BEES IN OTHER LANDS. 135 



side of the river, is much resorted to by Europeans on 

 account of the great quantities of bees'-wax brought 

 thither for sale. It is collected in the woods by the 

 Feloops, a wild and unsociable race of people. The honey 

 they chiefly use themselves in making a strong intoxicating 

 liquor, much the same as the mead which is produced in this 

 country. It is said by some writers that the bees along 

 the west coast of Africa are destitute of stings. It was 

 not so found by Park, to whom we are indebted for the 

 above information ; and that those further in the interior, 

 about the eleventh degree of west longitude, are well pro- 

 vided with this formidable weapon appears from the fol- 

 lowing incident mentioned by the same traveller as having 

 taken place near Doofroo : " We had no sooner unloaded 

 the asses than some of our people, being in search of honey, 

 unfortunately disturbed a large swarm of bees. They 

 came out in immense numbers, and attacked men and 

 beasts at the same time. Luckily most of the asses were 

 loose, and galloped up the valley ; but the horses and 

 people were very much stung, and obliged to scamper off 

 in all directions — in fact, for half-an-hour the bees seemed 

 completely to have put an end to our journey. In the 

 evening, when they became less troublesome and we could 

 venture to collect our cattle, we found many of them much 

 stung and swelled about the head. Three asses were 

 missing; one died in the evening, and one next morning. 

 Our guide lost his horse, and many of the people were 

 much stung about the hands and face." 



On the eastern side of the same continent the bees appear 

 to resemble those of the western coast in their colour and 

 diminutive size, but differ from them in the mode of con- 

 structing their nests, which are formed under the surface 

 of the ground, while those of the others are lodged in the 

 hollows of trees. To the southward and in the Hottentot 

 countries the insects are found in great numbers, but, as 



