ACCOUNT OF JAVA AND BATAVIA.

170

up with ginger, pimento, and other fpicy ingredients, after which it is pickled invinegar, and is fent to all parts, as prefents, or otherwife.

The mango-tanges, or mangofteen *, is efteemed the moft delicious fruit that isproduced in the Indies. It is generally of the fize of an apple, and refembles a pome-granate in appearance, only it is larger and thicker, and its coat is not fo tough. Thefruit, when {tripped of the outward rind, appears like a little apple of a fnow-white hue,eompofed of fix or feven lobes, of the fize of a joint of a finger, having a black {tonein the infide ; they are very foft and juicy, and their flavour is fo delightfully refrefh-ing that it is indefcribable. The tafte feemed to me to approach the neareft to that ofthe peach, but it is rather more mellow to the tafte. The tree which produces itis about the fize of a common plum-tree. I met with people who allured me, theyhad been cured of a dyfentery of long {landing, by eating large quantities of thisfruit; though others were of opinion that it produced a contrary effe£b. The rindhas aftrong aftringent power, and might perhaps be ufed as a dye, for a fine deep redcolour j.

Lemon J and lime-trees are here likewife in great plenty. There is alfo a certainfruit called katappa §, which is like our walnuts, but better tailed. It grows upon ahigh tree, which affords an agreeable {hade, and is inclofed in a green hufk in which itlies in rolls, and is as white as milk.

Pineapples J| are produced in large quantities, and are therefore little efteemed at Ba-tavia ; they are generally fold for the value of a ftiver (penny) a piece, and fomedmesfor lefs.

Befides thefe, there are many other kinds of fruit produced upon the ifland, whichare too numerous for me to mention hereof.

The

* Garcinia manganofta. + The Chinefe ufe the rind of the mangofteen for dying black. Tr.

+ Citrus medica. § Terminalia catappa. II Bromeha ananas.

« The fruits moft worthy of remark, befides the above, are the following •. the pifang or Bananasfmufa paradifiaca) ofwhich there are feveral forts, the beft, pifang radja, is a delicious and wholefome fruit,with a thin coat, and an inner pulpy part, which is fweetilh, and fomewhat mealy ; H is eaten both raw,and dreffed in various ways. The jamboo (eugenia malaccenfis), which is of a deep red colour, and ovalfhape • the largeft are not bigger than a fmall apple; it is pleafant and cooling, though it has not muchflavour. The lamboo eyer-mauer (eugenia jambos), which, both fmells and taites luce conlerve of rofes.The papaya (carica papaya), which is as large as a fmall melon, and the yellow pulp within, has nearlythe fame tafte. The fweetfop (annona fquamofa), which confilts of a inafs of large kernels, from whichthe furrounding pulp, which is very fweet, and of a mealy nature, is fucked. The cuftard-apple (annonaret'cubital which derives its Englifli name from the likenefs which its white and rich pulp bears to a cuftard.The rambutan (nephelium leppaceum), which grows in large clufters. and very much refembles a chefnut,with the hufk on ; the eatable part is fmall in quantity, but its acid is rich and pleafant, and perhapsmore agreeable than any other in the whole vegetable kingdom The bilimbing (averrhoa bel.mb), thebilimbing beffe (averrhoa carambola), and the chenmelle (averrhoa acida), wh,ch are three fpecies of one«-enus, and though they differ in fhape, are nearly the fame in tafte ; the firft is oblong, of the thicknefs of afirnrer and fo four, that it cannot be eaten alone ; the bilimbing beffe, is an egg-like pentagonal fruit,about’the fize of a pear, and is the leaf! acid of the three; the laft is extremely acid, and of a fmallroundifh irregular fhape, growing in clufters clofe to the branch, and containing each a (ingle feed ;thev all make excellent pickles, and four fauce. The guava (plidium) which is well known m the Weft'Indies The boa bidarra (rhamnus jujuba) which is a round yellow fruit, about the fixe of a goofebevry ;its flavour is like that of an apple, but it has the aftringency of a crab. The nam-nam (cynometra cau-lifinral which in fhape fomewhat refembles a kidney; it is about three inches long, and the outfide is veryrough ’ it is feldom eaten raw. The funtul (trichilia) which, within a thick fern, contains kernels likethofe of the mangofteen, but which are both acid and aftringent. 1 he madja (hmom) which contains,under a hard brittle (hell, a lightly acid pulp which cannot be eaten without fugar. The falac (calamusrotang zalacca ), which is the fruit of a prietdy bufh, and has a Angular appearance, being covered withleaks 8 like thofe of a lizard ; it is nutritious and well tailed, m flavour fomewhat refemblinga ftrawben-r.