178 SOUR-GOUKD. 
agreeable beverage, particularly by persons suffering 
under fever. They also give great relief in sore throats, 
and other complaints. 
POLYANDRIA. 
191. The SOUR-GOURD, BOABAB, or AFRICAN 
CALABASH-TREE (Adansonia c%itata) is probably the 
largest of all vegetable productions. The trunk, although, not 
usually more than twelve or fifteen feet high, is frequently from 
sixty to eighty feet in girth. The lowest 'branches extend 
almost horizontally ; and, as they are sometimes near sixty feet 
in length, they bend, by their own weight, to the ground; and 
thus the whole tree forms an hemispherical mass of verdure, 
which measures from 120 to 130 feet in diameter. 
The fruit is oblong, about ten inches in length, pointed at 
both ends, and covered with a greenish down, under which there 
is a blackish and woody rind. Its interior consists of a whitish, 
spongy, and juicy substance, with several brown seeds. 
This tree is a native of Senegal and other parts of Africa. 
The virtues and uses of the sour-gourd tree and its 
fruit are numerous and of great importance to the in- 
habitants of the countries in which it is found. The 
bark and leaves are dried, powdered, and preserved in 
bags, to be employed as a seasoning for food. Two 
or three pinches of this powder are put, by the negroes, 
into their messes, under an impression that it promotes 
perspiration and moderates the heat of the blood. 
The pulp of the fruit has an agreeably acid flavour. 
This is not only eaten when fresh, but is dried and 
powdered for medicinal uses ; a kind of soap is also 
prepared from it. 
In Senegal, when the trees are decayed, the trunks 
are hollowed, by the negroes, into bury ing- pi aces for 
their poets, musicians, and buffoons. These persons 
are much esteemed whilst they live, although they are 
supposed to derive their superior talents from sorcery, 
or an alliance with demons. When dead, however, 
their bodies are regarded with horror, and are not 
allowed the usual burial, under a notion that the earth 
