Thank you for correcting the text in this article. Your corrections improve Papers Past searches for everyone. See the latest corrections.

This article contains searchable text which was automatically generated and may contain errors. Join the community and correct any errors you spot to help us improve Papers Past.

Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image

BROWN MAN’S WATER BOTTLE.

Just an old broken bottle lying on a dust heap. Yet if you think backwards for a moment, that bottle becomes a thing of great importance.

Now there was a time when there were no bottles, and at that time there lived a brown man, somewhere in the plains between China and India. This man had to think of a way of carrying water wherever he went, and, as he had no tools but stones and knew nothing about clay or metal, his problem was what you would call a puzzler.”

And it puzzled him terribly till he saw the wild gourd growing there in the hot sunshine. (A gourd is something like a vegetable marrow with a very hard rind.) The brown man thought hard, then he scooped out all the seeds, filled the gourd with water —■ and made the first bottle.

But it did not satisfy him for long If he rah, the precious water fell out. So he took some grass, and bound it round the - top part of a young gourd which was growing on a stem, and of course the gourd grew where !t was not bound, and remained small where the grass was tied round it. When the man cut it off the plant, he had a bottle with a neck,—and we have never been able to improve on that shape. He also placed stones on the gourd while it was growing, so that it might grow flat; then he could sling it on his back and run very quickly without spilling the water, for a flat bottle does not roll like a round one.

And that is how all bottles, jugs, and vases have come down to us—just from the brown man’s gourd.

Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TDN19280211.2.123

Bibliographic details

Taranaki Daily News, 11 February 1928, Page 18

Word Count
294

BROWN MAN’S WATER BOTTLE. Taranaki Daily News, 11 February 1928, Page 18

BROWN MAN’S WATER BOTTLE. Taranaki Daily News, 11 February 1928, Page 18

Help

Log in or create a Papers Past website account

Use your Papers Past website account to correct newspaper text.

By creating and using this account you agree to our terms of use.

Log in with RealMe®

If you’ve used a RealMe login somewhere else, you can use it here too. If you don’t already have a username and password, just click Log in and you can choose to create one.


Log in again to continue your work

Your session has expired.

Log in again with RealMe®


Alert