614 HONEY AND WAX. Chap. XXX. 



length of the confinement, but on passing the same tree at Kolo- 

 beng about eight days afterwards, the hole was plastered up 

 again, as if, in the short time that had elapsed, the disconsolate 

 husband had secured another wife. We did not disturb her, and 

 my duties prevented me from returning to the spot. This is 

 the month in which the female enters the nest. We had seen 

 one of these, as before mentioned, with the plastering not quite 

 finished; we saw many completed; and we received the very 

 same account here that we did at Kolobeng, that the bird comes 

 forth when the young are fully fledged, at the period when the 

 corn is ripe ; indeed, her appearance abroad with her young is 

 one of the signs they have for knowing when it ought to be so. 

 As that is about the end of April, the time is between two 

 and three months. She is said sometimes to hatch two eggs, and, 

 when the young of these are full-fledged, other two are just out 

 of the egg-shells : she then leaves the nest with the two elder, the 

 orifice is again plastered up, and both male and female attend to 

 the wants of the young which are left. On several occasions I 

 observed a branch bearing the marks of the male having often 

 sat upon it when feeding his mate, and the excreta had been ex- 

 pelled a full yard from the orifice, and often proved a means of 

 discovering the retreat. 



The honey-guides were very assiduous in their friendly offices, 

 and enabled my men to get a large quantity of honey ; but though 

 bees abound, the wax of these parts forms no article of trade. In 

 Londa it may be said to be fully cared for, as you find hives 

 placed upon trees in the most lonesome forests. We often met 

 strings of carriers laden with large blocks of tin's substance, each 

 80 or 100 lbs. in weight, and pieces were offered to us for sale 

 at every village ; but here we never saw a single artificial hive. 

 The bees were always found in the natural cavities of mopane- 

 trees. It is probable that the good market for wax afforded to 

 Angola by the churches of Brazil, led to the gradual develop- 

 ment of that branch of commerce there. I saw even on the 

 banks of the Quango as much as sixpence paid for a 230und. In 

 many parts of the Batoka country, bees exist in vast numbers ; 

 and the tribute due to Sekeletu is often paid in large jars of honey ; 

 but having no market nor use for the wax, it is thrown away. 

 This was the case also with ivory at the Lake Ngami, at the 



