72 PEPACTON 



The tree was about twenty inches through and hol- 

 low at the butt, or from the axe-mark down. This 

 space the bees had completely fiUed with honey. 

 With an axe we cut away the outer ring of live 

 wood and exposed the treasure. Despite the utmost 

 care, we wounded the comb so that little rills of 

 the golden liquid issued from the root of the tree 

 and trickled down the hill. 



The other bee-tree in the vicinity to which I 

 have referred we found one warm November day in 

 less than half an hour after entering the woods. It 

 also was a hemlock that stood in a niche in a wall 

 of hoary, moss-covered rooks thirty feet high. The 

 tree hardly reached to the top of the precipice. 

 The bees entered a small hole at the root, which 

 was seven or eight feet from the ground. The po- 

 sition was a striking one. Never did apiary have 

 a finer outlook or more rugged surroundings. A 

 black, wood-embraced lake lay at our feet; the 

 long panorama of the Catskills filled the far dis- 

 tance, and the more broken outlines of the Shawan- 

 gunk range filled the rear. On every hand were 

 precipices and a wild confusion of rocks and trees. 



The cavity occupied by the bees was about three 

 feet and a half long and eight or ten inches in 

 diameter. With an axe we cut away one side of the 

 tree, and laid bare its curiously wrought heart of 

 honey. It was a most pleasing sight. What wind- 

 ing and devious ways the bees had through their 

 palace! What great masses and blocks of snow- 

 white comb there were! Where it was sealed up, 



