Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-01-02
MANGoEs.

The mango looks outside something like
a large rosy apple, only it is rather COM
pressed laterally so as to form a slightly
almond-shaped fruit instead of round one.
Inside is a very big stone, occupying fully
half the entire fruit and it is the firm,
stringy pulp outside the stone which is
used for the table. You cut off slice
with steel knife-dessert knives are not
sharp enough ON each fiattened side,
parallel to the long axis Of the stone and
then you Scope out the succulent part
with spoon, leaving the rind uneaten.
Out of each mango you thus manage to
get about two good mouthfuls. Mangoes,
indeed, must not be eaten in any cheese
pairing spirit, but must be dealt with mag
unanimously and expansively, as the ideal
Tory Chancellor of the Exchequer is sup
posed to deal with the public funds. Some
people, it is true, cut off the short ends
ana corners after eating the sides, and
SO get their moneys worth out OF the
fruit /; but this course is not to be
recommended. 1t must be admitted
that even at best mango is rather
stringy, and the hbrss In these harder
parts are very apt to get into the teeth.
Indeed, it is a difficult fruit TO eat in any
way, owing to the extreme frmness OF its
flesh and people Of experience do say that
the best plan IS frankly to become saw
age-to sit over a tub of water and tear
your mango to pieces with your teeth.
Certainly it is naturally uncivilized COM
estible, and one very hard to manage in a
respectable European fashion, with knife
and spoon. Nevertheless, the favor is ex-
cellent, in spite of some slight tinge of tur-
pentine, and TIA taste grows upon all old
tropical stagers to a remarkable degree. It
need hardly be said that mango forms the
"physical basis of all ehutnees. those in
dispensable saycrs Of life to every returned
East Indian. If ever the mango is to be-
come familiar fruit in England it must be
of course by importation from Madeira,
where they are now largely cultivated, or
from the West Indies, where they have
long since run practically wild. The
best variety in Jamaica is that known
as No. ii, about which curious legend
ID told ship coming from India with
samples OF Indian fruits for acclimatization
got wrecked somewhere near Morant Point.
A box of numbered mango seeds was
washed ashore !; they were snwn and raised,
and the one marked No. II proved to be
the best, so No. II has been its recognized
title ever since. 1t Is particularly green
variety, very different in color from the
beautiful and varied pink, yellow and
orange of the commoner kinds. The mango
tree now grows wild all over the Blue
Mountain range, and showers down its
lovely fruits broadcast on the ground. It
has broad, stately, spreading boughs, and
thick green foliage, through which the
golden mangoes CLEAN like Virgil's mistle-
toe, and make one Of the prettiest pictures
one could wish to zee. They are poor,
tough, fibrous things to eat, however, far
inferior to the cultivated No. ii /; yet the
worse class of town negroes, lazzaroni of
the genuine careless Southern sort, come
out by hundreds during the mango season
and lie under the trees day and night, eat
ing the ripe fruit as it drops from the
branches, in true Carlylese fashion = Pal
Mall Gazette.