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 working 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
inflammation which might otherwise take place. A Dyak chief
informed me that he had been struck down by a Durian falling on
his head, which he thought would certainly have caused his death,
yet he recovered in a very short time.
Poets and moralists, judging from our English trees and fruits,
have thought that small fruits always grew on lofty trees, so
that their fall should be harmless to man, while the large ones
trailed on the ground.
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