xii THE LORE OF THE HONEY-BEE 



mould thus formed was filled with the molten 

 metal. These models, no doubt, were in many 

 cases carved out of wood ; but it is certain that 

 another and more ductile material was often used. 

 Bronze ornaments have been found with thumb- 

 marks upon them, obviously chance impressions 

 on the original model faithfully reproduced. And 

 the substance of these models could hardly have 

 been anything else than beeswax. 



But speculation on the probable antiquity of 

 bee-keeping need not stop here. The best 

 authorities estimate that human life has existed 

 on the earth for perhaps a hundred thousand years. 

 The earliest traces of man, far back in the twilight 

 of palaeolithic times, reveal him as a hunting and 

 fighting animal, in whom the instinct to cultivate 

 the soil or domesticate the creatures about him 

 had not yet developed. Later on in the Stone 

 Age — but still in infinitely remote times — it is 

 evident that he tamed several creatures, such as 

 the ox, the sheep, and the goat, keeping them in 

 confinement, and killing them for food as he re- 

 quired it, instead of resorting to the old ceaseless 

 roaming after wild game. At this time, too, he 

 took to sowing corn, and even baking or charring 

 some sort of bread. It must be remembered that 

 if a hundred thousand years is to be set down as 



