120 CHAPTER XVI. 



As to the Melons and the Water Melons (French 

 " Pasteque "), their varieties defy description : they 

 may be rounded or elongate ; yellow or green or white 

 or almost black ; striped, streaked, dotted or dashed 

 with colour; ribbed, furrowed, or ornamented with 

 elegant designs, with delicate tracery or strange 

 hieroglyphs. These species come botanically under 

 the genus Cuctunis, together with the Cucumber. 



The Pumpkins (Cucurbita) are not less wonderful 

 in size and shape and colouring. C. Melo Pepo, the Tur- 

 ban Gourd, is commonly grown in the Nice Valley. It 

 has a curious appearance, because part of the fruit above 

 the calyx is of a different colour from that below. 



A Gourd we often see is so exact an imitation of 

 an Orange that you may easily hold it in your hand 

 without suspecting what it really is. I have planted 

 this beautiful Gourd at the foot of a Ligustrum in 

 order to see the effect of the yellow fruits against the 

 dark green leaves. 



According to Mr. John Smith, A.L.S., "Bible 

 Plants," these may have been the Wild Gourds which 

 the unbotanical youth " came and shred into the pot 

 of pottage" (2 Kings iv. 39).* 



Another Gourd grown here has a fruit resembling 

 a Hen-Egg ; the size and colour are accurate enough, 

 but the form is not always perfectly ovoid. Either 

 the orange Gourd is a more successful mimic, or else 

 it is easier for a vegetable to imitate another vegetable 

 than to copy a product of the animal kingdom. Yet 

 another common and very pretty Gourd is pear- 

 shaped, about the size of an average pear, and 

 delicately tinted with green and yellow. 



* Other botanists identify the Prophet's Gourd with Cucumis 

 prophetarum, a curious hairy species. T. H. 



