The age-herald., 1898-08-31
FRUITS OF
 THE PHILIPPINES

| fifty varieties of banana in the Philippines twelve different kinds easily growing in one locality. To have eaten them on one of the islands Is an experience worth re- membering as the taste of the freshly plucked fruit is not unlike best con- captions of ambrosia. The natives have a legend that the banana was the original bread of Eden, the forbidden fruit, and that first mothers first aprons were made from the leaves of the banana tree. The mango Is the favorite fruit of the islands, and although far inferior to our peach 1t is one of the most fascinating of the native fruits, and much esteemed by visitors when they have acquired a taste for 1t. dozen mangoes a day is not con- sidered much of a gastronomic feat when the fruit is in it's prime. The art of cut ting one open without getting the pulp hopelessly involved with the fibre requires a patience worthy of a better cause, but it repays with delicious morsel of juicy sweetness.
 The mango tree is a superb specimen, growing to majestic heights, with a dark green, glossy foliage that is much admired. In order to hasten the maturity of the fruit the natives treat the tree in a heroic way They cut great gashes in its sides and build slow fires under it's branches for the pury pose of smoking the half-ripe fruit. The mango is ready to pick early in March, all though it looks anything but inviting. As soon as 1t is handled it turns yellow and is ready for eating.
 Among the larger fruits for which the American colonizer will be grateful is the cocoanut the fruit of the graceful palm trees which shade some of the islands like | a protecting forest Nature herself has provided a goblet from which to drink the cool sweet milk, but it is only the native who can drink 1t properly, the European smearing his countenance with the fluid while the grateful streams which should assuage his thirst trickle down the back of his neck. The drink is very refreshing when properly quaffed, and no matter how high the temperature the milk is always cool.
 Another popular edible is the durien, fruit that is covered on the outside with thorny spikes, and which possesses most atrocious odor. The durien tree only bears fruit every twenty years, therefore it is highly prized but more vicious fruit does not exist. It would seem as if it had only been created to tantaize the unwary trav- eler, who, when peering into the tree, is saluted by sharp, sudden blow on the head as if a pistol ball had hit him. A ripe durien has dropped, and its thorny side gave the salute. Next 1t bursts open in three sections like a baked apple, and the odor, which is unspeakable, assails him. But if he overcome his repug- nance and taste of the contrary specimen he will find it lucious in the extreme.
 Pineapples are so plenty that there is no native market for them, but they are ex- ported in great quantities. The flavor is combination of our strawberries and peaches, with an aronia that is. borrowed from the fragrance of the ylang-ylang flowers. the perfume tree growing there in great abundance. Apart from it's value as a fruit the pineapple fiber furnishes cloth which our American women will vel come entirely new fabric. It is cal- ed pima, and is of such fine quality as to rival the wonderful India muslin, a single dress of pima costing as much as ss0). On account of this fbrous property the pines of the Philippines are not delicate eat ing as those of Cuba, which are without any woody quality. The natives consider them dangerous on this account, and let them alone, much to the satisfaction of visitors.
 The malolo is a perfume fruit, the size of large peach, and it's color is a bright red but these charms of sight and smell must suffice. It has no distinctive taste.
 Then come the shaddocks, familiar to in the windows of our fruit stores, and eaten freely by our people in the south m cities, where the slight bitterness of the fruit is highly esteemed as a tonic and for anti-maarial properties.
 Ripe guavas are plentiful in their season in the islands, but more familiar with the guava jelly, which was so gladly received by our ancestors of several gen. erations past, when the grocer did not sup ply with jellies and preserves for the long winter months, and the luxury of one of those little round boxes with it's sticky but excellent compound was most welcome to the sick room. In the British Amzric1n colonies and provinces when there was lit- tie commerce with the United States every body was dependent on the importations from the East Indies and the West Indies, through the British possessions there. Porto Rico molasses, Jamaica rum, these were staple Pineapples, guava jelly, and the delicious tamarind water, which was the drink of every convalescent came from the East Indies. If you inquire now in some old-fashioned drug store fir tama- rinds the druggist will scrape up some of the brown sweet preserved beans, and without apology for their age ask what countryman you are. Our neighbors of the dominion can give us points on the Philip pines.
 Papaws known to us in our own southern attitudes. but not such sweet lus- cious fellows as those with the pink flesh grown in Las Filipinas, which is said to contain enough pepsin to build up the weakest of digestive organs.
 Life in the Philippines is full of excite- ment. If the newcomer elects to eat of the fruits in that garden of Eden let him mot forget that the snake in its most charm ing guise is watching for intrudes. Troops of monkeys disport in the branches overhead, flying squirrels are numerous, and a textile lizard skins the air in close and startling proximity. Parrots chatter in their native lingo, gold f1ecks the soil where stones have lain undisturbed, and every phase of nature is prodgal of promises for a rich future for an American colony.