The fruit is something like a gourd and often a foot in diameter. The shell of the fruit is so hard that it is not easily broken by rough usage or burnt by exposure to fire. It is used instead of bottles, cups, basins, dishes, pots and kettles, and to make musical instruments.
Sometimes the calabashes are polished, carved, dyed or otherwise ornamented. The pulp of the fruit is used as a medicine.
THE TRAVELER'S TREE.
One of the most curious and beautiful trees on the island is the traveler's tree. It is so named because it contains in its leaves and at their bases a large quantity of pure water.
By piercing the leaves with a spear or pike the water is drawn out, and found cool and refreshing. It often relieves the thirst of the traveler in this warm country.
BREAD FRUIT.
Among the fruit products used in large quantities are the bread-fruit and bread-nuts. These trees grow very large and have wide-spreading branches about fifty feet from the ground.
The leaves are, very broad, and the fruit looks something like an ovoid osage orange as large as one's head.
[Illustration: BREADFRUIT.]
The fruit is best when picked green, and baked in an oven or in the ashes, after paring away the outer skin or rind. When done it resembles a browned loaf of bread. It is very good and, wholesome, too; but it tastes more like baked plantain than bread.