The Memoirs of Bābur 932.11
The Bābur-nāma in English (A. S. Beveridge) 932.11
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932.11.1
The water-hog (P. _khūk-ābī_, _Platanista gangetica_, the porpoise) is another. This also is in all Hindūstān rivers. It comes up suddenly out of the water; its head appears and disappears; it [Sidenote: Fol. 282.] dives again and stays below, shewing its tail. Its snout is as long as the _siyāh-sār's_ and it has the same rows of small teeth. Its head and the rest of its body are fish-like. When at play in the water, it looks like a water-carrier's bag (_mashak_). Water-hogs, playing in the Sarū, leap right out of the water; like fish, they never leave it. Again there is the _kalah_ (or _galah_)-fish [_bāligh_].[1823] Two bones each about 3 inches (_aīlīk_) long, come out in a line with its ears; these it shakes when taken, producing an extraordinary noise, whence, seemingly, people have called it _kalah_ [or _galah_]. The flesh of Hindūstān fishes is very savoury; they have no odour (_aīd_) or tiresomeness.[1824] They are surprisingly active. On one occasion when people coming, had flung a net across a stream, leaving its two edges half a yard above the water, most fish passed by leaping a yard above it. In many rivers are little fish which fling themselves a yard or more out of the water if there be harsh [Sidenote: Fol. 282b.] noise or sound of feet. The frogs of Hindūstān, though otherwise like those others (Tramontane), run 6 or 7 yards on the face of the water.[1825] (_l. Vegetable products of Hindūstān: Fruits._)
932.11.2
The mango (P. _anbah_) is one of the fruits peculiar to Hindūstān. Hindūstānīs pronounce the _b_ in its name as though no vowel followed it (_i.e._ Sans. _anb_);[1826] this being awkward to utter, some people call the fruit [P.] _naghzak_[1827] as Khwāja Khusrau does:— _Naghzak-i mā_ [var. _khẉash_] _naghz-kun-i būstān, Naghztarīn mewa_ [var. _na`mat_]_-i-Hindūstān_.[1828] Mangoes when good, are very good, but, many as are eaten, few are first-rate. They are usually plucked unripe and ripened in the house. Unripe, they make excellent condiments (_qātīq_), are good also preserved in syrup.[1829] Taking it altogether, the mango is the best fruit of Hindūstān. Some so praise it as to give it preference over all fruits except the musk-melon (T. _qāwūn_), but such praise outmatches it. It resembles the _kārdī_ peach.[1830] It ripens in the rains. It is eaten in two ways: one is to squeeze it to a pulp, make a hole in it, and suck out the juice,—the other, to peel and eat it like the _kārdī_ peach. Its tree grows very large[1831] and has a leaf somewhat resembling the peach-tree's. The trunk is ill-looking and ill-shaped, but in Bengāl and Gujrāt is heard of as growing handsome (_khūb_).[1832]
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The plantain (Sans. _kelā_, _Musa sapientum_) is another.[1833] An [Sidenote: Fol. 283.] `Arab calls it _mauz_.[1834] Its tree is not very tall, indeed is not to be called a tree, since it is something between a grass and a tree. Its leaf is a little like that of the _amān-qarā_[1835] but grows about 2 yards (_qārī_) long and nearly one broad. Out of the middle of its leaves rises, heart-like, a bud which resembles a sheep's heart. As each leaf (petal) of this bud expands, there grows at its base a row of 6 or 7 flowers which become the plantains. These flowers become visible with the lengthening of the heart-like shoot and the opening of the petals of the bud. The tree is understood to flower once only.[1836] The fruit has two pleasant qualities, one that it peels easily, the other that it has neither stone nor fibre.[1837] It is rather longer and thinner than the egg-plant (P. _bādanjān_; _Solanum melongena_). It is not very sweet; the Bengāl plantain (_i.e._ _chīnī-champa_) is, however, said to be very sweet. The plantain is a very good-looking tree, its broad, broad, leaves of beautiful green having an excellent appearance.
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The _anblī_ (H. _imlī_, _Tamarindus indica_, the tamarind) is another. By this name (_anblī_) people call the _khurmā-i-hind_ (Indian date-tree).[1838] It has finely-cut leaves (leaflets), precisely like those of the (T.) _būīā_, except that they are not so finely-cut.[1839] It is a very good-looking tree, giving dense shade. It grows wild in masses too. The (Beng.) _mahuwā_ (_Bassia latifolia_) is another.[1840] People call it also (P.) _gul-chikān_ (or _chigān_, distilling-flower). This also is a very large tree. Most of the wood in the houses of Hindūstānīs [Sidenote: Fol. 283b.] is from it. Spirit (_`araq_) is distilled from its flowers,[1841] not only so, but they are dried and eaten like raisins, and from them thus dried, spirit is also extracted. The dried flowers taste just like _kishmish_;[1842] they have an ill-flavour. The flowers are not bad in their natural state[1843]; they are eatable. The _mahuwā_ grows wild also. Its fruit is tasteless, has rather a large seed with a thin husk, and from this seed, again,[1844] oil is extracted. The mimusops (Sans. _khirnī_, _Mimusops kauki_) is another. Its tree, though not very large, is not small. The fruit is yellow and thinner than the red jujube (T. _chīkdā_, _Elæagnus angustifolia_). It has just the grape's flavour, but a rather bad after-taste; it is not bad, however, and is eatable. The husk of its stone is thin.
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The (Sans.) _jāman_ (_Eugenia jambolana_)[1845] is another. Its leaf, except for being thicker and greener, is quite like the willow's (T. _tāl_). The tree does not want for beauty. Its fruit is like a black grape, is sourish, and not very good. The (H.) _kamrak_ (Beng. _kamrunga_, _Averrhoa carambola_) is another. Its fruit is five-sided, about as large as the _`ain-ālū_[1846] and some 3 inches long. It ripens to yellow; gathered unripe, it is very bitter; gathered ripe, its bitterness has become sub-acid, not bad, not wanting in pleasantness.[1847] The jack-fruit (H. _kadhil_, B. _kanthal_, _Artocarpus integrifolia_) is another.[1848] This is a fruit of singular form and flavour; it looks [Sidenote: Fol. 284.] like a sheep's stomach stuffed and made into a haggis (_gīpa_);[1849] and it is sickeningly-sweet. Inside it are 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]
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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.
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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;
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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.
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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.