Bee-Culture at Present 369 



year, being watery and yellow early in the season and of 

 good quality in the fall. 



It is said that the Punjab-Himalaya honey is principally 

 used in the manufacture of an alcoholic liquor. This the 

 natives prepare by mixing equal quantities of honey and 

 water together and leaving it to stand in closed earthen 

 vessels for a year. 



This Indian mead is very potent, one cupful being enough 

 to produce intoxication. 



Honey here as elsewhere forms the basis of several 

 popular remedies and has long held an important place in 

 the Hindu Materia Medica. 



Egypt still values the honey-bee, and though the ancient 

 dynasties have passed away, the descendants of the bees of 

 Menes survive and continue to gather nectar from the 

 flowery banks of the sacred river. 



Concerning the bee in Egypt a modern writer has a 

 word to say. 



"The Egyptians exhibit great skill in their manner of 

 cultivating the bee, as the flowers and the harvest are much 

 earlier in Upper Egypt than in Lower, and the inhabitants 

 profit by this circumstance in regard to their bees. 



"They collect the hives of different villages on large 

 barks, and every proprietor attaches a particular mark to his 

 hives ; when the boat is loaded, the conductors descend 

 the river slowly, stopping at all the places where they can 

 find pasturage for the bees. After having thus spent three 

 months on the Nile, the hives are returned to the proprie- 

 tor, and after deducting a small sum due to the boat- 

 men for having conducted his hives from one end of Egypt 

 to the other, he finds himself on a sudden enriched 

 with a quantity of honey and wax, which is immediately 

 sent to the market. This species of industry procures 

 for the Egyptians an abundance of wax and honey, and 



24 



