HUNTING BEES 
IX 7 
called by the French “voyageurs” of the region, 
“le Bourdon” (the drone), because he “lived off the 
labors of others.” This assumption was not entirely 
accurate, however, for although he lived on the 
sweets produced by others, he really had to work 
as industriously as any worker bee to find the hoards 
of honey and secure them. This in fact was his 
sole occupation, and he found it profitable. 
He lived alone in a shanty securely built to with¬ 
stand the frequent attempts bears made to break in 
and steal during his absence; honey being bears’ 
favorite food, which they can scent from afar. 
All through the summer from July to October he 
“lined” bees and stored their honey in his shanty, 
taking it away later in his canoe and selling it to 
the people living in the settlements along the river, 
who waited until his arrival to stock up their winter 
supplies of sweets. 
The opening chapters of the book describe his 
method of hunting bees, a method similar in essen¬ 
tials to that of the present day. He caught each bee 
separately in a glass tumbler, which he then set over 
a small piece of comb, whose cells were half-filled 
with clear, thin honey. Then he put his cap over 
the tumbler. As soon as darkness surrounded the 
bee, it naturally ceased fretting to get out into the 
