THE PAPAW. 



•379 



extracting the seeds and filaments, stuffing the 

 cavity with apples and spices, and baking the 

 ■whole. The pumpkin seems to have been earlier 

 introduced into general culture than either the 

 cucumber or the melon: the pumpkin is, in fact, 

 the melon of the old English writers, the true 

 melon being then styled the musk melon. The 

 pumpkin or gourd enters more into the cookery 

 of the southern nations on the continent, than 

 into those of Britain. 



The squash, (cimurbita melopepo,) has a large 

 fruit, reddish, yellow, or yellowish- white, within 

 and without; of a round form, but often flattened 

 at top and bottom : occasionally warted. It is 

 cultivated in America as an article of food. 



The water melon, (cucurhita eitrullus.) This 

 is readily distinguished from all the other species, 

 by its deeply cut leaves. The fruit is roundish, 

 large, smooth; often a foot and a half in length, 

 with a white icy flesh, streaked with dark red 

 and black seeds. It is much cultivated in the 

 warm countries of Europe, and also in Asia, 

 Africa, and America, for its cooling quality. It 

 is said to be a native of the Levant, but it is 

 probably indigenous to many other countries. 

 Hasselquist says, "the Arabians call it batech. 

 It is cultivated on the banks of the Nile, in the 

 rich clayey eartli which subsides during the in- 

 undation, from the beginning of May until the 

 overflowing of the Nile, towards the end of July 

 or beginning of August; and in the island Delta, 

 especially at Burlos, from whence the largest 

 and best ai'e procured. This fruit serves the 

 Egyptians for meat, drink, and physic. It is 

 eaten in abundance during the season, even by 

 the richer sort of people; but the common people, 

 on whom Providence hath bestowed nothing but 

 poverty and patience, scarcely eat any thing but 

 these during their season, and are obliged to put 

 up with worse fare at other times. They eat 

 them with a little bread, and scarcely ever taste 

 them in their ripe state. The juice also serves 

 them for a refreshing drink; for this purpose 

 they make a hole in the melon, whence all the 

 juice collects. A variety of a softer and more 

 juicy nature also supplies them witli physic, but 

 this kind is more rare; it also comes from Burlos. 

 When it is very ripe, almost approaching to 

 jiutridity, the hollow part of it collects the juice, 

 and mixing it with a little sugar and rose-water, 

 they administer it in burning fevers, being the 

 only medicine which the common people use in 

 those maladies." 



By Europeans this fruit should be eaten with 

 great caution, especially during the heat of the 

 day, and after exercise. Instances of sudden 

 death have followed the eating of this fruit in any 

 quantity. It is said also to favour the produc- 

 tion of intestinal worms in those who live much 

 on it. 



The orange fruited gourd, {cucurhita aurantia) 



is a native of the East Indies. It is a very hand- 

 some variety, but cultivated only as a curiosity. 

 The calabash or bottle gourd, (cucurhita lagen- 

 aria,) is similar to the other in quality, and gets 

 its trivial name as well from its form as from the 

 use to which the hard and tough rind is applied. 

 It is a native both of the East and the West 

 Indies; and the humbler inhabitants employ these 

 gourds as ready made bowls and other vessels. 

 In some parts of the East, gourds are sufficiently 

 large to support a man in the water, who floats 

 upon a cross bar fastened to the top of two ot 

 vast dimensions. Tlie Arabians call the bottle 

 gourd charrah. The poor people eat it boiled 

 with vinegar, or fill the shell with rice and meat, 

 and thus make a kind of pudding of it. 



Vegetable marrow (cucurhita succada,) is a very 

 important gourd; and though it has been but 

 lately introduced into this country, it is already 

 cultivated to a considerable extent. It is straw 

 colovired, of an oval or elongated shape, and when 

 full grown attains the length of about nine 

 inches. When very young, it eats well, fried in 

 butter; when half gTown, it may be cooked in a 

 variety of ways, and is peculiarly soft and rich, 

 having an oily and almost an animal flavour; 

 when fuUy matured, it may be made into pies, 

 for which purpose it is much superior to any of 

 the other gourds. But it is in the intermediate 

 or half grown state only, that it deserves its 

 common appellation of vegetable marrow. The 

 vegetable man-ow gourd is a native of Persia; 

 but if the soil on which it is placed be rich and 

 warm enough, it thrives very well with us in the 

 open air. 



"I have been able," says Mr Sabine, "to ob- 

 tain but very imperfect accounts of the origin of 

 this gourd. It was certainly new in this country 

 within a few years; and I think the most proba- 

 ble account, of the many that I have heard, ol 

 its introduction, is, that the first seeds were 

 brought here in one of our East India ships, and 

 came probably from Persia, where, as I am told, 

 it is known, and called cicader. Its cultivation 

 is easy." If any other kind of gourd grow in 

 the neighbourhood, no reliance can be placed on 

 the goodness of the seed of the vegetable mar- 

 row. 



The Papaw, (carica papaya.) Though the 

 papaw tree is now found in the East as well as 

 in the West, it is generally understood to be a 

 native of America, and to have been carried to 

 the East about the time of the first intercourse 

 between the two continents. The papaw rises 

 with a hollow stem to the height of about twenty 

 feet, after which it has a head composed, not of 

 branches, but of leaves and very long foot-stalks. 

 ' The male and female flowers are on different 

 trees : the female flowers are bell-shaped, large, 

 generally yellow, and followed by a fleshy fruit, 

 about the size of a small melon, The tree, and 



