AMERICAN BEES. 27 



mountain roads, on the back of mules, each mule 

 carrying two colonies in the earthen hive of the 

 country, slung, one on each side of the mule. On one 

 occasion, however, the bees quite lost their temper. 

 Perhaps he shook them, or disturbed their homes in 

 too rough a manner ; and then, to teach him to be 

 more gentle and careful, they punished him with a 

 hundred stings. 



If we go to India, we find many other kinds. The 

 largest honey-bee yet discovered is a native of Hin- 

 dostan, Ceylon, and the Malay Peninsula. It collects 

 immense quantities of honey, which it stores in huge 

 combs suspended from the topmost boughs of the 

 tallest palm-trees, and also from rocks, in places often 

 far out of reach. Some people have tried to keep 

 them, but have not as yet succeeded, for the race is a 

 very wild and savage one, as much so, in their way, as 

 the terrible tigers of the country. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



AMERICAN BEES— THE BEE-LINE. 



America, as well as other countries, has its own 

 bees. You will hear something later on of bee- 

 keeping in America, and the vast scale in which it is 

 carried on there ; but at present we are thinking only 

 of the wild bees, or native races. There are a great 

 number of these inhabiting the extensive forests of 



