349 



CHAPTER XIX. 



BEE-HTJ>'TIXG. 



APIS MELLIFICA. 



PROPERLY speaking, so small an insect would have 

 no rio-ht to be mentioned la a book ^Ybere nobler 

 game is treated of ; but as honey-hunters have brought 

 so much art to bear upon so humble a pursuit, I have 

 thought that a short account might perhaps prove 

 interesting. 



The Bee is said to have been the pioneer of the 

 white man across the American continent, as the 

 Indians have noticed that wherever the bee made its 

 appearance, the woodman's axe was soon heard felling 

 the monarchs of the wilderness in its rear. 



As the country, however, becomes settled, the wild 

 honey-bee flies further and deeper into the undisturbed 

 forests, so that the backwoodsman, who makes a business 

 of collecting honey for sale, is compelled to follow the 

 bees, and, consequently, the bee-hunter is rarely seen, 

 except when he comes into the settlements to barter 

 his ' plunder ' for necessaries. 



Spending so much time — often his whole life — alone 

 in the forest, the bee-hunter generally becomes a 



