GOURD. 



175 



and, as it were by instinct, each turned towards a tree, one 

 taking a north-east direction, and the other a south-west 

 course. By the middle of August, they had climbed 

 about 16 feet in height, fixing their branches to those of 

 the trees, so firmly by their cork-screw tendrils, as not to 

 be disengaged without breaking. The leaves of these 

 vines were exactly twelve inches long, and thirteen inches 

 in the greatest breadth. With so much rapidity did these 

 succulent plants draw juices from the earth, that the 

 moisture in its passage was forced through the pores of 

 the fibrous bark of the plant when, on meeting the air, it 

 formed crystallised thorns, rather than a hairy substance. 

 The flowers were exceedingly ornamental to the tree they 

 had intruded on, being even larger than those of the 

 pumpkin : the male blossoms were supported on stalks of 

 about a foot in length, the female flowers were attached 

 to the fruit in the same manner as all the tribe of gourds 

 and cucumbers. The flowers generally withered ere mid- 

 day, thus leaving but a few hours for the stigma of the 

 fruit-blossoms to be supplied with the farina of the male 

 flowers. 



The stamen or column of the male flower, which sup- 

 ports the anther, is built on three piers, which rest on the 

 bell, forming three arches over a bason that contains the 

 ambrosial juice, which has been there formed as if to 

 allure the bees to assist in the necessary impregnation : 

 this nectar was devoured by those industrious insects with 

 such eagerness as almost to persuade us that they were 

 conscious of the short time nature had allowed them to 

 revel in these golden bells. We observed with what im- 

 patient eagerness they thrust their tubes into the arches 

 to pump up the sweets contained, regardless of the pollen 

 which adhered to their downy legs and bodies; away they 

 flew to the fruitful blossoms, which were less numerous, 

 and in which the pistil and stigma are so formed that 



