GEOGRAPHY OF THE GENERA. 91 



work, is entitled 'The Bee/ and in which Mahomet 

 says : " The Lord spake by inspiration unto the Bee, 

 saying, ' Provide thee houses in the mountains and in 

 the trees [clearly signifying the cavities in rocks and 

 hollows of trees, wherein the bees construct their combs], 

 and of those materials wherewith men build hives for 

 thee ; then eat of every kind of fruit, and walk in the 

 beaten paths of thy Lord/ There proceedeth from their 

 bellies a liquor of various colours, wherein is a medicine 

 for men. Verily herein is a sign unto people who con- 

 sider." 



It is remarkable that the bee is the only creature that 

 Mahomet assumes the Almighty to have directly ad- 

 dressed. Al-Beidawi, the Arabic commentator upon the 

 Koran, whose authority ranks very high, in notes upon 

 passages of the preceding extract, says, "The houses 

 alluded to are the combs, whose beautiful workmanship 

 and admirable contrivance no geometrician can excel." 

 The " beaten paths of thy Lord," he says, " are the ways 

 through which, by God's power, the bitter flowers, 

 passing the bee's stomach, become honey; or, the 

 methods of making honey he has taught her by instinct ; 

 or else the ready way home from the distant places to 

 which that insect flies." The liquor proceeding from 

 their bellies, Al-Beidawi says, "is the honey, the colour 

 of which is very different, occasioned by the different 

 plants on which the bees feed ; some being white, some 

 yellow, some red, and some black." He appends a 

 note to where Mahomet says, " therein is a medicine 

 for man," which contains a curious anecdote. The note 

 says, " The same being not only good food, but a useful 

 remedy in several distempers. There is a story that a 

 man once came to Mahomet, and told him his brother 



