The Bābur-nāma in English (Memoirs of Bābur)
filbert-like stones[1850] which, on the whole, resemble dates, but are
round, not long, and have softer substance; these are eaten. The
jack-fruit is very adhesive; for this reason people are said to oil
mouth and hands before eating of it. It is heard of also as growing, not
only on the branches of its tree, but on trunk and root too.[1851] One
would say that the tree was all hung round with haggises.[1852]
The monkey-jack (H. _badhal_, B. _burhul_, _Artocarpus lacoocha_) is
another. The fruit may be of the size of a quince (var. apple). Its
smell is not bad.[1853] Unripe it is a singularly tasteless and
empty[1854] thing; when ripe, it is not so bad. It ripens soft, can be
pulled to pieces and eaten anywhere, tastes very much like a rotten
quince, and has an excellent little austere flavour.
The lote-fruit (Sans. _ber_, _Zizyphus jujuba_) is another. Its Persian
name is understood to be _kanār_.[1855] It is of several kinds: of one
the fruit is larger than the plum (_ālūcha_)[1856]; another is shaped
like the Ḥusainī grape. Most of them are not very good; we saw one in
Bāndīr (Gūālīār) that was really good. The lote-tree sheds its leaves
under the Signs _S̤aur_ and _Jauzā_ (Bull and Twins), burgeons under
_Saraṯān_ and _Asad_ (Crab and Lion) which are the true
rainy-season,—then becoming fresh and green, and it ripens its fruit
under _Dalū_ and _Ḥaut_ (Bucket _i.e._ Aquarius, and Fish).
The (Sans.) _karaūndā_ (_Carissa carandas_, the corinda) is another. It
grows in bushes after the fashion of the (T.) _chīka_ of our
country.[1857] but the _chīka_ grows on mountains, the _karaūndā_ on the
[Sidenote: Fol. 284b.] plains. In flavour it is like the rhubarb
itself,[1858] but is sweeter and less juicy.
The (Sans.) _pānīyālā_ (_Flacourtia cataphracta_)[1859] is another. It
is larger than the plum (_ālūcha_) and like the red-apple unripe.[1860]
It is a little austere and is good. The tree is taller than the
pomegranate's; its leaf is like that of the almond-tree but smaller.
The (H.) _gūlar_ (_Ficus glomerata_, the clustered fig)[1861] is
another. The fruit grows out of the tree-trunk, resembles the fig (P.
_anjīr_), but is singularly tasteless.
The (Sans.) _āmlā_ (_Phyllanthus emblica_, the myrobalan-tree) is
another. This also is a five-sided fruit.[1862] It looks like the
unblown cotton-pod. It is an astringent and ill-flavoured thing, but
confiture made of it is not bad. It is a wholesome fruit. Its tree is of
excellent form and has very minute leaves.
The (H.) _chirūnjī_ (_Buchanania latifolia_)[1863] is another. This tree
had been understood to grow in the hills, but I knew later about it,
because there were three or four clumps of it in our gardens. It is much
like the _mahuwā_. Its kernel is not bad, a thing between the walnut and
the almond, not bad! rather smaller than the pistachio and round; people
put it in custards (P. _pālūda_) and sweetmeats (Ar. _ḥalwa_).
The date-palm (P. _khurmā_, _Phœnix dactylifera_) is another. This is
not peculiar to Hindūstān, but is here described because it is not in
those countries (Tramontana). It grows in Lamghān also.[1864] Its
branches (_i.e._ leaves) grow from just one place at its top; its leaves
(_i.e._ leaflets) grow on both sides of the branches (midribs) from neck
(_būīn_) to tip; its trunk is rough and ill-coloured; [Sidenote: Fol.
