Read it through once

Mason (_Origin of Inventions_, page 192) has described such a kind of cultivation which was in existence amongst the American Indians quite recently. "A company of Cocopa or Mohave or Pima women set forth to a rich and favoured spot on the side of a cañon or rocky steep. They are guarded by a sufficient number of men from capture or molestation. Each woman has a little bag of gourd seed, and when the company reach their destination she proceeds to plant the seeds one by one in a rich cranny or crevice where the roots may have opportunity to hold, the sun may shine in, and the vines with their fruit may swing down as from a trellis. The planters then go home and take no further notice of their vines until they return in the autumn to gather the gourds" (E. Palmer).