CHAPTER XII
GRAPE-LEAF DRINKING-CUP
A wild-grape leaf will do quite as well as a cultivated one for a drinking-cup if it is large enough. You want a large leaf, because a small one will hold only a sip of water, and when one is really thirsty that is certainly not enough.
Fig.78 - The drinking cup was made of a leaf like this.
Whether wild or cultivated, the grape-leaf should be washed in clean water to take off dust and any possible insects that may be on it. Where there is water to drink there is water for washing the leaf, so there can be no difficulty about that, and the large green leaf, freshened by the water, looks very cool and inviting.
It is simply a matter of folding, first one way, then the other, that turns the grape-leaf into a cup. [Fig. 78] is a tracing of the leaf from which the cup ([Fig. 79]) was made. It measured eight inches at its widest part, almost seven inches from tip to stem, and the cup held a good supply of water.
Fig.79 - A fine drinking cup made by folding a Grape leaf.