204 APIDiE — BEES. 



morninp:, and they were forced to leave one behind the next 

 day. Altogether six were lost, besides which, the guide 

 lost his horse, and many of the people were much stung 

 about the face and hands. ^ 



But in the Treasvrie of Avncient and Moderne Times, we 

 find the following : "Anthenor, writing of the Isle of Crete 

 (with whom also ioyneth ^Elianus) saith, that a great multi- 

 tude of Bees chased al the dwellers out of a City, and vsed 

 their Houses instead of Hives.'" 



Montaigne mentions the following singular assistance 

 rendered by Bees to the inhabitants of Tamly : The Por- 

 tuguese having besieged the City of Tamly, in the territory 

 of Xiatine, the inhabitants of the place brought a great 

 many hives, of which there are great plenty in that place, 

 upon the wall ; and with fire drove the Bees so furiously 

 upon the enemy that they gave over the enterprise, not being 

 able to stand their attacks and endure their stings : and so 

 the citizens, by this new sort of relief, gained liberty and 

 the victory with so wonderful a fortune, that at the return 

 of their defenders from the battle they found they had not 

 lost so much as one.^ 



Lesser tells us that in 1525, during the confusion occa- 

 sioned by a time of war, a mob assembling in Hohnstein (in 

 Thuringia) attempted to plunder the house of the minister 

 of Elende ; who having spokeij to them with no efi'ect, as a 

 last resort ordered his domestics to bring his Beehives, and 

 throw them in the midst of the furious mob. The desired 

 effect was instantaneous, for the mob dispersed immedi- 

 ately.* 



Bees have also been employed as an article of food. Knox 

 tells us that the natives of Ceylon, when they meet with a 

 swarm of Bees hanging on a tree, hold burning torches 

 under them to make them drop ; and so catch and carry 

 them home, where they boil and eat them, in their estima- 

 tion, as excellent food.^ 



Peter Martyr, speaking of the Caribbean Islands, says : 



1 Travels, p. 178, Harper's ed. 



2 B. VII. c. xvi. p. 667. Printed, 1613. 



3 Montaigne's Works, p. 243. 



4 Lesser, ii. 171. K. & S. Introd., ii. 247. 



5 Knox, Pt. I. e. vi. p. 48. 



