CHAP. II. DESSERT FRUITS. 179 



ordinary way. These halves will soon unite, and form one 

 plant, which eventually will throw up a stem bearing two kinds 

 of fruit. 



Plantains were growing at Ferozepore when I resided there ; 

 but there is little probability of obtaining good fruit from them 

 so far north, as the frost cuts down the plants in the Cold 

 season, and they only recover themselves, so as to begin to 

 bear fruit, when the Cold season comes round again, and they 

 are unable to mature it. 



Musa sapientum. 



Of this the varieties cultivated in the vicinity of Calcutta 

 are : 



1. Chumpa: This, in my estimation, is decidedly the finest 

 of all the Plantains, rivalling in lusciousness and delicacy of 

 flavour the most delicious Pear. 



The plant is easily recognised by the pervading tinge of red 

 on the stem, and more particularly by the redness of the great 

 central rib of the leaf, both on the upper and under side. The 

 fruit is about six inches long, ripens of a pale straw colour, and 

 is not fit to be eaten till it can be removed from the bunch 

 without the slightest effort. 



2. Cheenee Chumpa: differs only from the preceding in being 

 a much smaller fruit not much larger than a man's thumb. It 

 is borne in large, densely compact bunches. 



3. Martaban : also a very delicious fruit ; in flavour con- 

 sidered by some as equal to the Chumpa, which in size and 

 colour it much resembles. The plant is known by the rib of 

 the leaf being devoid of red both above and below, and by its 

 rim, particularly at the base, having a slight border of reddish- 

 brown, which becomes larger and more prominent upon the 

 sharp upper edges of the footstalk. 



4. Daccae, or Daccde-Martaban, as sometimes called by the 

 natives, possesses a flavour surpassingly rich and luscious, and 

 quite distinct from that of the preceding. 



The plant bears a strong resemblance to the Martaban, but is 

 at once distinguished from it by the red border upon the upper 

 edges of the footstalk being three times as broad ; as well as, 

 more especially, by the large quantity of lime-like powder 

 coating the stem and under-side of the leaves. The fruit is 



N 2 



