in] ORIGIN OF CULTIVATED FRUITS 



custard-apple (Anona reticulata), both of which grow to perfection 

 in Sarawak. 



Of bananas there are many varieties ; pineapples are also always 

 to be seen in the market, where, in its season, they also bring for 

 sale the gigantic fruit of the Jack-tree (Artocarpus integri folia). 



The coconut palm is found everywhere, but the larvae of an 

 insect pest (Rhynchophorus ferrugineus) damage it greatly at Kuch- 

 ing. There are some plantations in a more nourishing condition on 

 the sandy beaches of the small islands off the coast, but most of 

 the coconuts used in Sarawak are imported from the Natuna Islands. 



The Areca catechu, or "pinang," is perhaps in strict parlance 

 not a fruit-tree, because its nuts are not eaten, but merely chewed, 

 as all know. It is to the Malay what the camel is to the Arab : it 

 has followed him in all his wanderings. It may be safely asserted 

 that there is not a Malay hut near which at least one of these 

 most elegant of palms is not seen growing (Fig. 9). Like the 

 mangosteen, it belongs to that series of cultivated plants whose 

 origin is a mystery. 1 But there can be no doubt that the habit of 

 chewing it, together with sot, or betel leaves, and lime, has spread 

 from tropical Asia to the Indian Archipelago, and thence eastwards 

 across Melanesia to Polynesia. In Borneo the pinang nuts have a 

 part in various rites and ceremonies of the Malays and Dyaks. The 

 areca palm itself has often inspired the poetic sentiments of Malay 

 writers, and its flowers are much appreciated by the women for their 

 fragrance. Amongst the Lingga Dyaks and the Balu the marriage 

 ceremony is preceded by that called " Bla Pinang,'" which means 

 the division of areca nuts. 



To grow to perfection the pinang requires a rich, somewhat damp 

 soil, moist atmosphere, and a perennial high temperature. Its foliage 

 is always a fresh green, for when a frond is old its immense leaf- 

 sheath splits all down and falls, carrying the frond with it. The 

 tree, therefore, never shows any dried or withered part, but is always 

 in fine condition ; its slender, elegant trunk, straight and smooth 



1 The fruit of the areca does not stand in need of human protection, for 

 it does not appear to be eaten by animals. Nevertheless, the tree is not found 

 in a wild state. But although its fruit is not sought after as food, its heart 

 or " cabbage " is so excellent, besides being totally unprotected by spines, 

 that in the forest it would probably soon be devoured, and the death of 

 the palm ensue. Its existence may thus be said indirectly to depend on 

 human protection. Among all the wild species of areca found in the East 

 Indies, the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo, the Philippines, etc., that which 

 in its botanic character is closest to the domestic form is the Areca concinna 

 of Ceylon. This would seem to indicate that the native country of the pinang 

 must have once been that area which connected Ceylon and the Malay penin- 

 sula ; a region of which the Andaman and Nicobar islands may be considered 

 the last remnants. The same may be said for the durian and mangosteen, 

 both of which may also have had their origin on lands now submerged. 



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