DURIO ZIBETHINUS. Lime.
Du yeen, : . BURSI. I Dorian, . . . . ENC.
Du yeen yning, . „ Turrien, Sfax.
The durian is a large and lofty tree of the 3Ialay Peninsula, the Eastern Archipelago, and the Moluccas. The flowers are arranged in clusters on the trunk and older branches, where is also borne the fruit, as in the jack tree. It is of the size of a melon, covered with sharp points ; when ripe, the outer skin opens spon taneously, and the interior consists of five lolxs of a creamy consistence and a whitish colour, in which are nuts more or less numerous. During 3fay and June it is in season ; but them is usually also a second crop in November. It is as remark able for the delicacy, combined with richness, of its flavour, as for the intolerable offensiveness of its strong and persistent smell, which repels most Europeans, possessing an odour so powerful and diffusive as to taint the air of a whole town when it is in season, and steamers carrying the fruit stow them in the tops. It is sometimes compared to a rolled-up hedgehog; hence it has been called Echinus taboret's, in consequence of its hard and thick rind, which is yellow-coloured when ripe, being covered midi firm and angular projections. The seed, with its edible enveloping pulp, is about the size of a hen's egg. The pulp is as white as milk, and as delicate in taste as the finest cream ; but it should be eaten fresh, as it soon becomes discoloured, and undergoes decomposition. When the fruit is ripe it falls of itself, and getting them as they fall, the smell is less overpowering. When the fruits begin to ripen, they fall daily, and almost hourly, and accidents not unfrequently happen to persons walking or working under the trees. The seeds are likesvise eaten when roasted, and have something of the flavour of chestnuts. The wood of the tree is valued for many econo mical purposes, especially when protected from moisture. The rind, probably from containing potash, is used in the preparation of some dyes. The natives of the , countries yielding the durian prize it beyond all other fruits. In countries with a suitable climate, it flourishes without care or culture. It is roost abundant in the western portion of the Archipelago, and extends east as far as the island of Mindano, the only one of the Philippine group in which it is known. It is
abundant in Siam, arid is found cin the coast of Tcnasserim about lat. 14°, which is the furthest distance from the equator to which it has been suce,essfully propagated. All attempts to cultivate it in any part of Hindustan have failed ; nor has it, like some other Asiatic fruits, been transferred to tropical America. A hot, moist, and equable climate would seem to be indispensable to the &arias ; but soil seems to be indifferent to it, for it thrives in the granitic, in the sandstone, and in the calcareous soil of the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra, in the volcanic soil of Java, and in the rich alluvium of the valley of the Memos in Siam. The name is from Duri, MAnAr., a thorn or prickle, in reference to the sharp tubercles with which the rind is covered. In the interior of the Malay Peninsula, in several places in the forest are found durian trees, always in a body together, to the number of about ten or twelve trees. Such places are for the Jakuns an object of great attention, and matter of Work. They cut with the great axe all the other trees which surround the durians, that these, by receiving more air, may grow up more easily, and give finer and a greater quantity of fruit. .They build there a small house, and then return to their ordinary habitations, which are sometimes distant from such places one or two days' journey. Durias is seen to grow spon taneously in one of the small islands of the eastern coast of the Malay Peninsula, and which is nearly one entire forest down to the margin of the sea. On Pulo Tingi, the Orang Laut, or sea-gipsies, as sernble, attracted from the coasts of the Peninsula, as well as from the islands of the Johore Archi pelago. On one occasion, six boats from Moro, an island of that group, were found on their way to Pulo Tingi ; they had travelled by sea a distance of 180 miles, to partake of the fascinating fruit.— Roxburgh, p. 398 ; Marsden's Hist. of Sumatra ; Mason's Tenasserim ; M'Clelland, Eng. Cyc. ; Crawfurd, Dict. p. 126.