The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1883-08-11
Cape Bees and Kanrs.

keep two apiaries at considerable
distance from each other, writes Cape
correspondent of London Nature, to
one of which my gardener, a colored
Malay, attends, and to the other q
Kafir laborer. At first they were gen.
orally stung when passing too near the
entrance of hive. but now they pass
and repass with impunity. They work
with the bees more frequently than l
do. and yet when either Of them assists
me in his own apiary he receives more
stings than 1 do. This ascribe to the
gardeners using snuff in his mouth
very freely. and to the Kafirs very pro-
nounced odor. To test the recognition
of the bees, / once requested the Malay
and the Kafir to change clothes with
each other and wear thick wells over
their heads and faces. They did so,
and assisted me first in the apiaries to
which they were respectively in the
habit of attending, with the result that
they received no stings, but when either
began to work with the bees in the
apiary he usually did not attend to, he
was so stung about the hands that he had
to beat a hasty retreat, while l remained
uninjured, although not yelled. The
two men are almost the same size and
build, so that if the bees had any power
of general recognition they would prob
ably Gas some of the other servants
did) have mistaken the one for the
other. / can, therefore, only account
for the conduct of the bees by the I'M
pleasant, and to them strange, odor.
At my request the gardener discontin-
ued the use of snuff in his mouth for
some time, and during that time
he was not stung more than l was
while working with the bees; but if the
Kafir stands before the entrance of an
unaccustomed hive he is remorselessly
stung. / may add that Cape bees are
very much more vicious than European
ones seem to be, and that, If not skill
fully handled, they will unmerci-
fully sting their most familiar friends.
On one occasion q bunch of carrots was
left near the gardeners apiary, which
SO enraged the bees that they stung him
and everyone else they came across,
and very nearly stung COW to death
at distance of about hundred yards
from the apiary; and on another occa-
sion horse, still wet with sweat, tres
passed too near a hive, with the result
that the whole apiary was in an uproar,
and some of my children and servants
were stung, the chief victim being
Malay girl, who used to apply quantities
of scented pomatum to her hair and
who was severely stung on the head.
Mr.. Romsnes continues thus: Again,
many instances might be quoted. such
as that given by Gueringius, who al
lowed . species of wasp, native to
Natal, to build in the doorposts of his
house, and who observed that. although
he often interfered with the nest. he
was only once stung, and this by .
young wasp; while no Kafir could
venture to approach the door, much less
pass through Il. Il does not appear
whether any white stranger was ever
stung, and the only inference that could
be reasonably drawn from the conduct
of the wasps Is that they disliked the
odor of Kafirs, which, as is well known,
is peculiarly disagreeable. If . par
ticular Kafir had been in the habit Of
passing through the door, the wasps
would probably have become accus-
toned to his scent, in the same way -
q swarm of bees, upon the testimony Of
Sir John Lubbock, became accustomed
to the scentof eau-de-cologne repeatedly
dropped at the entrance of their hive.