A History of Agriculture in India v2.c61.s1: Description of the Trees of India and Their Fruits
A History of Agriculture in India v2.c61.s1
- Language
- English
Description of the Trees of India and Their Fruits
v2.c61.s1.1
‘The first town we entered was the city of Abuhar,’ states Ibn Battuta, ‘which is the first of these lands of Hind, a small but pretty place with a large population, and with flowing streams and trees. There are not to be found in India any trees of our country except the lote-tree (*Zizyphus lotus*), but there it is of great girth and its fruit is about as large as a gall nut, and very sweet. They have many trees none of which are to be found either in our country or elsewhere.
v2.c61.s1.2
‘One of them is the ’anbah (mango; from Hindi *amb*). It is a tree which resembles orange trees but is larger in size and more leafy. The shade which it gives is the densest of any, but it is oppressive and if one sleeps beneath it he becomes enervated. Its fruit is of the size of a large pear. When the fruit is green and not yet fully ripe the people gather those of them that fall, put salt on them and pickle them as limes and lemons are pickled in our country. The Indians pickle also green ginger and clusters of pepper, which they eat with meat dishes, taking after each mouthful a little of these pickled fruits. When the mango ripens in the season of autumn rains its fruit becomes yellow and then they eat it like apples, some people cutting it with a knife while others simply suck it. The fruit is sweet, with a little acidity mingled with its sweetness, and has a large stone which they plant, like orange pips and other fruit stones, and the trees sprout from them.
v2.c61.s1.3
‘Then there are the *shaki* and the *barki*—the jack-tree (*Artocarpus heterophyllus*). These are trees of great age with leaves like those of the walnut, and their fruits come out from the trunk of the tree itself. Those of them that are next to the ground are the *barki* and those higher up are the shaki. The former are sweeter and better-flavoured; the latter resemble large gourds and have a skin like ox-hide. When it yellows in the season of autumn they gather it and split it in half; inside each fruit there are from one to two hundred pods resembling cucumbers, between each of which there is a thin yellow skin. Each pod has a kernel resembling a large bean and when these kernels are roasted or boiled they taste like beans, and take the place of them, since beans are not to be found in that country. They store up these kernels in red earth and they keep until the next year. This shaki and barki is the best fruit in India.
v2.c61.s1.4
‘Another is the tandu (Diospyros melanoxylon), the fruit of the ebony trees, of about the size and colour of an apricot and very sweet.
v2.c61.s1.5
‘Then there is the jamun (Syzygium cumini), whose trees are of great age, and whose fruit resembles an olive; it is black in colour and has a single stone like the olive.
v2.c61.s1.6
‘Also the sweet orange, which is very plentiful in their country, but the bitter orange is seldom found; there is a third kind between sweet and bitter, about the size of a lime, which has an excellent flavour and I used to enjoy eating it.
v2.c61.s1.7
‘Another species is the mahua (Madhuca indica), long-lived trees, with leaves like those of the walnut except that there is red and yellow in them. Its fruit resembles a small pear and is very sweet. At the top of each fruit there is a smaller fruit of the size of a grape, but hollow; its taste is like that of grapes, but eating too many of them gives a splitting headache. A surprising thing is that when these fruits are dried in the sun they taste just like figs, and I used to eat them in place of figs, which are not to be found in India. They call this small fruit angur which in their language means grapes.
v2.c61.s1.8
‘Grapes themselves are very rare in India and are to be had only in certain districts, in the capital Dehli.
v2.c61.s1.9
‘The mahua bears fruit twice a year and from its kernels they make oil, which they use for lamps.
v2.c61.s1.10
‘Another of their fruits is one which they call kasira (kaseru; Scirpu grossus; syn. S. kysoor) and which they dig out of the ground; it is very sweet and resembles a chestnut. India has of the fruits of our country the pomegranate, which bears fruit twice a year. I have seen some in the islands of Dhiba al-Mahal which bore fruit continuously. The Indians call it anar. At Daulatabad, grapes and pomegranates were grown, and at Sagar on the Narmada, there were orchards of fruit-trees, and the lands were irrigated by water-wheels.