We approached to examine them, and I recognized them as calabash trees, the fruit of which grows in this curious way on the stems, and is a species of gourd, from the hard rind of which bowls, spoons, and bottles can be made. "The savages," I remarked, "are said to form these things most ingeniously, using them to contain liquids: indeed, they actually cook food in them." "Oh, but that is impossible," returned Fritz. "I am quite sure this rind would be burnt through directly it was set on the fire." "I did not say it was set on the fire at all. When the gourd has been divided in two, and the shell or rind emptied of its contents, it is filled with water, into which the fish, or whatever is to be cooked, is put; red hot stones are added until the water boils; the food becomes fit to eat, and the gourd-rind remains uninjured." "That is a very clever plan: very simple too. I daresay I should have hit on it, if I had tried," said Fritz. "The friends of Columbus thought it very easy to make an egg stand upon its end when he had shown them how to do it. But now suppose we prepare some of these calabashes, that they may be ready for use when we take them home." Fritz instantly took up one of the gourds, and tried to split it equally with his knife, but in vain: the blade slipped, and the calabash was cut jaggedly. "What a nuisance!" said Fritz, flinging it down, "the thing is spoiled; and yet it seemed so simple to divide it properly." "Stay," said I; "you are too impatient, those pieces are not useless. Do you try to fashion from them a spoon or two while I provide a dish." I then took from my pocket a piece of string, which I tied tightly round a gourd, as near one end of it as I could; then tapping the string with the back of my knife, it penetrated the outer shell. When this was accomplished, I tied the string yet tighter; and drawing the ends with all my might, the gourd fell, divided exactly as I wished. "That is clever!" cried Fritz. "What in the world put that plan into your head?" "It is a plan," I replied, "which the negroes adopt, as I have learned from reading books of travel." "Well, it certainly makes a capital soup-tureen, and a soup-plate too," said Fritz, examining, the gourd. "But supposing you had wanted to make a bottle, how would you have set to work?" "It would be an easier operation than this, if possible. All that is necessary is to cut a round hole at one end, then to scoop out the interior, and to drop in several shot or stones: when these are shaken, any remaining portions of the fruit are detached, and the gourd is thoroughly cleaned, and the bottle completed." "That would not make a very convenient bottle though, father; it would be more like a barrel."