LETTERS FROM ALABAMA. 
179 
We soon arrived at the spot, which was in the 
forest, a few yards only from the high road, and at 
no great distance from the house. My attention 
being directed to a large and tall tree of the long- 
leafed pine species {Pinits jpalustris) ^ I perceived, 
far up in the branchless trunk, a round orifice, 
about which several bees were clustering, going 
out and coming in, departing and arriving to and 
from all points of the compass. The men lighted 
a little fire, stripped, and commenced felling the 
tree, one on each side. The trunk was thick, but 
the negroes were skilful and sinewy, and plied their 
axes until the perspiration streamed profusely from 
their glossy shoulders. Not a stroke was given in 
vain, and very soon the columnar trunk was sup- 
ported only by the slender interval left between 
the two deep notches, as if balanced on the edge of 
a prism. Still, so little was the preponderance of 
either side, that the bushy head quivered in the sky 
with a tremulous motion for several seconds, before 
we could determine to which side it would incline ; 
at length it slowly bowed, groaned, cleft the air 
with a roar, and plunged with a deafening crash 
among the bushes and saplings, snapping its own 
stout limbs like glass, and scattering the moist 
earth far over the leaves on every side. 
One of the men ran immediately to the hole of 
the hive, which was about three inches in diameter, 
perfectly round, and smooth, worn by the continual 
passage of the bees, and coated from the same 
cause with a white substance, probably wax, 
bleached by the sun and rain. Having lighted 
a handful of cotton, smothering up the flame in 
the midst of it, he held it close to the orifice, blow- 
ing in the dense choking smoke, to prevent the 
