114 THE HONEY-BIRD. 
day, and not by night. But upon this branch 
of the subject it will be agreeable to intro- 
duce the description of a more recent pen 
than Sparrman’s :—‘‘ Two miles further, we 
came to a shoal, [in the Great Fish river, | 
and satisfied ourselves that our voyage must 
end here; and we resolved on returning to a 
beautiful spot which we had selected for our 
repast, and where we amused ourselves with 
exploring every part: we had no paths but 
those formed by the Baboons. At the end 
of one we discovered a rude, but very inge- 
nious scaffolding, made by the Hottentots, 
to obtain honey from the hives. The rock 
overhung its base so much, that very great 
labour and skill were required, and risk in- 
curred, in fixing and tying, with strips of 
bark, the poles and branches of trees. Their 
reward may literally be said to be sweet! 
The manner of finding it [the honey] is very 
singular, as related to us by one of our party, 
who had accompanied a Hottentot in search 
of some. The Hottentot went to a place 
that he thought likely to contain hives, and 
immediately whistled, with a sort of call that 
the Honey-bird, or Indicator, is accustomed 
