178 
LETTERS FROM ALABAMA. 
LETTER VIII. 
J uly 5tli. 
I HAVE just been assisting (at least, so far as 
looking on) at a very interesting operation, — the 
taking of a wild bee’s nest. The incident is, I am 
told, one of frequent occurrence, the honey-bees 
often sending forth a colony at swarming time, 
which seek a new abode for themselves. Even 
the little boys have their eyes open, and their 
attention awake to the motion of the forest bees, 
watching their flight, and often following the direc- 
tion they have taken in hopes of seeing others, 
which may serve as so many finger posts to guide 
their track, till at length the increasing numbers of 
bees thronging the air announce the proximity of 
their home, when a little searching with a practised 
eye soon traces the industrious insects to their very 
hole ; and the urchin, having carefully marked the 
spot, comes home with the triumphant intelligence 
that he has found a Bee-tree.” A tree of this 
kind, in which a swarm had hived, having been 
discovered yesterday, I went with a friend and a 
couple of negroes to see them cut it down. They 
carried two axes, a bundle of loose cotton, to make 
a smoke with, and a ^^gum,” or square box, to 
hive the swarm ; the possession of the bees being 
not less desirable than the acquisition of the honey. 
