BEE-HUNTING WILD HONEY. 139 



talked of excursion, the party being increased by S.'s 

 brother-in-law. The two Americans took axes, while 

 Uhl and I carried pails to hold the honey we expected 

 to find. We proceeded to a little prairie about three 

 miles off, and soon found the tree, which S. had dis- 

 covered and marked. It is a backwoods custom, when 

 any one finds a tree with wild bees, and has not time 

 or inclination to cut it down at once, to cut his name, 

 or if he cannot write, as was the case with S., to make 

 his mark on it, and if any one else finds the tree and 

 sees the mark, he goes on his way, leaving it to the 

 first finder. 



S.'s tree was a decayed red oak, on the verge of the 

 little prairie. The two axes, wielded by powerful and 

 skilful arms, soon made the old tree totter, and then 

 fall with a crash. In the mean time I had lighted a 

 fire by S.'s directions, laid it on a piece of bark, and 

 covered it with rotten wood, so that it gave out a 

 thick black smoke. As soon as the tree was down, I 

 held this under the opening where the bees went in and 

 out: stupefied by the smoke, they flew high into the 

 air, never attempting to sting, though several flew about 

 me, and lighted on my clothes. Our trouble did not 

 go unrewarded ; we found a pretty thick bough full of 

 honey, of which we ate as much as we wished, carrying 

 home the rest. 



S. seemed to be pleased with us, for he asked us to 

 remain with him to look after his cattle, of which he 

 had about two hundred head running loose in the 

 woods ; we might take our rifles and shoot at the same 

 time. As this seemed to suit our plans, we took the 

 subject into serious consideration, and on Monday, 



