110 Sketch of the Tropical Fruits likely to be worth 



it tasteth like a Melon, sometimes like a Peach, and some- 

 what pleasanter, (but in taste it is most like unto a Peach), 

 sometimes like an honey-comb, sometimes like a Citron."* 



The Lameh (Lansium domesticum), grows upon rather a lofty 

 tree, with pinnated, oblong, alternate, pointed leaves. The 

 flowers are greenish, in clustered racemes, and are succeeded 

 by bunches of oval yellowish fruit the size of a pigeon's egg. 

 Being deprived of its thin outer coat it divides into five cloves, 

 of which the kernels are covered with a fleshy semi-trans- 

 parent pulp of a sub-acid agreeable taste. It is known when 

 the fruit is perfectly ripe by a few black spots appearing on 

 its surface and by its yielding to the pressure of the fingers.+ 

 The skin contains a clammy milky juice, extremely bitter, 

 and, if not stripped with care, apt to communicate its quality 

 to the pulp. Chupak, Ayer-Ayer, and Rambe are said to be 

 species or varieties of it ;J but, if we may judge from Mr. 

 Marsden's figure, in his History of Sumatra, plate 8, and 

 from drawings in the possession of the Society, the latter can 

 scarcely belong to the same genus as the Lanseh, nor even to 

 the same natural order. There is also a sort called Dukuh, 

 which is round, not oblong, and much superior to the others, 

 indeed next to the Mangustin and Durian is esteemed by the 

 natives the finest of their fruits. Europeans consider it the 

 second in rank of all the indigenous fruits.|| A figure of the 

 true Lanseh on a reduced scale, is given by Mr. Marsden in 

 his ffistwy of Sumatra, plate 7. 



Several species of Jambu are cultivated for the sake of their 



* Van Linschoten, chapter 50. 



t Rumphius, Vol. i. page 157. \ Marsden, page 101. 



!| Barrow, Cochinchina, page 186. Crawfurd, Vol. i. page 432, 



