Evening star., 1898-09-03
MANG0ES IN CUBA.
Why Our Soldiers in the Island werc
Forbidden to Eat Them.


From the Boston Evening Transcript
In the long list OF suggestions from the
medical department, all of which were dis
regarded. the ripe mango was recommend
ed as desirable article OF diet But some
body at headquarters issued an edict
against 1t. and the soldiers were called up
by the company commanders and told that
If they ate the fruit they would be pun
ished This is the way the company COM
manders addressed their men:
Now, L see that some of you have been
eating those mangoes in spite OF our ad-
vice TO the contrary. Do you know what
the Cubans call this fruit? They cal it
Gen Mango, because they say that ths
mango has killed more Spanish soldiers
than all of their generals put together. II
you eat IL Gen. Mango will kill YOU Just as
1t has killed the Spaniards. I am told on
good authority that IL YOU eat a mango
every day and then get yellow fever you
viii swell up frightfully and surely die
Now, l give you this positive order that
not one Of you shall eat any of this fruit,
and l shall punish severely any man thai
disobeys the order"
After such an order the obedient regu-
lars generally let the mangoes alone ale
though they were abundant. tempting and
delicious The volunteers 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 generally
said: 1T is perfectly wholesome IL eaten
ripe: all these bad things apply TO the ur-
ripe mango. which is sometimes eaten by
the Spaniards." Most Of the army doctors
seemed to think that the only way to pre-
vent the eating of the unripe mango WAS
to prohibit the fruit altogether There were
many cases in which even the most obe-
dent regulars Were impelled by thirst and
by the hunger for bit of fruit to disobey
the order: and, as the clear yellow mango
is ALWAYS riDp. while the nnriDe fruit
green greenish, IL did not take a very
high order of intelligence to discriminate
between the fruit which was fit to eat and
that which was unfit
1t was certainly hard to believe any I'll
of a mango when one looks at it, The tree
itself is most beautiful and attractive
IL irg. Imagine a tree large as a big
Massachusetts oak, covered with rich and
glossy foliage finer than that Of the orange
tree. and covered also with golden fruit
nesting brilliantly among the green leaves
On such a tree there must often be hun
dred barrels Of mangoes. fully matured.
every one of which is large as a good
sized pear. In shape the margo is not un-
like a short and thick cucumber. and IL
has thin. tough skin which. when ma
tured. reveals a mass OF the most delicious
juicy pulp. The only trouble about eating
the mango is that one needs ablution
afterward. Some say that the ideal way Is
to get into bathtub. take the mango. eat
ii. and then go on with the bath. But one
is perfectly willing to take the trouble .
seek the ablution for the sake of the fruit
And imagine the trees which bear the fruit
growing wild everywhere and also spring
ing up in every garden and dooryard: the
largest and finest ones were away Up on
wild mountain side, where apparently no
one had ever gathered the abounding
fruit Nor are they native fruit in Cuba:
they have been introduced from India and
simply gene wild in the rich soil OF the is-
land.