The Malay archipelago : the land of the orang-utan ... - Wallace Online

—v.] BORNEO—JOURNEY IN THE INTERIOR. 57others. The old traveller Linschott, writing in 1.599, says :" It is of such an excellent taste that it surpasses in flavour allthe other fruits of the world, according to those who have tastedit." And :— Doctor Paludanus adds "This fruit is of a hot andhumid nature. To those not used to it, it seems at first to smelllike rotten onions, but immediately they have tasted it theyprefer it to all other food. The natives give it honourable titles,exalt it, and make verses on it." When brought into a house thesmell is often so offensive that some persons can never bear totaste it. This was my own case when I first tried it in Malacca,but in Borneo I found a ripe fruit on the ground, and, eating itout of doors, I at once became a confirmed Durian eater.The Durian grows on a large and lofty forest tree, somewhatresembling an elm in its general character, but with a moresmooth and scaly bark. The fruit is round or slightly oval,about the size of a large cocoanut, of a green colour, and coveredall over with short stout spines, the bases of which touch eachother, and are consequently somewhat hexagonal, while thepoints are very strong and sharp. It is so completely armed,that if the stalk is broken off it is a difficult matter to lift onefrom the ground. The outer rind is so thick and tough, thatfrom whatever height it may fall it is never broken. From thebase to the apex five very faint lines may be traced, over whichthe spines arch a little ; these are the sutures of the carpels, andshow where the fruit may be divided with a heavy knife and astrong hand. The five cells are satiny white within, and areeach filled with an oval mass of cream-coloured pulp, imbeddedin which are two or three seeds about the size of chestnuts.This pulp is the eatable part, and its consistence and flavour areindescribable. A rich butter-like custard highly flavoured withalmonds gives the best general idea of it, but intermingled withit come wafts of flavour that call to mind cream-cheese, onionsauce,brown sherry, and other incongruities. Then there is arich glutinous smoothness in the pulp which nothing elsepossesses, but whicli adds to its delicacy. It is neither acid, norsweet, nor juicy, yet one feels the want of none of these qualities,for it is perfect as it is. It produces no nausea or other badeffect, and the more you eat of it the less you feel inclined tostop. In fact to eat Dui'ians is a new sensation, worth a voyageto the East to experience.When the fruit is ripe it falls of itself, and the only way to eatDurians in perfection is to get them as they fall ; and the smellis then less overpowering. When unripe, it makes a very goodvegetable if cooked, and it is also eaten by the Dyaks raw._Ina good fruit season large quantities are preserved salted, in jarsand bamboos, and kept the year round, when it acquires a mostdisgusting odour to Europeans, but the Dyaks appreciate ithighly as a relish with their rice. There are in the forest twovarieties of wild Durians with much smaller fruits, one of themorange-coloured inside ; and these are probably the origin of