,172 sturtevant's notes on edible plants 



falls, vast tracts of the country are literally covered with these melons. Some are sweet, 

 and others so bitter that they are named by the Boers the " bitter watermelon." The 

 bitter ones are deleterious, but the sweet are quite wholesome. As this missionary observer 

 was not a botanist, it is possible that this species may have been the colocynth, Citrullus^ 

 colocynthis, or a hybrid of the colocynth and the watermelon. 



Rauwolf,* IS74, found the watermelon growing in abundance in the gardens of Trip- 

 oli, Rama and Aleppo under the name bathieca, the root of which word, says R. Thomp- 

 son,2 is from the Hebrew abattichim, one of the fruits of Egypt which the Jews regretted 

 in the wilderness. The watermelon still forms the chief food and drink of the inhabit- 

 ants of Egypt for several months in the year. In Bagdad, also, it is a staple summer 

 food. Pallas says in southern Russia the people make a beer from their abundant crops 

 of watermelons, with the addition of hops. They also make a conserve or marmalade 

 from the fruit, which is an excellent substitute for syrup or molasses. In 1662, Nieuhoff ' 

 found the watermelon called batiek by the Indians of Batavia, some being white, others 

 red and the seeds black. This melon is said to have been introduced into Britain in 1597. 

 By European colonists, says Pickering,^ it was carried to Brazil and the West Indies, to 

 eastern North America, to the islands of the Pacific, to New Zealand and Australia. 



Watermelons are mentioned by Master Graves ^ as abounding in Massachusetts in 

 1629, and shortly after Josselyn * speaks of it as a fniit " proper to the coimtrie. The 

 flesh of it is of a flesh-colour . . . and excellent against the stone." " A large fruit, but 

 nothing near so big as a pompion; colour smoother, and of a sad grass-green, rounder, or, 

 more rightly, sap-green; with some yellowness admixt when ripe. The seeds are black; 

 the flesh, or pulpe, exceeding juicy." Before 1664, according to Hilton,' watermelons 

 were cultivated by the Florida Indians. In 1673, Father Marquette,* who descended 

 the Wisconsin and Mississippi Rivers, speaks of melons, " which are excellent, especially 

 those with a red seed." In 1822, Woods' says of the Illinois region: " Watermelons 

 are also in great plenty, of vast size; some I suppose weigh 20 pounds. They are more 

 like pvmipkins in outward appearance than melons. They are round or oblong, generally 

 green, or a green and whitish. color on the outside, and white or pale on the inside, with 

 many black seeds in them, very juicy, in flavor like rich water, and sweet and mawkish, 

 but cool and pleasant." In 1747, Jared Eliot mentions watermelons in Connecticut, the 

 seed of which came originally from Archangel in Russia. In 1799, watermelons were 

 raised by the tribes on the Colorado River. In 1806, McMahon i" describes four kinds. 

 They are now cultivated throughout the warm regions of the globe. 



' Ray, J. Trav. through Imw Countries 2:16. 1738. 

 Thompson, R. Treox. Bo<. 1:357. 1870. 

 ' Churchill Co//. Voy. 2:281). 1732. 

 ' Pickering, C. Chron. Hist. Pis. 72. 1879. 

 ' Graves Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll. 1:124. 1806. 

 'Josselyn, J. Voy. loi. 1865. 



' Hilton Rel. Fla. 8. 1664. Force Coll. Tracts 4: No. 2. 1846. 

 ///. Horl. Soc. Trans. 125. 1876. 

 ' Woods, J. ///. Country 226, 227. 1822. 

 " McMahon, B. Amer. Card. Col. 582. 1806. (Cucurbita citrullus) 



