تحفة النظار في غرايب الامصار وعجايب الاسفار 10.9.3

10.9.3

Among them are the shakī and the barkī, with a over the dotted sh and i under the k, and a over the single-dotted b and i under the k as well. They are tall trees with leaves like walnut leaves, and their fruit grows out of the base of the tree: what touches the ground is the barkī, whose sweetness is greater and taste finer, and what is above that is the shakī. Its fruit resembles large gourds, and its rind resembles cowhide. When it turns yellow in the autumn season they cut it off and split it open, and inside each fruit there are a hundred or two hundred or somewhere in between of pods resembling cucumbers, with a yellow membrane between each pod and the next. Each pod has a stone resembling a large bean, and when that stone is roasted or cooked its taste is like the taste of beans, for [beans] are not found there. They store these stones in red earth and they keep until the following year. This shakī and barkī is the best fruit in the land of Hind.