120 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. [PART I. 



as it is prudent to raise without inviting the visits of 

 wild elephants, with whom they are especial favourites. 

 These, and the Bilimbi and Guava, the latter of which 

 is naturalised in the jungle round every cottage, are 

 almost the only fruits of the country ; but the Pine- 

 apple, the Mango, the Avocado-pear, the Custard-apple, 

 the Eambutan (Nephelium lappaceum), the Fig, the 

 Granadilla, and a number of other exotics, are suc- 

 cessfully reared by the wealthier inhabitants of the 

 towns and villages ; and within the last few years the 

 peerless Mangosteen of Malacca, the delicacy of which 

 we can imagine to resemble that of perfumed snow, 

 has been successfully cultivated in the gardens of Caltura 

 and Colombo. 



With the exception of the orange, the fruits of 

 Ceylon have one deficiency, common, I apprehend, 

 to all tropical countries. They are wanting in that 

 piquancy which in northern climates is attributable to 

 the exquisite perfection in which the sweet and aromatic 

 flavours are blended with the acidulous. Either the 

 acid is so ascendant as to be repulsive to the European 

 palate, or the saccharine so preponderates as to render 

 Singhalese fruit cloying and distasteful. 



Still, all other defects are compensated by the 

 coolness which pervades them ; and, under the ex- 

 haustion of a blazing sun, no more exquisite physical 

 enjoyment can be imagined than the chill and fragrant 

 flesh of the pine-apple, or the abundant juice of the 

 mango, which, when freshly pulled, feels as cold as iced 

 water. But the fruit must be eaten instantly ; even an 

 interval of a few minutes after it has been gathered is 

 sufficient to destroy the charm ; for, once severed from 

 the stern, it rapidly acquires the temperature of the 

 surrounding air. 



Sufficient admiration has hardly been bestowed upon 

 the marvellous power thus displayed by the vegetable 

 world in adjusting its temperature, notwithstanding at- 

 mospheric fluctuations, a faculty in the manifestation 



