SEED-VESSELS WE EAT 249 



into it, and I closed her in, in the same manner. 

 My daughter's weight was 1 10 pounds. 



I next put my two seven-year-old boys in at 

 once. I then put my three little girls in at once; 

 they were aged respectively six, four, and two 

 years, their united weight being 116 pounds. I 

 placed the largest child in the bottom and the 

 little ones on top, and then put on the lid. The 

 squash was three feet four inches in length. " 



The seeds of all the melon tribe contain consider- 

 able nutritious substance, but we must go to a far 

 country before we find them used as human food. 

 The Chinese dote upon them, as we do upon pea- 

 nuts and salted almonds. In a Chinese theatre 

 the stranger is soon conscious of a murmur made 

 of little, crackling sounds. It is the snapping and 

 crunching of dry melon seeds by the men and boys 

 in the pit, whose pockets bulge with them. They 

 would not enjoy the play without these seeds to 

 nibble, as they watch events on the stage. 



OLIVES 



The pale green leaves and the gray bark of the 

 olive trees blend with the ashy soil that lies on the 

 slopes of Vesuvius and JEtna. It is amazing that 

 people have courage to plant again the groves that 



