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says this author, " been much used for pots 

 and pitchers ;" but long before, they had been 

 used as barrels to keep wine in. Both the 

 wild and the garden-gourd was much used in 

 medicine by the Romans, who also employed 

 the seeds as a charm to cure the ague. 

 (Pliny, 1. xx. c. 3.) 



Gerard says, " the pulp, or meat of the 

 gourd, used as a poultice, mitigates all hot 

 swellings, and takes away the head-ache and 

 the inflammation of the eyes/' 



The bottle-gourd, (lagenaria,) grows in 

 many parts of the world to near six feet 

 long, and two feet thick. The rinds or shells 

 are used by the negroes in the West-India 

 islands as bottles, holding from one pint to 

 many gallons. Barham speaks of one that 

 held nine gallons ; and the Rev. Mr. Griffith 

 Hughes mentions them, in his History of Bar- 

 badoes, as holding twenty-two gallons. The 

 shells are cleared of the pulp and seeds by the 

 negroes in the following manner : they make 

 a hole at one end, into which they pour hot wa- 

 ter, in order to dissolve the pulp, which after- 

 wards is extracted with a stick, and the inside 

 rinsed with sand and water, to loosen and 

 clear away the fibres that remain ; they are 

 then dried and become fit for use, and will con- 

 tain water or other liquids for a length of time. 



