BEES IN THE HIVE. 2OI 
populated, for such a city may contain from twenty 
thousand to sixty thousand inhabitants. In it you 
will find streets, but no pavements, for the inhabitants 
walk along the walls of the houses; while in the 
houses you will see no windows, for each house just 
fits its owner, and the door is the only opening in 
it. Though made without hands these houses are 
most evenly and regularly built in tiers one above the 
other ; and here and there a few royal palaces, larger 
and more spacious than the rest, catch the eye con- 
spicuously as they stand out at the corners of the 
streets. 
Some of the ordinary houses are used to live in, 
while others serve as storehouses where food is laid up 
in the summer to feed the inhabitants during the 
winter, when they are not allowed to go outside the 
walls. Not that the gates are ever shut : that is not 
necessary, for in this wonderful city each citizen fol- 
lows the laws ; going out when it is time to go out, 
coming home at proper hours, and staying at home 
when it is his or her duty. And in the winter, when 
it is very cold outside, the inhabitants, having no fires, 
keep themselves warm within the city by clustering 
together, and never venturing out of doors. 
One single queen reigns over the whole of this 
numerous population, and you might perhaps fancy 
that, having so many subjects to work for her and 
wait upon her, she would do nothing but amuse her- 
self. On the contrary, she too obeys the laws laid 
down for her guidance, and never, except on one or 
two state occasions, goes out of the city, but works as 
hard as the rest in performing her own royal duties. 
