CHAP. TT. DESSERT FKUITS. 199 



little old wood as possible besides the main stem, and a few pieces 

 (about two or three feet of each) of the old branches, should be 

 retained ; for all that is to be trained to bear in each year ought 

 to be the growth of two years' standing. "* 



STERCULIACE.E. 

 Adansonia digitata. 



BAOBAB MONKE Y-BKEA D. 



Bildetee Imlee. 



In Senegal, its native locality, this grows to become one ot 

 the largest trees in existence ; but the trunk, even in small trees, 

 has an inflated, gouty appearance, suggestive of its bulkiness 

 being rather the result of disease than of natural, healthy growth. 



The fruit is of about the size and form of an ostrich egg, with 

 a rind similar in texture and colour to that of a tamarind pod. 

 An agreeable sherbet is said to be made from it, which indeed 

 seems the principal purpose for which it is used. 



There are two or three large trees in the Calcutta Botanical 

 Gardens, but the fruit they bear is small and indifferent, no 

 larger than a hen's egg. The village of Nalcha, near the cele- 

 brated old city of Mandoo, in the Deccan, is famous for the 

 number of trees that grow there. They are rarely met with in 

 other localities on this side of India. 



Durio zibethinus. 



DUEIAN CIVET-CAT FRUIT. 



A large forest-tree, growing to the height of eighty feet, is 

 a native of Malay, and thrives well in Burmah and the Straits. 



The fruit is described as being of about the size of a man's 

 head, within which is the seed, with its edible enveloping pulp 

 of about the size of a hen's egg. The pulp is said to be pure 

 white, resembling blanc-mange, and as delicious in taste as the 

 finest cream. The bulk of the fruit, however, in which this 

 creamy pulp is enclosed is described as intolerably offensive, 

 having the smell of putrid animal substance, or rotten Onions. 

 The seeds, when roasted, are said to have the flavour of Chestnuts. 



* Sabine, in * Hort. Trans.' 



