386 The Honey-Makers 



in their vicinity, place the hives in boats and convey them 

 some five miles up the river in the night. In the morn- 

 ing the bees go forth to feed and then return to the 

 boats, their locality being changed from day to day, 

 until at last, as the boats sink deeper and deeper in the 

 water, it is ascertained that the hives are full, upon which 

 they are taken home and the honey is withdrawn." 



This method of supplying the bees with nectar is still 

 employed on the river Po, the present name of the ancient 

 Padus. The people mark a water line about the boat at 

 starting and to it attach a scale by which they can tell how 

 deep the boat sinks, and so judge when the hives are full and 

 the time has come for returning home. 



Columella tells us that the Greeks, too, took their bees in 

 search of honey, wandering from Achaia as far as Attica for 

 the purpose. 



Bees were also conveyed from Eubcea and the Cyclad 

 Islands to Syrus, and to Hybla from other parts of Sicily. 



Huish says : — 



" It is the custom of the modern Greeks who inhabit the 

 coast of Asia Minor, towards the islands of the Archipelago, 

 to transport their hives by sea in order to procure an abund- 

 ance of food for their bees.'' 



Urquhart, in his " Spirit of the Orient," tells us that upon 

 the shores of Thessaly the bees are carried about by boats, 

 to gather honey wherever flowers are abundant. 



From Kohl's " Southern Russia " we learn that the Arme- 

 nians on the steppes of the Black Sea wander about like 

 nomads with their bee-hives, pitching their tents in flowery 

 places and placing the hives in a long line until the honey 

 of that region has all been gathered, and that sometimes 

 there will be as many as a thousand hives together. 



In Spain the bees are carried from place to place on the 

 backs of mules, while in Palestine, where modern bee-keep- 



