Unfortunately, Mukadassi is one of the few sources not mentioned in the compendious reference at the beginning of the book. However, it goes on, under the heading of plantain to give several quotes about this fruit, known in the Middle Ages as the Fig of Paradise, the two earliest in Latin, from the fourteenth century AD. Rather freely translated, they say:
'In Syria and Egypt there are oblong apples which call to mind the finest flavour of Paradise; soft, melting in the mouth: by cutting these across one can see a crucifix . . . they do not last long, so for this reason they cannot be brought by sea to our lands.' (Gulielmus de Boldensee, Itinerarium c. 1336, taken from the Thesaurus of Cauisius, 1604.)
'From Adae in Ceylon came the first musae, which the natives call figs . . . and we saw with our own eyes that by cutting it transversely one can see within the cut part of the image of a crucified man . . . and of the leaves of this fig did Adam and Eve make body coverings . . .' (John de Marinolli c. 1350, quoted in Cathay, and the Way Thither by H. Yule 1866 p. 352)
'And there is again a fruit which many people assert to be that regarding which our first father Adam sinned, and this fruit they call Muse . . . in this fruit you see a very great miracle, for when you divide it anyway, whether lengthways or across, or cut it as you will, you shall see inside, as it were, the image of the crucifix, and of this we comrades many times made proof.' (Viaggio in Monte Sinai by Simone Sigoli 1384 (quoted in Viaggi in Terra Santa by Lionardo Frescobaldi 1862, p. 160)
(Note: We moderns who have seen bananas cut up would regard Signoli's claim to have seen this himself as a little far-fetched; even cut transversely it requires a fair bit of imagination to see a cross; cut any other way there's no sign of one.)
Also of interest is the author's suggestion that the word banana probably comes from the Arabic words banan (fingers or toes) and banana (a finger or toe).
My thanks to Tim Dawson for help in translation. Any errors herein are mine, not his.
