ches in diameter, with a smooth green exterior,
not unlike that of a water-melon; the fruit is pink in colour, and
easily breaks up into sections. It tastes like a very dry and rather
acid orange, and the peel makes an excellent bitter in sherry. The
rambutan resembles a horse-chestnut in size and appearance, except that
its shaggy exterior is red instead of green. The duku and mangosteen, on
the other hand, are smooth and green, and in other respects resemble a
walnut. All three, rambutan, duku, and mangosteen, provide a gelatinous
substance with a delicate acid flavour. The durian is as large as a
cocoa-nut, and its exterior is armed with spikes; the fruit is soft and
pulpy, tasting like a custard in flavour, but it has a horrible smell,
and possesses strong laxative qualities. Mr. Wallace devotes several
pages to a description of its various qualities, remarking that "to eat
durians is a new sensation, worth a voyage to the East to experience."
_Credat Judaeus non ego._ There is also a species of green orange, with a
very thin skin and fine acid flavour, to be obtained in Java.

A general view of the products of the island has already been given in
Junghuhn's table in Chapter II., and some of the more important have
been subsequently described at length. Any account of the plants of Java
would, however, be incomplete without a narrative of the introduction of
cinchona into the East Indies.

This plant, from the bark of which quinine is obtained, is a native of
Peru, and for a long time the Peruvian Government jealously maintained
exclusive possession of it. Forty years ago, the Dutch Colonial
Government despatched Haskarl, one of the officials of the Buitenzorg
gardens, to Peru for the purpose of procuring cinchona seed. He
succeeded in obtaining some seed of a very inferior quality, and the
plantations produced from it were practically useless. In 1866, however,
both the British and Dutch Indian Governments purchased small
quantities of seed from Mr. Charles Ledger. From this seed the very
valuable plantations of Java and Ceylon have been propagated. I have
already described the method of cultivating _Cinchona Ledgeriana_
adopted by the planters, and how advantage is taken of the extreme
liability of the cinchona plant to hybridization. The manner in which
the seed was secured forms an interesting episode in the history of
scientific botany. The story is told by Mr. Ledger in a letter to his
brother published in th