THE LIGURIAN BEK 21 



for the preparation of sweet cakes. It has the delicate 

 aromatic flavour of the thyme-scented honey of Hybla 

 or Hymettussi, 



" But; 'however exten^ve are: the beeioalonies of the 

 villages, the number of wild bees of thevsame species 

 is far greater. The innumerable fissures, and clefts of 

 the limestone rocks, which everywhere flankthe valleys, 

 afford in their recesses seomE:shelter for any number of 

 swarms; and many of the Bedouini, particularly in the 

 wilderness of Judsea, obtain: th^ subsistence by bee- 

 hunting, bringing into Jerusalem jars ofi that wild, honey 

 on which John the Baptist^ fed , in: the; wilderness, and 

 which Jonathan had longj'before unwJttlBglytasted, when 

 the comb had droppedi om the; groundifrbm the hollow 

 tree in which it was suspendeda. The; visitor to, the 

 Wady Kum, whem he seefcthKibto^'inultittMJes of bees 

 about its cliffs, cannotibtit;recalllitt»mindtthfe promise, 

 'With honey out.ofthe stony roekiwoHldilfhave satisfied 

 thee.' There issno epithet^ of the Land Of Promise more 

 true to the letter,, even to the.i present, day, than this, 

 that ittwas 'a land flowing with 'milk: and honey:'," 



Does not evidence such as this' point to the conclusion 

 that the bees which Sampson i found in 'the carcase of the 

 lion -werQ Ligurian ; s.n.6. may we not further speculate 

 that the ribs of the carcase constituted the fir^' bar-hive P. 

 Surely, "there is no new thing under the sun." 



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