 Appendix. 



but in course of time it ripens and becomes sweet."* " In 

 Bengal there are two other fruits which have an acid flavour, 

 though they are not of equal excellence with the amratph&l\ 

 The one is called kamilah, and grows to the size of an 

 orange (ntiranf) ; many hold it to be the larger lemon 

 (naraug), but it is much pleasanter than the lemon. It has 

 not an elegant appearance or shape. The other is the 

 sdmtere'/i, and is larger than the orange, but it is not sour, 

 and is not so tasteless as the amratphal, nor is it very sweet 

 either. Indeed, there is no pleasanter fruit than the sam- 

 tereJi. It is a very fine shape, pleasant, and wholesome fruit. 

 No person thinks of any other fruit, or has a longing for any 

 other, where he can find it. The peel may be taken off by 

 the hand, and however many you eat you are not surfeited, 

 but desire more. It does not dirty the hands by its juice. 

 Its peel is easily separated from its pulp,| It may be eaten 

 after food. This samtereh is seldom met with. It is found 

 in Bengal at one village called Senargam, and even in 

 Senargam it is found in the greatest perfection only in one 

 place. In general, among this class of fruits, there is no 

 species so pleasant as the samtereh; nor, indeed, is there 

 among any other." 



With reference to these two oranges the following occurs 

 in a footnote : " The kamilah and samtereh are the real 

 oranges (koungla and sangtereJi), which are now (about 1826) 

 common all over India. Dr. Hunter conjectures that the 

 'sangtereh' may take its name 'from Cintra, in Portugal. 

 This early mention of it by Baber and Humayun, may be 

 considered as subversive of the supposition. "|| 



* Humayun must have mistaken an unripe kalan-kagkzi for an 

 amritphal. The latter is acidless from beginning to end. (See sweet 

 lemon, and kalan-kaghxi!) 



t Even to this day the sweet lemon is a universal favourite among 

 natives. 



J There can hardly be any doubt that Humayun was describing the 

 siintara of modern times. It does not appear that the sengtereh 

 of Baber, and the samtereh of Humayun are one and the same 

 thing, although the latter word may be only a corruption of the former. 



Even in modern times, natives think the siintara the best 

 orange of India. 



|| This notion about the siintara orange being the Cintra orange 

 of Portugal has got into many books, but, as I have shown, it is the least 

 likely solution to the derivation of siintara, or sungtara. 



