204 AriP.'E — BEES. 



moriiinp, and they were forced to leave one behind the next 

 day. Altof^ether six were lost, besides which, the guide 

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

 about the face and hands. ^ 



JJut in the Treasvrie of Avncient and Moderne Times, we 

 find the fulh)wing : "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 spoken to them with no efifect, as a 

 last resort ordered his domestics to bring his Beehives, and 

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

 efifect 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 15. VII. c. xvi. p. 667. Printed, 1613. 



3 Montaigne's Works, p. 243. 



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

 5 Knox, rt. I. c. vi. p. 48. 



