Indian Squirrel and Tamarind

Plate sixty-one from the second volume of James Forbes' "Oriental Memoirs". Forbes (1749-1819)was Collector of Revenue both of Bharuch and Dhaboi in the late 1770s. He spent seven years in a beautiful villa with extensive gardens on the banks of the Narmada while at Bharuch and at the Governor's Mansion with its courts and gardens when stationed at Dhaboi. His orange and lime trees were filled with peacocks, doves and bulbuls; monkeys and squirrels feasted on his pomegranates and custard apples. Of the squirrels he writes: 'There are larger squirrels in India, more like those in Europe; but the little beauty here delineated is common in every town and village throughout Hindostan; perfectly familiar in the houses and gardens of natives and Europeans: the stripes are sometimes of a darker brown. The Tamarind leaves and blossoms are of the usual standard; the fruit is shorter than is generally seen, on account of the size of the plate.'