Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
about the size of a large cocoanut, of a green colour, and covered all over with short stout
spines the bases of which touch each other, and are consequently somewhat hexagonal,
while the points are very strong and sharp. It is so completely armed, that if the stalk is
broken off it is a difficult matter to lift one from the ground. The outer rind is so thick and
tough, that from whatever height it may fall it is never broken. From the base to the apex
five very faint lines may be traced, over which the spines arch a little; these are the sutures
of the carpels, and show where the fruit may be divided with a heavy knife and a strong
hand. The five cells are satiny white within, and are each filled with an oval mass of cream-
coloured pulp, imbedded in which are two or three seeds about the size of chestnuts. This
pulp is the eatable part, and its consistence and flavour are indescribable. A rich butter-like
custard highly flavoured with almonds gives the best general idea of it, but intermingled
with it come wafts of flavour that call to mind cream-cheese, onion-sauce, brown sherry,
and other incongruities. Then there is a rich glutinous smoothness in the pulp which nothing
else possesses, but which adds to its delicacy. It is neither acid, nor sweet, 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 bad effect, and the more you eat of it the less you feel inclined to stop. In fact to eat
Durians is a new sensation, worth a voyage to the East to experience.
When the fruit is ripe it falls of itself, and the only way to eat Durians in perfection is to
get them as they fall; and the smell is then less overpowering. When unripe, it makes a very
good vegetable if cooked, and it is also eaten by the Dyaks raw. In a good fruit season large
quantities are preserved salted, in jars and bamboos, and kept the year round, when it ac-
quires a most disgusting odour to Europeans, but the Dyaks appreciate it highly as a relish
with their rice. There are in the forest two varieties of wild Durians with much smaller
fruits, one of them orange-coloured inside; and these are probably the origin of the large and
fine Durians, which are never found wild. It would not, perhaps, be correct to say that the
Durian is the best of all fruits, because it cannot supply the place of the subacid juicy kinds,
such as the orange, grape, mango, and mangosteen, whose refreshing and cooling qualities
are so wholesome and grateful; but as producing a food of the most exquisite flavour it is
unsurpassed. If I had to fix on two only, as representing the perfection of the two classes, I
should certainly choose the Durian and the Orange as the king and queen of fruits.
The Durian is, however, sometimes dangerous. When the fruit begins to ripen it falls
daily and almost hourly, and accidents not unfrequently happen to persons walking or work-
ing under the trees. When a Durian strikes a man in its fall, it produces a dreadful wound,
the strong spines tearing open the flesh, while the blow itself is very heavy; but from this
very circumstance death rarely ensues, the copious effusion of blood preventing the inflam-
