THE FOUNDATION OF THE CITY ^s 



itself to the curtain suspended in darkness, the ascension ceases ; 

 all movement slowly dies away in the dome ; and, for long 

 hours, this strange inverted cone will wait, in a silence that 

 almost seems awful, in a stillness one might regard as religious, 

 for the mystery of wax to appear. 



In the meantime the rest of the bees — those, that is, 

 that remained down below in the hive — have shown not 

 the slightest desire to join the others aloft, and pay no heed 

 to the formation of the marvellous curtain on whose folds 

 a magical gift is soon to descend. They are satisfied to 

 examine the edifice and undertake the necessary labours. They 

 carefully sweep the floor, and remove, one by one, twigs, 

 grains of sand, and dead leaves ; for the bees are almost 

 fanatically cleanly, and when, in the depths of winter, severe 

 frosts retard too long what apiarists term their "flight of 

 cleanliness," rather than sully the hive they will perish by 

 thousands of a terrible bowel-disease. The males alone are 

 incurably careless, and will impudently bestrew the surface 

 of the comb with their droppings, which the workers who 

 hasten behind them must systematically remove. 



The cleaning over, the bees of the profane group that 

 forms no part of the cone suspended in a sort of ecstasy, set 

 to work minutely to survey the lower circumference of the 

 common dwelling. Every crevice is passed in review, and 

 filled, covered over with propolis ; and the varnishing of 

 the walls is begun, from top to bottom. Guards are appointed 

 to take their stand at the gate ; and very soon a certain number 

 of workers will go to the fields and return with their burden 

 of pollen. 



