Morning journal and courier., 1883-06-13
Why Cape Bees Di.I1ke Kamrs.


I keep two apiaries at a considerable
distance from each other, to one of which
my gardener, colored Malay, attends, and
to the other Kafir laborer. At first they
were generally 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 do, and yet
when either of them assists me in his own
epiary he receives more stings than I do.
This ascribe to the gardeners using snuff
in his mouth very freely, and to the Kaffir's
very pronounced odor. To test the recogni-
ton of the bees, I 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 re-
spectively 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
hasty retreat, while l remained uninjured,
although not yelled. The two men are al
most of the same size and build, so that if
the bees had any power of general recogni-
ton they would probably Gas some of the
other servants did, have mistaken the one
for the other. I can, therefore, only ac-
count for the conduct of the bees by the un-
pleasant, and to them strange, odor. At my
request the gardener discontinued the use of
snuff in his mouth for some time, and during
that time he was not stung more than was
while working with bees, but if the Kafdr
stands before the entrance of an unaccus-
toned hive he is remorselessly stung. may
add that Cape bees are very much more vi
cious than European ones seem to be, and
that. if not skillfully handled, they will un-
mercifully sting their most familiar friends
On one occasion bunch of carrots was left
near the gardeners apiary, which SO enraged
the bees that they stung him and every one
else they came across, and very nearly stung
a COW to death at a distance of about a hun
dred yards from the apiary and on another
occasion horse, still wet with sweat, tres
passed too near 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 ponatum to her
hair, and who severely stung on the
head. Mr.. Romanes 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 Kafar could
venture to approach the door, much less to
pass through it" It does not appear wheth-
er any white stranger was ever stung, and
the only inference that can be reasonably
drawn from the conduct of the wasps Is that
they disliked the odor of Kaffirs, which, as is
well known, is peculiarly disagreeable. If a
particular Kaffir had been in the habit of
passing through the door, the wasps would
probably have become accustomed to his
scent, in the same way as swarm of bees,
upon the testimony of Sir John Lubbock,
became accustomed to the scent of eau-de-
cologne repeatedly dropped at the entrance
of their hive