As it pleased God, he got
off and threw himself into a village that was hard by, called CONOSALMI.
Howbeit he lost his whole company except seven persons who escaped along
with him. The rest were caught, and some of them sold, some put to
death.[NOTE 5]
NOTE 1. - Ramusio has "Adam's apple" for apples of Paradise. This was some
kind of Citrus, though Lindley thinks it impossible to say precisely
what. According to Jacques de Vitry it was a beautiful fruit of the Citron
kind, in which the bite of human teeth was plainly discernible. (Note to
Vulgar Errors, II. 211; Bongars, I. 1099.) Mr. Abbott speaks of this
tract as "the districts (of Kerman) lying towards the South, which are
termed the Ghermseer or Hot Region, where the temperature of winter
resembles that of a charming spring, and where the palm, orange, and
lemon-tree flourish." (MS. Report; see also J. R. G. S. XXV. 56.)
["Marco Polo's apples of Paradise are more probably the fruits of the
Konar tree. There are no plantains in that part of the country. Turtle
doves, now as then, are plentiful, and as they are seldom shot, and are
said by the people to be unwholesome food, we can understand Marco Polo's
saying that the people do not eat them." (Houtum-Schindler, l.c. pp.
492-493.) - H. C.]
The Francolin here spoken of is, as Major Smith tells me, the Darraj of
the Persians, the Black Partridge of English sportsmen, sometimes called
the Red-legged Francolin.
