THE SOUTH AFRICAN PIPE CALABASH. 7 



method gourds wore formed with a double curve in the neck, making 

 unnecessary a curved mouthpiece. If the vines run over the ground, 

 the boards used serve the additional purpose of keeping the gourds off 

 the soil. 



METHODS OF MAKING THE PIPES. 



To make a pipe the neck end of the gourd should be cut off and all 

 pith carefully removed from the inside. The thin outside cuticle 

 should be scraped off witli a sharp knife before it dries; at least it 

 comes off easier then and if left on will form food for molds. Whiting 

 or pumice may be used for polishing the hard surface, if not smooth 

 enough after thoroughly scraping. Sandpaper will scratch it and 

 should not be used. 



The drying of the gourds seems a simple thing, but it is in reality 

 so difTicult that it should be specially explained. After the pipe 

 gourds are harvested, the necks, particularly if not properly cleaned 

 and scraped, are in great danger from molds. If stored in a warm, 

 close room for only a few days the cuticle will be covered with un- 

 sightly spots, which ruin the hard layer beneath by discoloring it. 

 The necks, after being cleaned and scraped, will cure best if hung up 

 in a cool, dry room where plenty of air is circulating and where they 

 will not freeze. If a place where the sun can strike them can be 

 found, so much the better. 



The making of the pipe should be postponed until the gourds have 

 become well seasoned. The necessary accessories are a rubber mouth- 

 piece, a bowl, and some thin cork strips, the cost of which should not 

 exceed 50 cents. (PI. II, fig. 1.) In addition to these a few cents' 

 worth of plaster of Paris Avill be needed. Cut off smoothly the tip of 

 the small end and bore through it with a knife blade into the narrow 

 cavity of the neck. Into this screw firmly a crooked rubber mouth- 

 piece with its ivory -threaded nipple. If there is difficulty in getting 

 the hard ivory to cut its own thread, even after soaking the tip of the 

 gourd neck in hot water, a number If or || machinist's die, according 

 to the thread of the nipple, should be used to cut the thread. The 

 large trumpctlike end of the gourd neck is next cut with a fine saw at 

 the pro[)er angle and low enough so that a regular cheap meerschaum 

 bowl will fit into it, having its rim flush with the outside of the gourd. 

 A few teaspoonfuls of plaster of Paris rnixed with water to form a 

 stiff paste is spread as a thick layer for half an inch inside the rim of 

 the gourd neck. The meerschaum bowl is first greased and then 

 forced into place against the fresh plaster and left just long enough to 

 allow the plaster to set slightly, not over three minutes at most; other- 

 wise it will stick fast. 



The setting for the bowl is now made, but not perfected until a strip 

 of thin cork, such as many cigarettes are tipped with, has been glued 



[Cir. 41] 



