CHAPTER XXIV 



GENERAL REVIEW OF CULTIVATION continued 

 MALAY ARCHIPELAGO 



RUMPF, or Rumphius (1627-1702), Governor of Amboyna, 

 and author of the " Herbarium Amboynense " (6 vols. 

 folio, Amsterdam, 1741-1755), drew up very careful de- 

 tailed descriptions of the kinds known to him ; some of 

 these are as follows (pisang being the Malay word for 

 banana or plantain) : 



Pisang tando (horn-like) : the whole bunch has generally 

 only two or three hands ; if the cluster is reduced to a 

 single fruit, the latter becomes exceptionally large. 



Pisang djernang (needle banana) : the fruit is short, 

 three -angled, and terminating in a long snout, which is 

 crowned with a thread-like appendage (the style), hence 

 the name. The skin adheres to the reddish pulp, which 

 glitters like silver when transversely broken. The bunch 

 is 7 ft. long with 17 hands. 



Pisang medji, the dessert banana (M. mensaria Rumph.), 

 is "the best of all bananas " ; the fruit is 4 to 6 in. long ; 

 the pulp is soft, sweet, and scented as if with rose-water. 



Pisang raja (M. regia Rumph.) is similar to the preceding, 

 but smaller, hardly the length of a finger and an inch thick, 

 smooth, with a thinner skin, and sweeter and more delicious. 



Pisang tonkat langit (M. troglodytarum L.) has the bunch 

 growing straight upwards. The fruits are small and 

 plump, of a red colour with black stripes ; the pulp is 

 golden yellow ; the seeds are few, embedded lengthwise, 

 brown and flat. The cone of male flowers is green, some- 

 times a foot long. 



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