12 FEOITS AND HOW TO USE THEM. 



To drop the simile and return to the value of fruit as 

 food, it is only necessary to allude to the use made of the 

 cocoanut, the date, the fig, the piueapple and the bread-fruit 

 by the inhabitants of the zones where such luscious fruit- 

 age freely flourishes. In the south of Europe figs consti- 

 tute a large part of the dietary five months out of twelve. 

 Arabs when crossing the desert wU] live for weeks upon a 

 handful of dates per day. When the public games of ancient 

 Greece were first instituted the atheletea were trained en- 

 tirely on \egetable food. " At first," says Eollin, "they 

 had no other nc)urishment but dried figs, nuts, soft cheese 

 and a gi'oss, heavy sort of bread." 



In every nation a simple diet is the food of strong, 

 healthy muscular people. " With respect to the Moorish 

 porters in Spain, " vyrites Capt. Chase, who commanded a 

 merchant vessel which loaded at Spanish ports, " I have 

 witnessed the exceedingly large loads they are in the 

 habit of carrying and have been struck with astonishmetit 

 at their muscular powers. * * * They brought theii' food 

 on board with them which consisted of coarse brown bread 

 and grapes. " The modern Greeks are athletic and power- 

 ful, yet their food consists of black breads a bunch of 

 grapes and raisins and some figs, on which they breakfast 

 and dine. The captain of a schooner seme time ao'o 

 came into Portland laden with barilla from the Canary 

 Islands. He declared that he saw "four stout American 

 laborers attempt ia vaia to lift one of the masses of barUla 

 which the captain and mate both solemnly af&rmed was 

 brought from the storehouse to the vessel by a single man, 

 a native laborer, where they freighted, and he subsisted 

 entirely on fruit and coarse vegetable food." The boat 

 men of Constantinople rejoice in a splendid physical de- 



