280 
FOREIGN BEES. 
in hollow trees, and also in holes in the ground which 
have been made by some burrowing animals. The 
natives, to obtain the honey, have merely to blow into 
those holes, upon which the bees instantly decamp 
without resistance, and the plunderers, without malting 
use of any defensive covering, pull out the combs 
with their hands, and deposit them in vessels brought 
for that purpose. It is probable from this account of 
the facility with which this species is deprived of its 
stores, and the fearlessness of the plunderers, that, like 
others to be afterwards mentioned, it has no sting. 
A second species found here is of a larger size and 
brighter colour than our domestic bee. These build 
their nests on the branches of trees, and generally at 
a great height. At a certain period of the year the 
inhabitants of the towns go out in a body to despoil 
them, and return laden with the booty. The third 
species is a remarkably small bee, not larger than a 
common fly, and of a blackish hue. Them honey is 
not generally much regarded ; but the children some- 
times amuse themselves by cutting a hole in the trunk 
of the tree where it is deposited, and carrying it off. 
Nay, Knox tells us that the inhabitants not only 
devour the honey, but have a strong taste — akin to 
that of the Hottentots who feed on the larva; — for the 
bees themselves ; and that when they discover a 
swarm on an inaccessible branch of a tree, they 
stupify them with the smoke of torches, causing them 
to drop on the ground, when they gather them and 
carry them home, “ boiling and eating them, and 
esteeming them excellent food.’’ 
