1 36 HONEY-GUIDE. 



a property. Sparrman says it was not known to 

 Nany inhabitant of the Cape, any more than that of 

 the Moroc was in Abyssinia ; it was a secret of 

 nature hid from all but these two great men, and 

 I most willingly leave it among the catalogue of 

 their particular discoveries." 



However Mr. Barrow (who in the years 1797 

 and 1798 travelled into the interior of the southern 

 extremity of Africa), fully confirms the truth of 

 Dr. Sparrman's account. " Every one in that 

 country," says Barrow, " is too well acquainted 

 with the Moroc to have any doubts as to the cer- 

 tainty either respecting the bird or its information 

 of the repositories of the bees." 



Lobo, whom we have mentioned above, in his 

 Voyage to Abyssinia speaks of a bird called Mo- 

 roc, which has the instinct of discovering wild- 

 honey: but from his account it is that collected 

 by the ground bees ; as he says that they keep 

 their holes in the ground extremely clean ; and, 

 that though common in the highways, they are 

 very seldom found except by the Moroc's assist- 

 ance. 



These birds are very tame, and not much afraid 

 of man : their flight is heavy. They feed only on 

 honey and wax, but do not eat the bees, who en- 

 deavour to sting them in the eye (almost the only 

 part the insect can penetrate), and frequently 

 make them suffer very much for their boldness in 

 attacking the hive ; and is often the cause of their 

 death, as the Hottentots say numbers of their 

 carcases are found near the resorts of the bees. 



