The Arizona sentinel., 1886-09-25

| Ilme LUCKILY, most or the asses were
 loose, and galloped up the valley; bu
 the horses and people were very
 much stung, and obliged tc
 scamper off in all directions
 In fact, for half an hour the bees
 seemed to have put an end to our jour
 ney. In the evening, when they be-
 came less troublesome and we could
 venture to collect our cattle, we found
 many of them much stung and swelled
 about the head. Three asses were miss
 ing; one died in the evening, and anoth.
 CT next morning. Our guide lost his
 horse, and many of the people were
 much stung about the head and face. ''
 The fierceness and unrelenting cruelty
 of the ancient Assyrians, and the ter
 TOT with which their swarming multi
 tudes filled the inhabitants of the lands
 they invaded, have caused them to be | likened to bees in their much-dreaded
 attacks on such as have aroused their
 anger; And its shall comet to pass in that
 day that the Lord shall hiss for the fly
 that Is in the uttermost part of the rivers
 of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the
 land of Assyria. And they shall come,
 and shall rest all of them in the deso-
 late valleys, and in the holes of the rocks, and upon all thorns, and upon
 all bushes. The ''hiss' was simply a
 call, in allusion to the note of the queen
 bee, as she issues her royal mandate to
 her ever loyal subjects to prepare for
 action. It has also been supposed to allude to custom prevailing in very ancient times in connection with the
 bee culture, or honey-raising in the neighborhood of rivers. During the dry season, a number of hives would be placed on fiat-bottomed boat, in the charge of an attendant Very early in the morning the boat would begin the
 days voyage, gently gliding down the river, the bees sallying forth with the sun to collect their golden stores and deposit them in their several hives, which they commonly know by some mark. The innnmerable flowers on the banks of the rivers offered them a fine harvest-tield. At the approach of evening the well-known whistle or ''hiss" of the care-taker-a decent imitation of the queens own call would bring them back to their hives in multitudes, when the boat would be padded back to the farm or other place of rendezvous.
 As an article of food, and as much valued and even royal luxury, honey has been used from the remotest ages. Nor was 1t much, if any. less in request as a healing medicine for both inward and outward application. And though it may have fallen somewhat into disuse Tn these days, when many good things are overlooked, and when the artificial too often supplants the real, it may be safely predicted that the wide and rapid spread of bee-culture will induce a re- turn to some of the wiser uses and methods and forms of adaptation en- ployed by our early forefathers, as well as stimulate to new applications and developments of its wondrous powers.
 When and by whom mead or metheg- lin was first made from honey, could not be easily determined. The two words are not unfrequently applied to the same liquor; but that is not correct, as they are dissimilar. Both, however, are made from honey, sometimes also from the refuse or washings of the comb. Queen Elizabeth had such fond ness for metheglin as to prescribe care fully how it should be made and with what variety of herbs it should be favored. In Wales, it long continued to be held in high esteem; and its vari-. ous beneficial properties have been quaintly set forth in letter ad- dressed to Cliffe, the historian, by the learned Welshman, Rev. James Howells (born 159D, brother of Thomas How els, some time Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol. The uniqueness of the communication is the apology for its quotation in full:
 SIR-To inaugurate a new and jovial new year unto you, send you a mornings Neither Sir John Barleycorn nor Bacchus hath any thing to do with it; but it is the pure juice of the bee, the laborious bee, and king of insects The Druids and the old British bards were wont to take a carouse hereof before they entered into their specu- lations; and if you do so when your fancy 1 labors with any thing, it will do you no hurt; | and know your fancy to be very good. But | this drink always carries kind of state with l it, for it must be attended with brown toast; | nor will 1t admit of but one good draught, | and that in the morning; if more, it will | keep drumming in the head, and so speak | much of the house it came from mean the | hive, as gave a caution elsewhere; and be- | Jca nave made it go upon these (poetic) feet:
 J II. T. C. SGlutem ct Annuu1 Platonicum. The juice of bees, not Bacchus, here behold, | Which British bards were wont to quaff of |
 old; The berries of the grape with furies swell, But in the honeycomb the graces dwelLI
 This aIludes to saying which the Turks nave, that there turks devil in every berry 'f the vine So 1 wish you cordially as to ne an suspicious and joyful new year, be- ause you know l am, etc.
 Metheglin is no doubt healthy bev- rage, containing an admixture of milk. 'allus Romulus, when he was a hun lred years old, told Julius Cesar that he lad preserved the vigor of his mind md body by taking metheglin inwardly, nd using oil outwardly. Metheglin md mead may be made very strong, md, of course, they both contain some of alcohol. In Virgil's days netheglin was used to qualify wine when harsh. He writes of
 Iuge heavy honeycombs, of golden juice, lot only sweet, but pure, and fit for use; 70 allay the strength and hardness of the
 wlne,
 nd with old Bacchus new methegIin join.
 Mead or metheglin was the nectar of he Scandinavian nations, winch they ex- ected to drink in Heaven, using the kulls of their enemies as goblets. Thus 7e read in Penrose's CGrOuSGE of Odtn:
 Fill the honeyed beverage high;
 Fill the skulls, 'tis Odin's cry!
 Heard ye not the powerful call,
 laundering through the vaulted hall?
 Fill the meathe, and spread the beard,
 Vassals Of the grisly lord I-
 The feast begins, the skull goes round,
 Laughter shouts-the shouts resound.
 In England at the present time, mead, ke many other old and excellent do- I, I .