285.] its fruit is like a bunch of grapes, but much larger. People say
that the date-palm amongst vegetables resembles an animal in two
respects: one is that, as, if an animal's head be cut off, its life is
taken, so it is with the date-palm, if its head is cut off, it dries
off; the other is that, as the offspring of animals is not produced
without the male, so too with the date-palm, it gives no good fruit
unless a branch of the male-tree be brought into touch with the
female-tree. The truth of this last matter is not known (to me). The
above-mentioned head of the date-palm is called its cheese. The tree so
grows that where its leaves come out is cheese-white, the leaves
becoming green as they lengthen. This white part, the so-called cheese,
is tolerable eating, not bad, much like the walnut. People make a wound
in the cheese, and into this wound insert a leaf(let), in such a way
that all liquid flowing from the wound runs down it.[1865] The tip of
the leaflet is set over the mouth of a pot suspended to the tree in such
a way that it collects whatever liquor is yielded by the wound. This
liquor is rather pleasant if drunk at once; if drunk after two or three
days, people say it is quite exhilarating (_kaifīyat_). Once when I had
gone to visit Bārī,[1866] and made an [Sidenote: Fol. 285b.] excursion
to the villages on the bank of the Chaṃbal-river, we met in with people
collecting this date-liquor in the valley-bottom. A good deal was drunk;
no hilarity was felt; much must be drunk, seemingly, to produce a little
cheer.
The coco-nut palm (P. _nārgīl_, _Cocos nucifera_) is another. An `Arab
gives it Arabic form[1867] and says _nārjīl_; Hindūstān people say
_nālīr_, seemingly by popular error.[1868] Its fruit is the Hindī-nut
from which black spoons (_qarā qāshūq_) are made and the larger ones of
which serve for guitar-bodies. The coco-palm has general resemblance to
the date-palm, but has more, and more glistening leaves. Like the
walnut, the coco-nut has a green outer husk; but its husk is of fibre on
fibre. All ropes for ships and boats and also cord for sewing boat-seams
are heard of as made from these husks. The nut, when stripped of its
husk, near one end shews a triangle of hollows, two of which are solid,
the third a nothing (_būsh_), easily pierced. Before the kernel forms,
there is fluid inside; people pierce the soft hollow and drink this; it
tastes like date-palm cheese in solution, and is not bad.
The (Sans.) _tāṛ_ (_Borassus flabelliformis_, the Palmyra-palm) is
another. Its branches (_i.e._ leaves) also are quite at its top. Just as
[Sidenote: Fol. 286.] with the date-palm, people hang a pot on it, take
its juice and drink it. They call this liquor _tāṛī_;[1869] it is said
to be more exhilarating than date liquor. For about a yard along its
branches (_i.e._ leaf-stems)[1870] there are no leaves; above this, at
the tip of the branch (stem), 30 or 40 open out like the spread palm of
the hand, all from one place. These leaves approach a yard in length.
People often write Hindī characters on them after the fashion of account
rolls (_daftar yūsūnlūq_).
The orange (Ar. _nāranj_, _Citrus aurantium_) and orange-like fruits are
others of Hindūstān.[1871] Oranges grow well in the Lamghānāt, Bajaur
and Sawād. The Lamghānāt one is smallish, has a navel,[1872] is very
agreeable, fragile and juicy. It is not at all like the orange of
Khurāsān and those parts, being so fragile that many spoil before
reaching Kābul from the Lamghānāt which may be 13-14 _yīghāch_ (65-70
miles), while the Astarābād orange, by reason of its thick skin and
scant juice, carries with [Sidenote: Fol. 286b.] less damage from there
to Samarkand, some 270-280 _yīghāch_.[1873] The Bajaur orange is about
as large as a quince, very juicy and more acid than other oranges.
Khwāja Kalān once said to me, "We counted the oranges gathered from a
single tree of this sort in Bajaur and it mounted up to 7,000." It had
been always in my mind that the word _nāranj_ was an Arabic form;[1874]
it would seem to be really so, since every-one in Bajaur and Sawād says
(P.) _nārang_.[1875]
The lime (B. _līmū_, _C. acida_) is another. It is very plentiful, about
the size of a hen's egg, and of the same shape. If a person poisoned
drink the water in which its fibres have been boiled, danger is
averted.[1876]
The citron (P. _turunj_,[1877] _C. medica_) is another of the fruits
resembling the orange. Bajaurīs and Sawādīs call it _bālang_ and hence
give the name _bālang-marabbā_ to its marmalade (_marabbā_) confiture.
