1 76 BEE-FARMING. 



ground. The mere spectators and amateurs, in the mean- 

 time, drew ofF to a cautious distance, to be out of the way 

 of the falling of the tree and the vengeance of its inmates. 

 The jarring blows of the axe seemed to have no effect in 

 alarming or agitating this most industrious community. 

 They continued to ply at their usual occupations, some 

 arriving full freighted into port, others sallying forth on 

 new expeditions, like so many merchantmen in a money- 

 making metropolis, little suspicious of impending bank- 

 ruptcy and downfall. Even a loud crack which announced 

 the disrupture of the trunk failed to divert their attention 

 from the intense pursuit of gain ; at length down came 

 the tree with a tremendous crash, bursting open from end 

 to end, and displaying all the hoarded treasures of the 

 commonwealth . 



One of the hunters immediately ran up with a wisp of 

 lighted hay as a defence against the bees. The latter, 

 however, made no attack and sought no revenge ; they 

 seemed stupefied by the catastrophe, and unsuspicious of 

 its cause, and remained crawling and buzzing about the 

 ruins, without offering us any molestation. Every one of 

 the party now fell to, with spoon and hunting knife, to 

 scoop out the flakes of honeycomb with which the hollow 

 trunk was stored. Some of them were of very old date, 

 and of a deep brown colour; others were beautifully 

 white, and the honey in their cells was almost limpid. 

 Such of the combs as were entire were placed in camp 

 kettles, to be conveyed to the encampment, those which 

 had been shivered by the fall were devoured upon the spot. 

 Every stark bee-hunter was to be seen with a morsel in 

 his hand, dripping about his fingers, and disappearing as 

 rapidly as a cream-tart before the holiday appetite of a 

 school-boy. 



Nor was it the bee -hunters alone who profited by the 

 downfall of this industrious community. As if the bees 



