68 
SCENES IN INDIA. 
various convulsions from their parent masses, before 
we could attain the foot of the fall. At last it sud- 
denly opened upon us, but though much higher than 
Puppanassum, it was greatly inferior to it in subli- 
mity. Although nearly twice as high, it was so much 
narrower as to appear by comparison but a mere 
cascade. It is named Gungavapetta. 
In this neighbourhood the artocarpus, or bread- 
fruit tree, is very abundant, and grows to an enor- 
mous size. The fruit of this tree hangs on the boughs 
like apples. It undergoes the process of baking before 
it is eaten. Captain Cook observes, that among the 
natives of Otaheite and the neighbouring islands, 
where it grows in prodigious quantities, “ it not only 
serves as a substitute for bread, but also, variously 
dressed, composes the principal part of their food. It 
grows upon a tree about the size of a middling oak, 
the leaves of which are frequently a foot and a half 
long, of an oblong shape, deeply situated like those of 
the fig-tree, which they very much resemble in colour 
and consistence, and in exuding a milky juice upon 
being broken. The fruit is about the size and shape 
of a new-born child’s head, and the surface is reti- 
culated not much unlike a truffie : it is covered with 
a thin skin, and has a core about as big as the handle 
of a small knife. The eatable part lies between the 
skin and the core. It is as white as snow, and some- 
what of the consistence of new bread. It must be 
roasted before it is eaten, being first divided into three 
or four parts. Its taste is insipid, with a slight sweet- 
ness, somewhat resembling that of the crumb of 
wheaten bread mixed with a Jerusalem artichoke.” 
