The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1898-12-17
MANcoEs IN CUBA.
Why Our Soldiers In the Island Were
Forbidden to Eat the Fruit.

Why Our Soldiers In the Island Were
Forbidden to Eat the Fruit.
In the long list of suggestions from
the medical department, all of which
were disregarded, the ripe mango
was recommended as an article of diet.
But somebody at headquarters issued
an edict against it and the soldiers
were called up by the company COM
manders and told that if they ate the
fruit they would be punished. This
is the way the company commanders
addressed their men.
'Now, I see that some of you have
been eating those mangoes in spite
of our advice to the contrary. Do
you know what the Cubans call this
fruit? They call it General Mango
because they say that the mango has
killed more Spanish soldiers than all
their generals put together. If you
eat it Gen. Mango will kill you, just as
it has killed the Spaniards. 1 am told
on good authority that if you eat
mango every day and then get yellow
fever you will swell up frightfully and
surely die. Now. give You this posi-
tive order, that not one of you shall
eat any of this fruit, and I shall pun
ish severely any man that disobeys
the order.
After such an order the obedient
regulars generally let the mangoes
alone, although they were abundant,
tempting and delicious The volun-
teers ate them more freely without
any bad result so far as heard from.
When the Cuban officers and aides
were asked their opinion as to the
wholesomeness of the fruit they gen.
orally said /: SIT is perfectly whole
some if eaten ripe I; all these bad
things apply to the unripe mango,
which is sometimes eaten by the
Spaniards. Most of the army doc
tors seemed to think that the only
way to prevent the eating of the un-
ripe mango was to prohibit the fruit
altogether. There were many cases
in which even the most obedient regu-
lars were impelled by thirst and by
hunger for bit of fruit to disobey
the order and, as the clear, yellow
mango is always ripe, while the un-
ripe fruit is green or greenish, it did
not take very high order of intelli-
gence to discriminate between the
fruit which was fit to eat and that
which was unfit.
1t is certainly hard to believe any
i'll of mango when one looks at 1t.
The tree itself is most beautiful and
attractive thing. Imagine tree as
large as big Massachusetts oak, COW
cred with rich and glossy foliage finer
than that of the orange tree. and COW
cred also with golden fruit nesting
brilliantly among the green leaves.
On such tree there must often be a
hundred barrels of mangoes, fully
| matured, every one of which is as
large as a good-sized pear. In shape
the mango is not unlike the short and
thick cucumber, and it has thin,
tough skin, which, when matured,
reveals mass of the most delicious
juicy pulp. The only trouble about
eating the mango is that one needs an
ablution afterwards. Some say that
the ideal way is to get into bathtub,
take the mango, eat it, and then go
on with the bath. But one is perfect
ly willing to take the trouble to seek
the ablution for the sake of the fruit.
And imagine the trees which bear the
fruit growing wild everywhere, and
also springing up in every garden and
dooryard the largest and finest ones
| were always up on wild mountain
side, where apparently no one had
ever gathered the Astounding fruit.
Nor are they a native fruit in Cuba.
They have been introduced from In
dia and simply gone wild in the rich
soil Of the island.-Boston Trans.
script.