Burnes, Alexander: Travels into Bokhara: containing the narrative of a voyage on the Indus from the sea to Lahore, ... and an account of a journey from India to Cabool, Tartary and Persia ; performed by order of the supreme government of India, in the years 1831, 32, and 33 (Band 3) (London, 1835)

ckap. i. fruits of bokhara. 149

facture. The mulberries are delicious: they are
dried like raisins; and a syrup called "sheeru" is
also extracted from them and grapes. The apples
are indifferent. The plum of Bokhara, which is so
well known in India, is not exported from the
country itself, but grows at Ghuzni in Cabool: it is
highly esteemed. The melon is the choicest fruit
of Bokhara. The Emperor Baber tells us that he
shed tears over a melon of Toorkistan, which he
cut up in India after his conquest: its flavour
brought his native country and other dear associ-
ations to memory. There are two distinct species
of melons, which the people class into hot and cold ;
the first ripens in June, and is the common musk
or scented melon of India, and not superior in
flavour; the other ripens in July, and is the true
melon of Toorkistan ; in appearance it is not unlike
a water melon, and comes to maturity after being
seven months in the ground. It is much larger
than the common sort, and generally of an oval
shape, exceeding two and three feet in circumfer-
ence. Some are much larger; and those which
ripen in the autumn have exceeded four feet. One
has a notion that what is large cannot be delicate
or high flavoured ; but no fruit can be more luscious
than the melon of Bokhara. I always looked upon
the melon as an inferior fruit till I went to that
country; nor do I believe their flavour will be
credited by any one who has not tasted them. The
melons of India, Cabool, and even Persia, bear no
comparison with them : not even the celebrated
fruit of Isfahan itself. The pulp is rather hard,

l 3