56 



An Account of Plants, $c. 



whence the pendant spikes of flowers hang down with great 

 beauty, and are so long as sometimes to trail upon the 

 ground. 



Cucurbita Lagenaria. 



Claviformis. 



These are varieties of the same Gourd : the first exactly re- 

 sembles a Bottle, the second a Club, which sometimes attains 

 the length of six or seven feet. The ancients were fond of 

 cultivating tins Gourd; and Pliny* is minute in describing 

 the mode and uses, which are the same nearly as at the 

 present day. I imagine this to have been the real Gourd 

 of Jonas. They grow rapidly when well watered, and 

 wither immediately when left dry ; in a few weeks forming 

 dense, shady arbours, under which the people of the East 

 sit and smoke. When the fruit is young, it hangs down 

 inside the arbour, like candles ; in this state it is cut, and 

 boiled with forced-meat stuffed in the hollow part with rice ; 

 it is then called Dolma by the Turks ; and is in such general 

 use, that a large district in the vicinity of Pera is called Dol- 

 ma Bakche, or the Gourd Gardens, from the cultivation 

 of the plants. 



Cucurbita Cidariformis. 

 The production of this Gourd, as given by the ancient 

 writers, is curious : a Gourd was planted in Campania, in 

 the vicinity of a Quince, and it immediately adopted its form 

 in addition to its own. In fact, it resembles a large Quince 

 laid on the top of a flat Melon. This curious fruit is called 

 here Turk's Turban, which it resembles in shape and vivid 

 colours. It is too rare to be sold in the markets; but is 

 cultivated in private gardens, and used in soups. 



* Lib. xix. cap. 24. 



