160 The Bee People. 
the underground world, or the realms of 
the dead. 
A great many people think that when 
bees are about to swarm, a loud noise 
will prevent them from leaving, and they 
clash on tin pans, or ring bells, or blow 
whistles, or do anything they can think 
of to make a hullabaloo. No doubt they 
sometimes equal the uproar made by the 
Curetes about the infant Jupiter. 
Honey was very highly valued in ancient 
Greece and Italy, and that which came 
from Mount Hymettus was specially prized. 
Hymettus is a mountain in Greece, near 
Athens, and used to contain famous bee- 
pastures. 
A bee-pasture, you know, is a place 
grown over with flowers ; and Mount Hy- 
mettus was said to be rosy-purple, it was 
so covered with heather blossoms. 
Hybla, an ancient city on the sea-coast 
in Sicily, was also very celebrated for its 
honey. 
