FOREIGN BEES. 275 



last mentioned ; and the town of Vintain, situated 

 on the southern side of the river, is much resorted to 

 by Europeans on account of the great quantities of 

 bees- wax brought thither for sale. It is collected in 

 the woods by the Feloops, a wild and unsociable race 

 of people. The honey they chiefly use themselves 

 in making a strong intoxicating liquor, much the 

 same as the mead which is produced from honey in 

 Britain,* It is said by some writers that the bees 

 along the west coast of Africa are destitute of stings. 

 It was not so found by Park, to whom we are in- 

 debted for the above information ; and that those 

 farther in the interior, about the 1 1 th deg. of west 

 long, are well provided with this formidable weapon, 

 appears from the following incident, mentioned by 

 the same traveller as having taken place near Doo- 

 froo: "We had no sooner unloaded the asses, 

 than some of the people, being in search of honey, 

 unfortunately disturbed a large swarm of bees. They 

 came out in immense numbers, and attacked men 

 and beasts at the same time. Luckily most of the 

 asses were loose, and galloped up the valley ; but the 

 horses and people were very much stung, and obliged 

 to scamper off in all directions. In fact, for half an 

 hour, the bees seemed completely to have put an end 

 to our journey. In the evening, when they became 

 less troublesome, and we could venture to collect our 

 cattle, we found many of them much stung and 

 swelled about the head. Three asses were missing ; 

 one died in the evening, and one next morning. Our 

 * Parks Travels in Africa, vol. i. p. 6. 



