120 BUIiMA, ITS PEOPLE A.XI) I'KODUCTIOyS. 



the tnmlc being too large and .smootli for tlicm to climb. To take tlic honey, 

 a nuiuber of pegs of bamboo are prepared, wliich arc driven about three inches deep 

 into tl\e bark one above another in a straight line. Affixed to these pegs a long 

 bamboo, or two or more if necessary are tied, so that the failure of one or more pegs 

 is immaterial so long as the rest hold, and at night, as I am informed (for I never 

 witnessed the o])eration). a man ascends the bamboo riglit up to the comb, by means 

 of the short projecting ends, purposely left on tlie bandxios at tlie joints. In his 

 hand he carries a torcli made of a peculiar jungle plant, wliich is so constructed that 

 it shall tlirow out a great deal of smoke but no Hame, and especial care is taken tliat 

 there .shall be no crackling of fire, -which sound mfuriatcs the bees. The smoking 

 torch is now lield under the comb till the bees have dispersed, and it is then quickly 

 cut off and lowered down to the man's companions below, or if small brought down 

 by him in a pot. The pegs cbiven into a tall tree stem are what every traveller in 

 the Burmese forests must have noticed, but they are not used themselves as steps, 

 as some suppose, but in the manner described. 



The domestication of Eees, like that of most of our useful animals, dates from 

 prehistoric times, and the prominent features of their social polity were known to 

 Virgil, as we learn from his charming fourth Georgic. Their monarcliical government 

 he charly shows, though we know that it is the Queen-mother who fills the place 

 of King — 



" Pra^terea regem non sic 2Egyptos et ingens 

 Lydia, uec populi Parthorura aut iledus Hydaspcs 

 Observant. Pege incolumi mens omnibus una est ; 

 Amisso, rupere tidem, constructaiiue mella 

 Diripuere ipsre, et crates solvere favorum. 

 Ille operum custos ; ilium admirantur, et omnes 

 Circumstant fremitu denso, stipantijue frequentes ; 

 Et sajpe attollunt humeris, et corpora hollo 

 Objoctant, pulchramque petunt per vulnera mortem." 



{Georff. /r. 210.) 



Bees, it may be added, were sacred among the ancients, and honey was one of the 

 offerings to the dead Ulysses was charged to make, when about to consult in 

 Hades the shade of Tircsias, in that magnificent, episode in the Odyssey, his descent 

 to the nether-world. 



" Here opened Hell, all Hell I here implored. 

 And from the scabbard drew the shining sword ; 

 And trenching the black earth on eveiy side, 

 A cavern formed, a cubit long and wide : 

 New wine with honey-tempered milk we bring. 

 Then living waters from the ciystal spring ; 

 O'er these was strewed the consecrated fl(nir. 

 And on the surface shone the holy store." 



(Pope's Odi/fiseij, XL 27.) 



Worsloy, in his excellent translation, has "mead" for ' /xeXiKpi'iTW,' but in this 

 instance Pope is more accurate in his mention of lioney and milk. 



The ' bee ' figures on old Greek coins, and was tlie emblem of the city of 

 Ephesus and of the Ephesian Artemis, and it has been suggested that the sacred 

 character attaching to this insect led to the ado])tion of wax tapers iu preference 

 to all others iu the gorgeous ceremonial of the Poniish Church, a supjio.sition by 

 no means extravagant to those who know the intimate relaticm which subsists 

 between the symbolism of lloman woi-ship and the old Pagan religion, and how 

 completely the Virgin in Catholic countries has inherited the symbols, attiibutes, and 

 functions of the Queen of Heaven of old (to wliom the .Tews offered spice cakes), 

 with her host of names — Artemis, Astaiie, Isis, Tanith, and the like. (See also 

 Inman's Ancient Taiths, under 'Deborah.') 



