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replaced by obtuse rounded wart-like projections. Other com- 

 mon fruits are the dark rusty-brown sawa Manila (Achras 

 Sapota), the nanas or pineapple, the dark-purple, spherical 

 mangosteen {Garcinia mangostana) , the dull-green, heav^^ 

 thorny durian {Durio zibethinus) , the yellow-green duka {Lan- 

 sium domesticum) , the mango {Mangifera indica) in many varie- 

 ties, and a score of less important species. The tourist, especially 

 if he is of a botanical turn of mind, samples all of these, and 

 invariably selects the mangosteen as the choicest one of the lot. 

 The fruit is the size of a small orange, and has an interior simi- 

 larly divided into five to seven segments. The rind is thick, 

 red within, with a yellow milky juice, and unpleasant to taste. 

 Some of the segments bear a single large seed, but in most of 

 them the seeds are abortive. The taste seems to unite something 

 of the flavors of pineapple, strawberry, and peach. 



The natives themselves appear to relish the durian next to the 

 rambutan. In fact, the chief reason for the popularity of the 

 latter is probably its cheapness, since one can purchase a bunch 

 of twenty for less than a penny of American money, while a single 

 durian costs two cents. The durian fruit is the size of a large 

 grape-fruit, somewhat ellipsoidal in shape, and densely covered 

 with extremely stout and sharp conical thorns. Considering 

 that a single fruit weighs two pounds or more, and grows on a 

 tall tree, one can understand that there might be serious con- 

 sequences if a fruit should fall from a tree on some unlucky 

 passer-by. Near the railway station a huge durian tree, loaded 

 with fruit, overhung the street, and we never passed under it 

 without a little apprehension. 



Inside the heavy outer rind, a durian contains five compart- 

 ments, each with a single seed embedded in a white pulpy aril. 

 Five natives generally club together to purchase and eat a 

 durian, and such groups are frequently seen squatting at the 

 roadside. They seem to relish it for its food value rather than 

 its flavor, which has been both praised and maligned by travel- 

 lers. Its notorious and unsavory odor is not very apparent in a 

 single specimen, but a pile of a hundred or so, in front of a toko 

 for sale, may be apprehended by the nostrils from a considerable 



