In the West Indies, as far as I have seen, the Mango has not yet reached the huge size of its ancestors in Hindostan.

There--to judge, at least, from photographs--the Mango must be indeed the queen of trees; growing to the size of the largest English oak, and keeping always the round oak-like form.

Rich in resplendent foliage, and still more rich in fruit, the tree easily became encircled with an atmosphere of myth in the fancy of the imaginative Hindoo.
That tree with upright branches, and large, dark, glossy leaves tiled upwards along them, is the Mammee Sapota, {311a} beautiful likewise.

And what is the next, like an evergreen peach, shedding from the under side of every leaf a golden light--call it not shade?
A Star-apple; {311b} and that young thing which you may often see grown into a great timber-tree, with leaves like a Spanish chestnut, is the Avocado, {311c} or, as some call it, alligator, pear.

This with the glossy leaves, somewhat like the Mammee Sapota, is a Sapodilla, {311d} and that with leaves like a great myrtle, and bright flesh-coloured fruit, a Malacca-apple, or perhaps a Rose- apple.