178 BEE-FJRMING. 



AUSTRALIAN BEE-HUNTING. 



From the absence of flowers in many^ parts of the 

 bush of Australia, the little native bee may be seen 

 busily working on the bark of the trees, and, unlike the 

 bees of this country, which are ever on the move from 

 flower to flower, it seems to be unconscious of danger. 

 This may arise from the vastness of the solitudes in 

 Austraha, which are seldom if ever disturbed, except by a 

 passing tribe, or by its own wild denizens, which are far 

 from numerous. The bee is therefore easily approached, 

 and the bright clear atmosphere of the climate is peculiarly 

 favourable to the pursuit. A party of two or three natives, 

 armed with a tomahawk, sally forth into the bush, having 

 previously provided themselves with the soft white down 

 from the breast of some bird, which is very light in texture 

 and at the same time very fluffy. 



With that wonderful quickness of sight which practice 

 has rendered perfect, they descry the little brownish leaden- 

 coloured insect on the bark, and, rolling up an end of the 

 down feather to the finest possible point between the 

 fingers, they dip it into a gummy substance which a 

 peculiar sort of herb exudes when the stem is broken. 

 They then cautiously approach the bee, and with great 

 dehcacy of touch place the gummed point under the hind 

 legs of the bee. It at once adheres. Then comes the result 

 for which all this preparation has been made. The bee feeling 

 the additional weight fancies he has done his task and is laden 

 with honey, and flies off the tree on his homeward journey 

 at no great distance from the ground. The small white 

 feather is now all that can be discerned, and the hunt at 

 once commences. Running on foot amid broken branches 

 and stony ground requires, one would thins, the aid of one's 

 eyesight; but with the native Australians it is not so. 

 Without taking for a moment their eyes ofF the object. 



