REMINISCENCES OF A VOYAGE TO AND FROM CHINA. 
145 
it dry. This they bartered with the seamen for a ragged handkerchief 
or an old knife. 
We arrived at IVIalacca on the 24th of October, 1^93, a considerable 
town on the Malaya shore; it was then in possession of the Dutch, 
who had a pretty strong citadel, and a small body of troops. There is 
but very little ground, except the glacis of the fort, cleared, and there¬ 
fore the woods near the town are very grand. We were on shore several 
days, and lived at a very respectable hotel, kept by a magnanimous 
Dutchman, whose steward spoke pretty good English. This man was 
our guide into the gardens and fruit and vegetable markets of the 
place; and we were delighted with every thing we saw, especially the 
fruits, many of which we had not hitherto seen. Luckily, we were at 
this place when many of the fruits were in perfection, and, at the same 
time, many of the plants in flower. Among the latter, the TEscliyno- 
mene grandiflora is in every garden ; the flowers are large, and dis¬ 
posed along the young shoots, from which they hang. They are 
perhaps the largest of all papilionaceous flowers; the standard projects 
over the other parts an inch and a half in length, and is of a fine purple 
colour ; the wings pale pink, rather spear-shaped, and bending inwards ; 
the keel large, and variegated with yellow, pink, and purple ; stamens 
long, bent like the keel; anthers yellow ; pods somewhat jointed. This 
fine plant shoots up very quickly, but never becomes a very large tree. 
Among many other trees seen in the environs of Malacca, the Michelia 
cliampacci is one of the most conspicuous ; it grows to a large size, and 
was, at the time of our visit, profusely covered with yellow flowers. 
Besides the indigenous plants, some of the settlers have many others in 
their gardens from other parts of India and the South-Sea Islands, 
The bread-fruit was here in great perfection, but, in our estimation, 
not near so good to eat as their yams, ( Dioscoreci ,) nor yet as a British 
frosted potato, the flavour of which it very much resembles. Their 
other fruits are, however, excellent ; for, besides those mentioned as 
common at Madras, they have the incomparable Mangosteen ( Gar- 
ciiiia inangostana ) in great plenty. This fruit resembles a large 
pomegranate, having both calyx and star-shaped stigma persisting. The 
outside shell is of a dark purple colour, enclosing a delicious trans¬ 
parent pulp, surrounding the seeds. Besides the super-excellence of 
the fruit, the tree and foliage are beautiful. The growth is decus¬ 
sate, and forms a handsome middle-sized tree, of a bluntly conical 
outline. 
We purchased four other sorts of fruit in the market, but did not see 
the plants which produced them, the sellers having brought them from 
VOL. V.—NO. LVIII. U 
