88 MANUAL OF TROPICAL AND SUBTROPICAL FRUITS 



other ways stimulated the cultivation of fruit-trees through- 

 out northern India. Abu-1 Fazl-i-'Allami, author of the Ain 

 (translated by Blochmann), writes : 



" The Persians call this fruit Naghzak, as appears from a verse of 

 Khusrau. This fruit is unrivalled in color, smell, and taste ; and some 

 of the gourmands of Turan and Iran place it above muskmelons and 

 grapes. In shape it resembles an apricot, or a quince, or a pear, or a 

 melon, and weighs even one ser and upwards. There are green, yellow, 

 red, variegated, sweet and subacid mangos. The tree looks well, 

 especially when young ; it is larger than a nut tree, and its leaves re- 

 semble those of a willow, but are larger. The new leaves appear soon 

 after the fall of the old ones in the autumn, and look green and yellow, 

 orange, peach-colored, and bright red. The flower, which opens in 

 the spring, resembles that of the vine, has a good smell, and looks very 

 curious. . . . The fruit is generally taken down when unripe, and 

 kept in a particular manner. Mangos ripened in this manner are 

 much finer. They commence mostly to ripen during summer and are 

 fit to be eaten during the rains ; others commence in the rainy season 

 and are ripe in the beginning of winter ; the latter are called Bhadiyyah. 

 Some trees bloom and yield fruit the whole year; but this is rare. 

 Others commence to ripen, although they look unripe ; they must be 

 quickly taken down, else the sweetness would produce worms. Mangos 

 are to be found everywhere in India, especially in Bengal, Gujrat, 

 Malwah, Khandesh, and the Dekhan. They are rarer in the Panjab, 

 where their cultivation has, however, increased since his Majesty made 

 Lahor his capital. A young tree will bear fruit after four years. They 

 also put milk and treacle around the tree, which makes the fruits 

 sweeter. Some trees yield in one year a rich harvest, and less in the 

 next; others yield for one year no fruit at all. . . ." 



The name mango, by which this fruit is known to English- 

 speaking as well as Spanish-speaking peoples, is derived from 

 the Portuguese manga. According to Yule and Burnell, the 

 Tamil name man-kay or man-gay is the original of the word, 

 the Portuguese having formed manga from this when they settled 

 in western India. Skeat traces the origin of the name to the 

 Malayan manga, but other writers consider the latter to have 

 been introduced into the Malay Archipelago from India. The 

 name mango is used in German and Italian, while the Dutch 

 have adopted manga or mangga, and the French form is mangue. 



