158 FLORA DOMESTIC A. 



times they make it into a kind of pudding, by filling the 

 shell with rice and meat. In Jamaica the shells are in 

 general use as water cups, and frequently serve the negroes 

 and poorer sort of white people for bottles. The largest 

 variety of this species is cultivated for the sake of the 

 shells, which will sometimes contain five, six, or seven 

 gallons. The War ted Gourd called by the French le 

 potiron a verrues; la barbarine is gathered when half- 

 grown by the Americans, and boiled as a sauce to their 

 meat. The Water Melon in French, la pasteque; le 

 melon d'eau; citronelle ; concombre citrin : in Italian, coco- 

 mero; mellone: in Venice, anguria: in the Brescian, 

 sorgtiel serves the Egyptians for meat, drink, and medi- 

 cine, from the beginning of May to the end of July. 

 They are eaten abundantly. When they are very ripe, 

 their juice, mixed with a little rose-water and sugar, forms 

 the only medicine which the common people take in the 

 most ardent fevers. 



The Pompion, or Pumpkin, called in France le poti- 

 ron; le pepon; la citronille: in Italy, zucca bernoccoluta ; 

 popone ; poponoino which in Europe is considered hard 

 of digestion, is reckoned in the Eastern countries as the 

 most wholesome of all the Gourds. In North America, 

 China, &c. the Squash Gourd in French, le pastisson ; 

 le bonnet d' elect eur also is considered as an article of 

 food; arid, as it will keep fresh and sweet for several 

 months, is very useful in long voyages. The fruit of the 

 Gourds, when unripe, is generally of a green colour, and, 

 if such a phrase may be allowed, a very green green. 



" Then gan the shepherd gather into one 

 His straggling goats, and drave them to a foord, 

 Whose caerule stream, roinbling in pihble-stone, 

 Crept under moss, as green as any goord." 



SPENSER'S VIRGIL'S GNAT. 