In Hindūstān people call the _turunj bajaurī_.[1878] There are two kinds
of _turunj_: one is sweet, flavourless and nauseating, of no use for
eating but with peel that may be good for marmalade; it has the same
sickening sweetness as the Lamghānāt _turunj_; the other, that of
Hindūstān and Bajaur, is acid, quite deliciously acid, and makes
excellent sherbet, well-flavoured, and wholesome drinking. Its size may
be that of the Khusrawī melon; it has a thick skin, wrinkled and uneven,
with one end thinner and beaked. It is of a deeper yellow than the
orange (_nāranj_). Its tree has no trunk, is rather low, grows in
bushes, and has a larger [Sidenote: Fol. 287.] leaf than the orange.
The _sangtāra_[1879] is another fruit resembling the orange (_nāranj_).
It is like the citron (_turunj_) in colour and form, but has both ends
of its skin level;[1880] also it is not rough and is somewhat the
smaller fruit. Its tree is large, as large as the apricot (_aūrūq_),
with a leaf like the orange's. It is a deliciously acid fruit, making a
very pleasant and wholesome sherbet. Like the lime it is a powerful
stomachic, but not weakening like the orange (_nāranj_).
The large lime which they call (H.) _gal-gal_[1881] in Hindūstān is
another fruit resembling the orange. It has the shape of a goose's egg,
but unlike that egg, does not taper to the ends. Its skin is smooth like
the _sangtāra's_; it is remarkably juicy.
The (H.) _jānbīrī_ lime[1882] is another orange-like fruit. It is
orange-shaped and, though yellow, not orange-yellow. It smells like the
citron (_turunj_); it too is deliciously acid.
The (Sans.) _sadā-fal_ (_phal_)[1883] is another orange-like fruit. This
is pear-shaped, colours like the quince, ripens sweet, but not to the
sickly-sweetness of the orange (_nāranj_).
The _amrd-fal_ (sic. Ḥai. MS.—Sans. _amrit-phal_)[1884] is another
orange-like fruit.
The lemon (H. _karnā_, _C. limonum_) is another fruit resembling the
orange (_nāranj_); it may be as large as the _gal-gal_ and is also acid.
The (Sans.) _amal-bīd_[1885] is another fruit resembling the orange.
After three years (in Hindūstān), it was first seen to-day.[1886] They
say a needle melts away if put inside it,[1887] either from its acidity
[Sidenote: Fol. 287b.] or some other property. It is as acid, perhaps,
as the citron and lemon (_turunj_ and _līmū_).[1888]
(_m. Vegetable products of Hindūstān:—Flowers._)
In Hindūstān there is great variety of flowers. One is the (D.) _jāsūn_
(_Hibiscus rosa sinensis_), which some Hindūstānīs call (Hindī)
_gaẕhal_.[1889] *It is not a grass (_giyāh_); its tree (is in stems like
the bush of the red-rose; it) is rather taller than the bush of the
red-rose.[1890]* The flower of the _jāsūn_ is fuller in colour than that
of the pomegranate, and may be of the size of the red-rose, but, the
red-rose, when its bud has grown, opens simply, whereas, when the
_jāsūn_-bud opens, a stem on which other petals grow, is seen like a
heart amongst its expanded petals. Though the two are parts of the one
flower, yet the outcome of the lengthening and thinning of that
stem-like heart of the first-opened petals gives the semblance of two
flowers.[1891] It is not a common matter. The beautifully coloured
flowers look very well on the tree, but they do not last long; they
fade in just one day. The _jāsūn_ blossoms very well through the four
months of the rains; it seems indeed to flower all through the year;
with this profusion, however, it gives no perfume.
The (H.) _kanīr_ (_Nerium odorum_, the oleander)[1892] is another. It
grows both red and white. Like the peach-flower, it is five petalled. It
is like the peach-bloom (in colour?), but opens 14 or 15 flowers from
one place, so that seen from a distance, they look like one great
flower. The oleander-bush is taller than the rose-bush. The red oleander