Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1881-11-10
A hIDEOUS IOLL-GATHERER

In the year 1857, | was mate of the
ship Ellen Bird, then making her third
voyage. 1t was iii the palmy days of
| the sandd-wood and beeswax trade, and
we were at the Island of Timor. an
chored at Delhi haven, taking in
| cargo
Sandal-wood, so valuable because of
| It's enduring perfume for the manufa t.
IRE of fancy work-boxes, desks and
| cabinets, could, at that time, be obtained
III considerable quantities in Timor. It
grows there as a small timber tree
among the mountains of the interior.
The natives are hired to take it to the
harbor in small logs, carried on the
shoulders of two or three men walking
together, Or upon the backs of their
tanned ponies.
While slowly taking in this part OF
our cargo, log by log, /, as mate of the
vessel, was dispatched on trip inland,
| to hasten the collection of beeswax.
Three Of the seamen accompanied me.
Som ty natives of the island also
went with us to take up the wild bees
nests, and these were to be paid in
goods at the vessel for all the wax they
might gather.
For ever n week we slept III two BAN
boo luts set up on posts. with matched
/ roofs, ut a place the natives called the
| Dardees, twenty or twenty-five miles
back from Delhi.
Dardee is the Timorese name for
very curious tree, the roots of which rise
out of the ground in tangled, compli-
Gated pyramid to the height of sixty,
and'even eighty, feet. 1T Is at the top
| Of this vast mass TINT the real trunk of
| the trees begins, branching out above in q
| top u most us thick and extensive MS the
| root Often these widespread and
| thicbly-woven dardee roots inclose an
open space at their center, where one
may stand directly beneath the great
trunk overhead. These root systems
are not infrequently thirty, forty and
even fifty feet in diameter, exhibiting o
sinGularly-g rotesque, gnarled appear
ance and where a forest OF them stand
Moderately close together they present
70 the eye a most bewildering maze.
But the forests of Timor are, as rule,
| ~ no means dense. Open plats, full OF
| 'ank, coarse grass and flowers, alternate
nth the groves of larger trees and the
Whole country round about the huts,
where we spend our nights, was one
| 3reat natural apiary. The huts, in fact,
we're built by bee-hunters, who each
wear visit the district to get honey and
| Nax.
Much as has been said and written
| concerning bees, think the reader will
G find something novel in brief de-
cri ton of the wild bees of Timor, and
,dc old method by which the natives
| capture them. These bees (the apis
! }Draad) do not, like The wild bees of
| Ameil "A and other countries, build their
! iests in hollow trees, or clefts in the
| rage. | was astonished to see hanging
@ the lower side of some stout branch,
Al mp in the tops of the Hottest trees, a
teat cone of honeycomb, often four
feet in diameter by five feet ia length.
hose combs are SO piled ana covered
| Ia MS 10 resist the weather comp etely,
| md ar0 camented to the branch with a
;hlck, gluduous stump of very tough
tld compact wax. | estimated the
weight Of some of these large combs at
| BOO pounds.
Daring the week we were in the for
80. We took, | should think. nearly 500
If these honey-cones. The honey, save
what We could eat with our food, was of
10 use to us, and | have little doubt that
| 10000 or 1000 pounds of honey were
! J strovcd by us in that one week for
! the wax WAS all that we cared to take.
The FIRST time | saw the natives take a
bees nest. / thought their method of
to ny il as curious as the nest itself was
odd This peculiar nest hung from a
lmh Of tall straight, smooth-barked
| eucalyptus tree, seventy five feet from
the ground The trunk of the tree was
a yard.or more in diameter. To cut it
! down would have been several hours
| ork, even for IN experienced woods
| man while to climb it. after the ordi-
| nary fashion, would have been out Of the
| question. This Is the way Benu, one of
| he TInor men, set to work. First, he
took from his bundle torch of some
reSinous wood and lighted ii. This
torch he attached 10 his waist-eloth, or
| aIrd,e. ly means of a string some ten
f,,; long. so that As he climbed up. the
SLOWLY burning, hat dgssa.v smoking,
torch woald hang beneath him. To his
girdle WAS a'so hung a chopping-kuife,
for cutting of the, nh from the branch.
and long hne. IA J. c il. for lowering il
the ground. Foia, another Of the men,
now broug, him strong bush rope, or
creeper, some twenty feet long. green
and pliable. and freshly cut from q
thicket. Benu first passed one end Of
this creeper round the trunk of the tree,
then grasping an end in each hand,
leaned back, and, setting his feet against
the trunk, he began to walk up the tree,
holding fast by the bushrope and throwing
II mp, by quick Jerk. after every second
step. 1t was wonder ul to note the skill
with which he took advantage OF the