259 



The fruit is used in many ways. Small drinking cups are made by 

 cutting off its lower part (PI. LXIII). They are most commonly used 

 as a kind of flask for holding mescal. This is made simply by boring 

 a small hole through the base of the fruit the diameter of a lead pencil 

 or a little larger The seeds and pulp are allowed to dry, but are not 

 taken out. It is then Idled with mescal, which they call "yhio teco- 

 inate." It has a somewhat sweetish taste. One is told that it is much 

 used by miners for lung trouble, but from the quantity which is used 

 and its effects one is inclined to believe that it is taken for other pur- 

 poses. 



These cups and flasks, while sometimes plain, usually have more or 

 less carving upon them, which add much to the expense. I saw one 

 fruit, which was elaborately wrought, that was valued at $1.50. The 

 carving is usuallv done before the outer shell becomes hard and dry. 

 Seemanu states that the fruit "contains a pulp of a sourish-bitter 

 taste, which is boiled with sugar in its native country, and taken 

 against complaints of the chest," Watson, on the strength of Dr. Pal- 

 mer's notes, says: "It is cultivated at Guaymas under the name of 

 <azal ' for shade and for the medical properties of the fruit, which is 

 filled' with water and the liquid afterwards taken as a remedy for con- 

 tusions and internal bruises." 



Grescentia cujete, a closely related species, has much larger fruits and 

 these are used in many ways in making dishes, cups, etc. 



Besides various botanical specimens of Grescentia alata, I obtained 

 the following articles: EB No. 100, a drinking cup from Colomas made 

 from a shell of a fruit. On one side has been cut the form ot a scor- 

 pion. (EB Nos. 100 and 107, mescal Masks.) 



Explanation OF Plate LXII I.-Fig. 1 drinking cu V made from the fruit of Cretcentia alata; fig*. 

 2, 3, mescal flasks made from the name. 



Lagenaria sp. -,„„i n 



Besides the curious clay water jar, one may see many water vessels 

 made out of gourds of various shapes and sizes. Almost every coun- 

 tryman carries one of these on the horn of his saddle. The favorite 

 one is about 1.5 dm. (H feet) long, with a constriction at the middle 

 and the ends nearly equal. Other forms are also used (Pi. IAH ). 

 (Eli No. 20.) 



