BEES IN OTHER LJNDS. 137 



and constantly supplied with damp fuel to produce a cloud 

 of smoke. In this the workman was completely enveloped ; 

 so that the bees returning from the fields were prevented 

 from approaching, and those which flew out of the nest 

 were driven by it to a distance. Yet the rest of our party 

 to avoid their resentment found it prudent either to ride 

 ofF or stand also in the smoke. About three pounds of 

 honey were obtained, which, excepting a small share which 

 I reserved till tea-time, they instantly devoured in the 

 comb ; and some of the Hottentots professed to be equally 

 fond of the larvae. The honey appeared unusually hmpid, 

 and nearly as thin as water, yet it seemed as sweet and of 

 as delicate a taste as the best honey of England. 



" Whilst I was engaged in the chase one day on foot 

 with a Namaqua attendant, he picked up a small stone, 

 looked at it earnestly, then over the plain, and threw it 

 down again. I asked what it was, he said there was the 

 mark (excrement) of a bee on it ; taking it up, I also saw 

 upon it a small pointed drop of wax, which had fallen 

 from the bee in its flight. The Namaqua noticed the 

 direction the point of the drop indicated, and, walking on, 

 he picked up another stone, also with a drop of wax on it, 

 and so on at considerable intervals, till, getting behind a 

 crag, he looked up, and bees were seen flying across the 

 sky, and in and out of a cleft in the face of the rock. 

 Here, of course, was the honey he was in pursuit of. A 

 dry bush is selected, fire is made, the clifF is ascended, and 

 the nest is robbed in the smoke." 



African , travellers give us an amusing account of one 

 of thj modes by which the natives of the interior are 

 enabled to discover the spot where the bees have deposited 

 their treasures. They are guided by a small bird {Cuculus 

 Indicus) of a brownish-grey colour, well named the honey- 

 guide. This Httle creature is very fond of honey and bee- 

 bread ; but, unable by its own exertions to gratify its taste. 



