35 



Musa troglodytarum of Moon ("nawari kesel" of the Singhalese) 

 is said to be wild in the mountains of Kandy, although not mentioned 

 by subsequent writers. Of this there are said to be three cultivated 

 sorts, nawari-kesel sudu (white), nawari-kesel kalu (black), and 

 nawari-kesel tis (thirty). The wild plant is nawari-kesel aeta. 



Thwaites mentions only one wild species in Ceylon, his " wal-kaikel 

 gas " {Musa sapientum), and he adds this is the species from which 

 have originated the numerous varieties of sweet plantains in the island. 

 Kurz remarks : " There seems to be something wrong in this statement, 

 considering that Moon has eight wild kinds, of which one (his M. 

 troglodytarum) should have an erect spadix." 



Sawers {Mem. Wern. Soc, iv., 403), refers to the wild species of 

 plantain found in the mountains of Ceylon as follows : — " It was on 

 the sides of these rugged hills that we first saw the plantain-tree in a 

 state of nature. When uncultivated the fruit of this plant is com- 

 paratively small. It contains a great many seeds and has but little 

 pulpy matter." 



Indian Archipelago. 



The Philippines and the Indian Archipelago are regarded as the 

 richest regions in bananas. Blanco's researches were chiefly confined 

 to those of the Philippine islands. He divides them into two classes, 

 the first containing thick-skinned bananas and the second thin-skinned 

 bananas. He mentions that there were 57 varieties known in the 

 islands, and he enumerates and names 18 of them. The most esteemed 

 sort is saba-bisco, with a fruit 3 inches long by 1 thick, 3-5 angular. 

 The lacatan has the fruits crowned with the persistent corolla. One 

 of the most esteemed is a large one with a sweet pulp, called the 

 bungulan. One variety, called by Blanco Musa paraduiaca ulnaris, 

 is thus described :— " Those that have seen and eaten the fruit say it is 

 as thick as the human thigh and a yard long and bears seeds. If 

 cooked it resembles in taste that of the tandok. The Negritoes say 

 the raceme produces but one fruit." Blanco is careful to add that he 

 himself does not believe in the existence of such a fruit. 



In Lucon, Nee observed 27 varieties of bananas, but he has not given 

 their names nor any remarks upon them. 



Rumph appears to have known more about bananas than any one. He 

 has given an accurate description of the plants, and he divided them into 

 three groups, as follows : — (1) The cultivated or domesticated bananas ; 

 (2) the Alphurian bananas, with leaves on the rachis ; and (3) the 

 wild bananas. His detailed descriptions of the varieties are very care- 

 fully drawn up. Some of the kinds enumerated by him are as follows : — 



Pi sang tando (horn-like). No doubt similar to the one called 

 tanduk or tandok at the present time. If the cluster is reduced to a 

 single fruit, the latter becomes exceptionally large. The whole bunch 

 or spadix has usually only two or three clusters. Pisang gabba-gabba 

 is smaller than the preceding, becoming \vhite in ripening. It has the 

 driest pith of all, which is like the spongy pith of the Sago palm, called 

 " gabba-gabba." 



Pisang djernang (needle banana). The fruit is short, nearly trigonous 

 and terminating in a long snout, which is crowned with a thread-like 

 appendage (the marcescent style), hence the name. The skin adheres 

 to the reddish pulp, which glitters like sugar when transversely broken. 

 It is said " to bear racemes 7 feet long with 17 clusters." 



23099 C 2 



